Rhetorical Image

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/bold_tree?size=_original

I found this image on the internet and thought it was interesting. It is a picture of an overweight boy climbing a tree to get to his video game hanging from the branches. The caption reads "Encourage your children to do more sport" and was made by BOLD, which is the Belgian Association for Obese Patients. The argument is being made that many young children are obese and need to exercise to keep them healthy. The author is BOLD, who is addressing the parents of children. The audience can be determined by the text when is says "encourage your children..." which is speaking to the parent. Specifically, the audience are the parents of obese children. The picture also makes a connection between obesity and video games. It implies that obese children generally play lots of video games and so it can be used to get them to exercise. While this may or may not be true, the ad tries to get parents to believe that playing video games will cause their children to become overweight. The video game console not only represents video games, but probably all forms of indoor sedentary entertainment. The boy climbing the tree represents outdoor exercise. This is persuading the parent to perhaps use entertainment as a means of getting children to do some exercise by integrating it into their daily routine. It does not communicate that video games should be thrown out all together, but that it should be done in moderation and after exercise.