Everyone knows
a picture is a worth a thousand words. But most people aren't
aware the thousand words a picture communicates can be quite
different from the ones in the caption below the image.
That's because our brains are built to prioritize the information
we get from visual images rather than text or spoken words.
And so we pay much more attention to our immediate impression
of what we see than its true context or even the message
it purports to communicate. In other words, pictures may
tell us a lot, but they don't always tell the truth.
Politicians have known for years that imagery matters. That's
why they give televised speeches in dramatic locations and
pose for photos involving emotionally resonant situations
like kissing babies, cutting ribbons and planting trees.
Most people pay more attention to what they see than what
a speech says or what a politician's position is on the
issues. That's why savvy politicians stage situations that
make them look good. When staged situations are planned
ahead of time we call them photo ops, short for photo opportunities.
Photo ops work because they offer a two-way opportunity.
The people in the pictures have the opportunity to appear
caring or steadfast or whatever their surroundings suggest.
And the media have the opportunity to sell newspapers with
a great cover photo, or get eyeballs on the screens for
dramatic news footage. But remember: images - especially
in the case of photo ops - don't always say exactly what
they mean.
A classic example of the perfectly staged photo op involved
a speech President Reagan gave with the Grand Canyon as
his backdrop. The speech actually announced his plans to
lift certain federal environmental protections. But because
of his pristine natural surroundings, most people who watched
the speech saw him as more of an environmentalist than they
had before they watched it. The image, not the policy change,
was what caught people's attention. Reagan's attention to
controlling his image in the press has since been imitated
by just about every politician alive, Democrat and Republican
alike. Why? It worked then and still works today.
Advertisers know how images work too. That's why it's hard
to take alcohol and cigarette companies seriously when they
claim they aren't targeting kids. A few years ago I helped
conduct a study involving those Budweiser commercials with
the talking frogs. Our research showed, definitively, that
the funny, whimsical animals - just the kind of thing kids
love - were the secret to Budweiser's dominance in the underage
drinking market.
When we watch shows during the so-called family hour we
often see images of sexual promiscuity, brutal violence,
and shocking disrespect. While these programs occasionally
attempt to extol some moral message by the end, the imagery
is too powerful for our brains to ignore. And so while we
hear a few simple words about trust or respect or justice,
our minds can replay a thousand pictures that say just the
opposite.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder
of the MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediafamily.org).
His latest book is Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival
Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen
is a national bestseller.
