Not Only Is A Tree Cut Down: The Power of Pictorial Analogy

These Greenpeace adverts entitled ‘Not Only Is A Tree Cut Down’ aim to make people think about the negative consequences of deforestation and logging. They use the pictorial analogy template that Goldenberg, Mazrusky and Solomon (1999) outline, amongst others, in their paper The Fundamental Templates of Quality Ads.

Pictorial analogy involves linking a product to a certain message by introducing a symbol into the product space. For example, this advert is linking deforestation (the product) to the message that is bad for the planet. The product space involves things that are related to the product (deforestation) and a symbol is something that is linked to the message that is being conveyed (deforestation is bad). The product space could involves things relating to deforestation such as a chainsaw, chopped trees or perhaps safety helmets whereas the symbol could involve degraded soil, homeless animals, dead animals, or dried rivers. A general schematic and deforestation specific schematic of this template is shown below.

General Schematic of Pictorial Analogy

Anti-Deforestation Specific Schematic Pictorial Analogy

As can be seen by the deforestation specific schematic, this Greenpeace advert is an example of the pictorial analogy template. This advert makes the link between the product (deforestation) and the message (its bad) by linking the chopped trees from the product space to dead animals in the symbol set, thus creating an effective and striking advert.

References
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D. et al. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 333-351.