Category Archives: psa-propaganda

Propaganda

A photo of Lady Liberty with her scales tipped by money, and a large silhouette behind her.

Vee Malone would back this poster because she’s seen firsthand how justice isn’t blind, it’s bought. She’s worked cases where the powerful walk free while the innocent get buried, and she knows the system isn’t built to protect everyone—just the ones who can afford it. This poster speaks to her core beliefs, fighting for the forgotten, exposing corruption, and making sure no one gets erased just because they don’t have money or influence. She doesn’t trust institutions to fix themselves, but she believes the truth can still make a difference. With making the poster itself, I used Canva in order to design it. I knew I wanted to include Lady Liberty, as she is a symbol of justice. I found a photo of her holding the scales, yet they are tipped due to money being on one side. Then, the large silhouette behind her is to represent the rich and powerful people who tend to tip the scales in order to serve themselves. Also, I did a “money green” background to emphasize the meaning behind the poster. Finally, the powerful message, “The System Protects The Powerful, Who Protects You?”. It is pretty self-explanatory, but it is also a call-to-action for people to take notice of what is going on in the justice system.

Femme Fatale Propaganda

I created a negative, name-calling, and hateful type of propaganda towards femme fatales and temptresses. Femme Fatales that are in Noir Films can be seen as dark, dangerous, and seductive; Or known as being too “free”, wild, or unorthodox. This poster was intended to have a futuristic take on anti-femme fatale propaganda. This propaganda would come from those that feel anxious or threatened by women holding some type of power and then trying to suppress them. Femme Fatales may not always have the best intentions but in a deeper look into the hatred for femme fatales, it’s also about people and media portraying that women overall should be submissive, obedient, and innocent. Rather than independent or dominant.

Femme Fatales can also represent power, and that idea goes against the masculine rule of patriarchy. The idea that a woman must subject herself to submission in order to survive. Although, even in a lot of femme fatale noir films women face animosity from men and in the end their “power” or “dominance” is taken in some type of way. Which really defeats the whole purpose. It’s seen that these are evil women who need to be punished or called out on.

My character Sapphria Mae’s archetype is femme fatale so that is why I created this poster. I know in real life, even in futuristic times, she would probably face some type of hatred for her not adhering to the rules of patriarchy. Some may think that she needs to change, or she needs to fix her attitude. But she doesn’t. And she won’t. Muahah. Her power and independence are eternal and will never be able to be diminished.

Femme Fatales are not always the enemy. In either case, they will rise in adversity and will not be defeated by anti-fem propaganda.

I hope I demonstrated emotional appeal in this propaganda poster, aside from the reading to go along with it. Comment below and let me know what you think.

Wouldn’t Want to Hear This on the Radio!

For the PSA assignment, I decided to create an audio PSA in the style of the United States’ emergency broadcasts. I found an audio of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) that I liked on YouTube, and used a YouTube-to-mp3 tool to convert it into something I could manipulate. I had some difficulty at first finding a voice-to-text tool that I thought sounded human enough but also mechanical enough to mimic the actual EAS voice, but I settled on a site that uses Microsoft’s talk-to-text tools and allows you to download them from there. I used the “Tony” voice at 1 speed and -15 pitch. My script used similar language to an EAS broadcast, but I discussed an AI takeover rather than a weather event. I then found some soft radio hum on FreeSound, similar to what can be heard in the background of the EAS audio. I compiled everything in Audacity, and included some bumps in the radio hum audio to add to the eerie, unsafe feeling that I wanted this PSA to envoke.

Data PSA

This was so much fun to create! I decided to take a rule that Finn Callaway lives by (which you can check out here: https://ds106.rusulabbas.com/blog/uncategorized/tips-for-your-characters/) and turn it into a PSA poster. The image features a hand grabbing data points, with the data points in red to match the “Own It” part of the title, emphasizing what’s being owned.

While the design looks simple, I had a great time putting it together in Canva. I uploaded the hand image, and the data points are a Canva element. I added the text myself. Even though it’s straightforward, I really feel like the message comes across strong and clear.

Tips for your characters