Flores 1 Francis Flores CAS 137H 11 October 2012 NOH8 For this essay, I knew that there were

so many options to go with and so I figured I would go with something that I had a strong an interest in. I was doing some research on the NOH8 campaign, which is a campaign that supports the Trevor Project, when I came across this antibullying PSA. Since October is Anti-Bullying Month, I figured this would be the perfect PSA to analyze. The Trevor Project was put together as a result of a film by James Lecesne, Peggy Rajski and Randy Stone called TREVOR, which is about a young boy by the name of Trevor who committed suicide because of the torment he endured when his peers discovered that he was gay. The Trevor Project was started for the sake of crisis and suicide prevention amongst the youth of the LGBT community. The NOH8 Campaign teamed together with the Trevor Project to create mass awareness of one main concern of the Trevor Projectsuicide. The PSA that I will analyze in particular is intended for adults, teenagers, and the LGBT youth. In the video, there is a large emphasis on how bullies are made and not born, so the adults and peers of these bullies must be influences. The cause-and-effect affect that is emphasized in this PSA leads the spokespeople in this ad speaks directly to LGBT youth, conveying the message Be heard, to encourage the youth to get the help that they need. This ad embodies the three rhetorical appeals, logos, ethos, and pathos, in the sense that it combines the three to send across a common messagebullying is a major problem and has serious consequences, but help is available. The NOH8 campaign and the Trevor Project use these appeals to shine a light on the importance of leading by example and

Flores 2 the importance of unity, and how these components can help in the prevention of LGBT youth suicide. One of the rhetorical appeals that helped highlight the message this PSA is trying to convey is logos. The celebrities in the ad bring up the fact that bullies are made and not born; everything starts within the household, especially the treatment of people who are deemed different. They go on to say that adults, such as political and religious leaders, directly affect the way that the youth thinks, and their biases are learned and eventually lead to homophobia. They bring up the fact that the bullying generally starts off with a joke until it eventually escalates. In order to stop this, they repeat that WE must set the example. Parents need to talk to their kids, and kids need to talk to their parents; their point is that help is always available. The celebrities in this PSA employ the use of logos in talking about getting help because though it may seems that homophobia surrounds those who are different, there are still people who care and are willing to lend guidance. To further emphasize the importance of taking action, one of the celebrities says, Inaction can be just as bad as bullying itself. This ties in with their logic that these biases are learned, and if the parents do not act out, then there is no reason for their children to do so, but it is never too late to change. The intended audience then shifts to include those who have lost someone to this epidemic of LGBT youth suicide and say, We can never replace those weve lost, but we can save lives now, in the hopes that help will be offered to those who need it when necessary. According to the ad, there are over thirty-thousand suicides each year. For every completed suicide, there are about a hundred to two-hundred suicide attempts; of those who attempt suicide, a quarter of them are transgender youth and a third of them are lesbian/gay/bisexual youth. These numbers are quite shocking, and they only continue to increase as the homophobia spreads across the nation. This use of logos emphasizes the fact

Flores 3 that so many teenagers have been lost to this feeling of being ostracized, and even though these losses have occurred, there are still actions we can take to help those who are still in trouble. The spokespeople of this ad do not only appeal to their audience with the logic behind the need for their cause, but also with their use of ethos. In order to appeal to a broader demographic, the creators of this ad had celebrities, such as Gene Simmons and Slash, speak for this cause. It portrays the idea that since these celebrities, whom we seem to put on a high pedestal, feel this strongly about the bullying and suicide epidemic amongst LGBT youth, maybe everyone else should, too. Even though these celebrities are speaking, there is definitely a sense of closeness within this ad and that has a lot to do with the setting. This ad, like all of the other ads from the NOH8 campaign, has a plain white background and all of the spokespeople in this setting wear white as well. All of these celebrities are standing, presumably, and the camera focuses only on their faces, and this allows the audience to truly see what the spokespeople are feelingit creates a sense of sincerity. By wearing all white, there is that notion that everyone is the samethey are all one. Not only do they create that notion of unity by wearing white, but the general tone of this ad is established as solemn and conversational. They use words such we and you and I, to personalize their message even furtherthey want to get their point across that no one is ever alone, and that even with their higher status, they truly care. The previous two rhetorical appeals do not make up this entire PSA, though. The use of pathos is especially crucial in appealing to the intended audience. This ad has an extremely strong focus on the actions of adults, which ultimately result in the actions of the youth, especially the suicide that ensues as a result of bullying and abuse. The LGBT community has been continuously put down by political and religious leaders, who then influence the rest of the adults in this country, who then influence their children. The ad validates this point by going on

Flores 4 to point out that people in the LGBT community cannot get married, cannot donate blood, and cannot adopt in certain states. The laws that allow this type of discrimination, according to the ad, teach bullies that discrimination on another level is acceptable. Kids are then left feeling that there are no solutions to their problems because they are not accepted by anyone. This also extends to every type of social media possible, the most popular example being Facebook. Because of the relentless bullying, there has been in epidemic in LGBT youth suicide. These rising numbers insinuate that the youth of the LGBT community feel trapped, they feel that their only escape is suicide because they are either ostracized by everyone or just do not know how to ask for help. The spokespeople in this ad strongly encourage that they get help and be the change that they want to see in this campaign for LGBT rights. This PSA fully embodies all three rhetorical appeals in the sense that they all combine to put across a common message: bullying is a major problem, and the influence of biased adults creates a trickling-down of homophobia, which ultimately leads to the epidemic of LGBT youth suicides. The logos aspect of this ad is demonstrated by addressing those who may be biased, or know people who may be biased, and encouraging change through logical appeals such as statistics, etc. so that lives will be saved. The ethos aspect of this ad is demonstrated by the established conversational tone and the personalization of this adby using key words and dressing uniformly, they send the message of unity and genuine concern. The pathos aspect of this ad is demonstrated by the emphasis on the effect of bullying, mainly suicide, which evokes a strong emotional response from the audience. With the combination of these three appeals, this ad is really sending the message that help can come in the form of being the change that they want to see. Communication is also essential if this change is going to be made, and if parents allow their kids to feel this strong sense of homophobia, they really should not question this

Flores 5 epidemic of suicide. This PSA strongly emphasizes that bullying hurts and it may start off as fun, but interpretation is key and it can make or break a life-changing, or life-ending, decision.