I stumbled upon this image as I was researching environmental statistics for a speech I had to deliver in my speech class last week. My speech was on raising environmental awareness, and although I didn't have the opportunity to provide visuals, I feel that this image speaks to my topic in a way that words cannot.
Naturally, white sandy beaches, turquoise oceans, and pure blue skies evoke positive emotions and feelings of paradise, nature, calmness and opportunity in viewers. But here, we can see what lies beneath. Disturbing nature is something that the human species has become quite accustom to, to say the least. How are we to see nature as beautiful, and optimistic, when we directly and indirectly contribute to its disturbance on a daily basis.
While this image symbolizes our disrespect for our planet, it also suggests a loss of innocence. The little boy dressed in white represents innocence and our naive view of the world. When he literally lifts up the water, he discovers that "just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there". His "perfect view of world" has been compromised by this new perspective. Problems do not disappear by masking reality, but the first step in the solution process is identifying and accepting the problem as reality.
This powerful image provides viewers with motivation to make changes in their lives to help save the environment. It is suggesting that there is a greater problem than most of us believe there to be. And sometimes you cannot just look at the infinite horizon and see a perfect world when there is a problem right in front of you, or under your feet.
I liked that you brought up how this picture shows a loss of innocence. We can see this in his clothes, and in the way he is crouched down. The choice of a little boy in the ad is obvioulsy strategic and uses ethos and even perhaps implies a almost "polluted" future. If this was a gros man in the ad I think a lot of the emotion of the ad would be lost making it much less affective.
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