Introduction / Scenario Lead

What if one day you woke up and on every newspaper cover, every magazine, every T.V. station and every billboard you saw a picture of starving children working in a sweatshop with the words "STOP SLAVERY" accompanying that terrifying picture? Would you feel anything; any type of empathy, support, or outrage? My guess is that you and I would be ready to send money, get the government involved and protest that this be ended immediatly. When people see pictures they automatically relate on their ethos level, there has to be no convincing something is bad when you see with your own eyes another human being hurt. An iconic symbol, or picture can be a catalyst for change because it relates to so many people on such a personal level. It does not matter if you are rich or poor, male or female, white or black, it will touch everyone. 

One of the most significant human rights movements was the British anti-slavery, abolitionist movement. The British used many different and innovative styles of propaganda to get people to support the movement and the use of icons, and pictures was one of the most effective. The major player was the Brooks slave ship diagram, that did get produced in newspapers, ads, posters, cards and any other means to make people see how horrible this trade was. Another symbol that stuck out greatly and changed many peoples views was Josiah Wedgwood's design of the kneeling slave that was reproduced as an emblem of the movement. If these symbols could create so much tension and support at that time, I believe that it is still possible now and images can be as powerful today in human rights change.