Week 7 & 8 Reading Response #1

The advertisement for the National Institute of Mental Health is primarily in Spanish because that is the target audience. It is partly in English so it covers a wider audience as well. It also mentions that Rodolfo is a university student so it covers that audience as well. I think the bottom line for the target audience is men, all men. For me, to answer the question of why the designers put the phrase, “Real Men. Real Depression.” In English doesn’t matter. The advertisement is in both English and Spanish so it targets a wide range of readers. The phrase itself is meant to persuade men in general that to acknowledge depression is more manly than not. Society has us convinced that men should not be depressed, that it is not in us to be depressed. Depression is for women. I personally know of several women who are being treated for depression but I don’t recall any men that I know of admitting that they are depressed or that they are being treated for depression. I think men have been taught that to admit that they are depressed would be shameful. From the advertisement one can assume that that is even more so in the Latino culture. Pride is a difficult thing to overcome. Most men are very prideful and again it’s that manly pride that gets us into more trouble that it gets us out of. Also the fact that Rodolfo is a university student assumes that he is more educated than most Latinos, especially immigrants or migrant workers.