Ethics in Graphic Design.

As Graphic Designers and more importantly, Visual Communicators, we hold a lot of power in the realms of persuasion, influencing and promotion. But are the projects that we create moral, immoral or amoral to both our personal belief and society's beliefs? There is no opportunity for a piece of work to be moral to all, what we personally believe someone else will not, in which case every piece of design that we produce is amoral in general. For example, the campaign poster for the fast food branch Burger King is promoting their King Deal Meal. Indeed it is promoting fast food, in the content of burger, chips and a drink for £1.99, but it is arguably promoting obeseity and ill health. Being set against a black background the bold, white font is very strong and appealing on the eye, and using the personal pronouns such as 'you'll' and 'us' draws in even more attenition as they connect the poster to the client. The visual heirachy of the poster is very cleverly planned and layout perfectly to grab the attention straight. Eyes are drawn instantly to the catch line 'You'll feel like you robbed us', the line itself making the potential consumer question what the action was before hand to come to this conclusion. In terms of ethics and morals, on the positive side of this it is promoting a meal deal for Burger King which therefore ups marketing and sales, increasing profits, making it moral to the company. However, the designer of this poster could be classed as producing an immoral design, as it promotes the consumption of fast food for a cheap price, which if ate in high amounts could lead to diabeties, heart complications, and obesity, which is a growing problem in today's society, especially in the western world. This means that with the mixture of morality and immorality, the design is amoral. Every context of design is amoral, whether it be a promotion, campaign, or personal beliefs. Not every member of the public, or even people within your social group can agree or believe in what you believe in, however this is what keeps art exciting, rule bending and ruthless.

Bibliography
http://www.bk.com/