The Real Aspects of Being a Teen Mom

Over 2,000 teenage girls get pregnant every day. (The Facts Candies Foundation) Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that most of us can relate to the issue of teen pregnancies in some manner. Either, we know someone that was involved in a teen pregnancy, or we experienced it personally. The Candies Foundation is a non profit organization formed with a mission to raise awareness of this issue and persuade teenagers to prevent teen pregnancy. (Mission Candies Foundation) In order to raise awareness and persuade a change in behavior, the foundation creates public service announcements about the issue of teen pregnancy. The announcement being analyzed here claims that teen pregnancy isnt as glamorous as some may assume and encourages teenagers to pause before they play. The use of ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as color and image are only a few things that make this public service announcement effective in persuading teenagers to think before they act. Ethos is one of the three appeals originally introduced by Aristotle as a means to effectively persuade an audience. The Candies Foundation establishes ethos through its international social awareness and joint resources. They share their content with organizations around the country that are promoting community-level teen pregnancy prevention programs. (Partners" Candies Foundation)The widespread awareness of this organization helps establish credibility with its audience. Another thing that establishes credibility for this non-profit organization is its resources. The Candies Foundation is partnered with several organizations such as the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Seventeen magazine. (Partners" Candies Foundation) With an effective means of establishing credibility

with readers, the public service announcement has already achieved an ethical appeal with its readers.
The emotional appeal, pathos, is second of the three appeals outlined by Aristotle. This was the strongest appeal the author used in this particular PSA capturing the audiences attention through design elements such as color, text, layout, image, and language. The color choices were used appropriately to capture the readers attention and focus it on a specific image that is off centered from the text. The heading, Not really the way you pictured your first crib, huh? is in pink and white sans serif font, which is an effective font for display types. (Bean and Johnson 176) The pink is used to provide a sense of happiness to its readers through its popularity with young, teenage women. The white is used effectively to help the reader relate the text with the image of a white infant crib. The white crib is contrasted on a black background. Typically this contrast of black and white would appear somewhat boring, but it works here because of the way it plays with the readers emotions by providing a sense of loneliness. The sense of loneliness drawn from the image of a white crib is different from the rest of the PSA, and plays the biggest role in appealing to the readers pathos. The infant crib is off-centered to the right of the heading in a section by itself. The white contrasted on the black draws attention to this side, so that the reader views this crib pictured alone. The lonely, white crib is a strong, effective approach in portraying the effects of teen pregnancy to its audience by the Candies Foundation. Another image, placed on the left side of the PSA, is of Hayden Panettiere. She was an actress in movies such as, Bring It On: All or Nothing, Heroes, and I Love you, Beth Cooper, which are directed towards a teenage audience. She was an appropriate choice for capturing the attention of the intended

audience for the purpose of contrasting her glamorous life versus the life of a teen mom. The message being portrayed is that becoming a teenage mom isnt glamorous. The language in the PSA was also used as an effective appeal to pathos. The heading, Not really the way you pictured your first crib, huh? is the type of language that teenagers, in our modern generation, use on a daily basis. Therefore, it is used effectively to attract this audience so that it can relay its intended message. The use of logos is limited but effective with a simple fact placed in the image as a sub- heading. It states, Raising a baby can cost over $10,000 a year, one night could cost you more than you think. This fact brings the financial burden of having a baby into perspective for the readers. It is effective in demonstrating the consequences of teen pregnancy by equalizing one night to $10,000 a year. In the last part of the sub- heading, the foundation is encouraging readers to think before they act by showing the possible cost of one night. The Candies Foundation created this announcement to illustrate the negative consequences of teen pregnancy to the younger generation. In this PSA, the use of many design elements is effective in the overall claim that teen pregnancy isnt as glamorous as we might have pictured. Some of these included color, text, language, layout, and image. The use of these, along with ethos, pathos, and logos make the Candies Foundation effective in creating a persuasive PSA for a young teenage audience. The large image of Haden Panettiere along with an effective heading, sub-heading and a picture of a lonely, white crib are all key aspects in conveying the message to teenagers about the consequences of teen pregnancy. Hayden Panettiere versus the lonely life of a teen mom, which would you rather have?

Works Cited
1. Bean, John C., and June Johnson. "Analyzing Visual Arguments." Writing Arguments A Rhetoric with Readings. By John D. Ramage. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 175-209. Print. 2. "The Facts." Candies Foundation, 16 Dec. 2008. Web. 01 Sept. 2013. 3. "Mission." Candies Foundation, 16 Dec. 2008. Web. 01 Sept. 2013. 4. "Partners." Candies Foundation, 16 Dec. 2008. Web. 01 Sept. 2013.

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