Part A – Analysis of Language Use
Introduction
While the overt intention of The Australian Government’s ‘Keep Australia Safe’ advertisement is both to inform people of the National Security Hotline and to encourage those who have any potentially helpful information to report it, it is also fair to assume that it serves the implicit purpose of suggesting that the current government is making earnest efforts – in this case via the establishment of such a service – to protect Australian citizens from the increasingly-felt threat of terrorism. Indeed, a more cynical interpretation might even go so far as to suggest that the ad’ itself is almost conspiratorially aimed at ensuring the supposed threat remains ‘increasingly-felt’ principally for the sake of political gain.
The validity of at least the former two (if not the latter) interpretations are readily demonstrated via the following analysis of language and imagery used therein:
Main Text
The first thing one (perhaps unconsciously) notices when confronted with the article is the large slab of black … out of which arises the image of geographical Australia – as if from the dark night – composed and consisting entirely of supposedly real-life quotes where conscientious citizens (eg. “I felt like I had to let you know”) demonstrate their competence in respect to likely terrorist activities (eg. “they have a lot of pool supplies…”). Here the geography of Australia is used to metaphorically represent our nation – its citizens and culture – as being somewhat ethereal or delicate (note the absence of fixed boarders in the image) and yet compositionally ensured by the good deeds of patriotic informers. Indeed, the proper noun, ‘Australia’, is likewise used throughout as patriotically synonymous with the nation state, and not just its geography.
The main text, ‘KEEP AUSTRALIA SAFE’, is reminiscent of the old and comparatively innocuous slogan, ‘Keep Australia Tidy’, where the verb serves a double function of both a command and a prompt to appreciate what we already have (i.e. a tidy and, as yet, terror free nation). As a sentence fragment, the slogan also remains somewhat ambiguous as to whether it’s essentially a directive, or, in conjunction with the attendant phrase “KEEP THE INFORMATION FLOWING”, it might not also operate more as an explanation (i.e. ‘The flow of information is what keeps Australia safe’). Moreover, the descriptive imagery of ‘flowing information’ provides further meaning to the image below: For those who have seen the cult film, The Matrix, the picture here will surely remind one the iconic imagery of reality as being composed entirely of a trickling flow of bits of green computer-data across an otherwise blank screen of nothingness. Even for those who have not (yet) seen the film, by now such pictorial metaphors effectively belong to the collective conscious.
The third element of the main text, which undoubtedly has been felt all along in the corner of the reader’s eye, is the heavily emboldened telephone number of the national security hotline, being both over and under-struck with thick boarders containing further text. If the reader had thought that the main text might be more explanatory than directive, such a confident and authoritative ‘stamping’ of the hotline’s number now leaves little room for confusion (as if the ad’ itself should later serve as an ad hoc emergency phone directory).
The declaration that ‘Trained operators take every call seriously’, at once reassures the prospective informer that they will know will know what is best, but also subtly warns against those cynical or mischievous sorts who might otherwise be tempted to call the government’s ‘bluff’. Indeed, it is little wonder then that the assurance that ‘You can remain anonymous’ follows rather than precedes it. Also, it thereby seeks to placate those who might be cautious regarding the typically Australian disapproval of the ‘dobber’.
In summary, the short, capitalised and emboldened main text demands the reader’s attention, getting the core of the message across quickly, yet without giving too much away. (For instance, there has so far been no mention of the ‘T’ word, encouraging the reader to read on.)
Subsidiary Text
At first glance, the second instance of sentence-fragmentary sloganising is apparently only of an explanatory nature. And yet, tied to the reiterative (if not outright repetitive) ‘fine print’, we see that, again, it is shrewdly directive that the reader should regard even the slightest suspicion as serious (if not outright paranoid, as the cynical reader might wish to conjecture).
Furthermore, the invocation of chronology (i.e. ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’) makes prominent in the reader’s mind that the real threat of terrorist acts is always potentially immanent, and that now is the appropriate time for calling the hotline. Indeed, the reader’s curiosity that this advertisement is indeed a response to the supposedly heightened threat of suicide-bomber-type terrorism (and not, say, of computer hacking) is almost masochistically rewarded only now that the reader has been drawn all the way into engaging with the secondary text.
Moreover, in a polite and colloquial manner (eg. ‘So if…’ and ‘please’), the passage implies that, contrary to what was said above, not competence, but rather fearful intuition (i.e. “something that just doesn’t feel right”) should be one’s guide in determining the validity of one’s suspicions (as opposed to paranoias).
Finally, in a fine and delicate crest, the Government’s official seal is humbly placed against a white and open background in the bottom-corner position giving it the appearance of light, purity and innocence, whilst at the same time branding the ad’ with the mark of authority.
Summary
While it is certainly the intention of the government’s ‘Keep Australia Safe’ advertisement to announce the establishment of a National Security Hotline, from what we have seen in the above analysis, there is good reason to suspect that, for whatever reason, it is also the government’s desire to appear as effective in the so-called fight against (in this case) homeland-terrorism as possible. And although it may go too far, from the evidence seen, to cynically suppose that the government is purposefully hyping-up the threat of terrorism for their own political gains, there should be little doubt that the emotion of fear is of principal rhetorical force in ensuring this ad’ is as effective as possible.
