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Hate the Wait Launched for Organ Donations Essay

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The New York Donor Network launched a memorable ad campaign in August of 2013 called “Hate the Wait” to encourage organ donation registration among New Yorkers. Ten-thousand New Yorkers are on the organ transplant waiting lists and a new name is added ever two and a half hours, yet the percentage of New Yorkers registered as organ donors is less than half the national average. One of these ads was placed on New York City subways (see fig. 1). With the new ad, the donor network is targeting New Yorkers apathetic to organ donation to make them care enough to register as a donor. Other ad campaigns including New York Donor Network's past “Keep Life Going” ads often feature bright colors, smiling faces, and words of gratitude from …show more content…

By comparing people “waiting in line” for an organ transplant with waiting in line for a subway, the piece argues that the needs of organ transplant patient so far exceeds the petty annoyances of everyday waiting in line. The piece argues that waiting in line for an organ is far worse than waiting in line for traffic or at checkout because the consequences are so grave. People do not usually die waiting in traffic or in line at the grocery store checkout lane. Still, most people feel that waiting in line in traffic or at checkout is outrageous and are problems that should be prevented by better infrastructure or more cashiers. The idea of people waiting in line for a life-saving organ transplant can kindle the same feeling of outrage and make people feel this too is a problem which should be prevented. The dark colors fit with the focus on death and give a serious feel to the ad. The dead man's pale feet and washed-out jeans are the only significant contrast the dark background colors of the visual, which make him stand out as the obvious subject of the piece. He is also the only one not wearing shoes, which not only makes him stand out but also communicates that he is dead because of the body identification tag around his toe. The viewer's eye naturally follows the line from the “first” man who's shoes are lower in the image, down the line

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