Getting people to think and worry about various social and environmental issues such as female infanticide, alcoholism, and air pollution is significant for raising public supporting and affecting meaningful changes. It is essential that more and more people be made aware of these issues so that we can fight them as a united country. Social awareness also makes the individual more mature and thoughtful when it comes to making important decisions for them or society.
Political posters and banners can be used as a tool of social awareness. Though a traditional campaigning tool, posters and banners are one of the dominant tools of political campaigning. The flood of posters and banners that has covered the world in recent election campaigns indicates the potentialities of their communication. Hence, using them can be the most effective and powerful tool of social awareness.
Accordingly, I recommend following measures that may be taken by state and local governments:
1. State and local governments may make it compulsory to print social awareness related message on 25% area of political posters and banners. This compulsion would be applicable only for the posters and banners with size more than 60″ x 60″.
2. Social awareness message can be in any form including slogans, logos, pictures and art work.
3. Government may create a website, for the ease of poster and banner makers, containing social awareness related slogans, logos, pictures and art works to be printed on the political posters and banners.
Political posters and banners have the advantage of confronting people more directly than any other media. For example, in order to avoid propagandist bombardment, you can turn off the television set or radio, but you cannot do this with a poster or banner. Hence, their use can be of great help in creating sensitivity about social issues.