The first example of the print materials is a pale grey A2 size poster titled: NA U KENA BANENG? E!! The title is a Sesotho question asking if one likes to go out with young ones (youth), or it can be interpreted as asking if one likes to have a ‘nice-time’ (that involves sexual intercourse) with young people. At the top, situated in the center of the poster is a coat of arms logo. Immediately underneath the coat of arms, again situated in the middle, is the above mentioned title. The title is followed by an array of pictures of young people (youth):
four males and four females in different occupations, from those who look like they are engaged in white collar jobs, or are school learners, to a taxi driver and a commercial sex worker. These pictures are individually positioned in a circular composition, though attached to each other to form a big circle. Inside the circle is a web of lines, with each line pointing at two pictures, suggesting that it is connecting them. However, all pictures are pointed at by more than one line. For instance, one of the pictures is pointed at by four lines that extend from four different pictures. All the pictures connect to each other through these lines.
Beneath the pictures is a Sesotho text: BONA HEE, HIV E KENA LE UENA. This means,
‘look HIV enters nice-time with you’. This expression seems to answer the question asked in the title, because it informs the person who was asked whether he or she likes a ‘nice-time’
that, if so, HIV will accompany him or her there.
Below the expression is a meandering light brown line, below which lie five logos. On the far left is the Ministry of Health logo, which indicates that the poster is an initiative of the
ministry. Next to it, with a red dot on a white background, is one that represents the
Government and the people of Japan. Immediately below it is one that represents the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Next to these is the Health Education Division logo (as an indication that the poster was approved by the division on behalf of the ministry) and on the far right is one that represents the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The poster is undated.
133 Diagram 11: THE POSTER (Lesotho Ministry of Health)
5.1.1 ANALYSIS OF THE POSTER
The material is a poster indicating a web of possible sexual interpersonal relationships. That is, it shows eight photographs portraying people, eight in all (four males and four females), connected to each other by a web of lines. Based on Barthes’ systematic model, through which the role of meaning in a text and the process of reading can be analysed, the poster was
examined using Barthes’s two orders of signification, the first order (denotation) and the second order (connotation).
134 The poster contains denoted signs (numerous words and several pictures) with the connoted message that all people run the risk of being infected and, in turn, infecting others with the HI Virus, regardless of their educational, economic or social status, unless this fact is proven otherwise. The text (words) and pictures (images) seem to complement each other and, by forming parts of the general message, can be understood as a syntagm (Arbuckle 2014) to which each part contributes its own distinct information. In the analysis, it was assumed that even illiterate people would be able to interpret the intended message from looking at the picture because they would be familiar with the type of people shown, though the findings of others in the literature (Arbuckle, 2014, Carstens, Maes and Gangla-Birir, 2006 and Carstens, 2004b) seemed to contradict this assumption because the connotation or underlying meaning of the poster is not presented in an analogous way. That is, it does not show the people actually having sex with each other, but relies on the linking lines to symbolize that they might do. The anchorage provided by the text message is what determines or pins down the connotation; otherwise they could perhaps be seen as members of a social club, savings club or church movement, for example. However, it was concluded that the message was
constructed in such a way that its essence was elaborated in the picture, and in the same manner the picture message was anchored and relayed in the title and subtitle for their meaning to be determined.
The web of lines in the middle of the pictures symbolized the connections between those who like a ‘nice time’. The web is a metaphor for the way HIV spreads, indicating that each person connects through sexual intercourse, and with more than one person, without knowing it. The phrase ‘nice time’ was understoodto represent a euphemism for risky behaviour mainly associated with unprotected sexual intercourse and HIV, especially because the title continues to indicate that HIV enters ‘nice times’ with those who like to engage in such activities. Thus, the poster consists of vivid layers of meaning (Barthes, in van Leeuwen and Jewitt, 2001) that portray HIV related high-risk behaviour conducted by males and females who look so
ordinary and healthy. This means one cannot tell, from merely looking at them, which one is infected with HIV and which one is not. The poster, it was assumed was an initiative of more than one government ministry, since it had the coat of arms logo (which represent the
135 Government of Lesotho). The coat of arms could also be interpreted as representing
institutional authenticity, and this official status gives the message a certain credibility.
The researcher’s reaction to the material was that it was visually readable in that words were written in a large enough font and the colours were generally bright, making it attractive to look at. In addition to the appearance of the text, Carstens and Snyman (2003), citing Mody (1991), argue that readability is promoted by the reader’s prior knowledge. Lookability, according to Carstens and Snyman (2003), involves the quality that the materials possess (due to the design) and the capacity of the reader to make sense out of the visual information such as photographs, graphics, symbols, typography, and the reader’s ability to link headings, bullets, numbering and summaries. Carstens and Snyman (2003: 129) expound that this should include a statement of purpose in order for the material designer to try to reduce the reader’s “cognitive load” whereby it will not be difficult for the readers “to recognize individual elements and attribute relevant roles to them in the depicted scene or situation”.
Carstens and Snyman (2003: 129) argue that readers also have to “recognize and understand abstract elements and conventions suggesting meaning aspects that cannot be visualized directly (such as action and states of mind); and they have to combine all this to derive the ultimate message.” This is because even though some pictures may appear to be simple, it may not be easy for the reader to process the desired opinions that are being conveyed or to interpret them.
The poster was therefore understood as intending to make people, especially youth and young adults, aware of the extent of the HIV risk that a single love affair or sexual relationship entails. This is because one partner does not know what other sexually related activities the other partner engages in. This poster, in this respect, was an eye-opener and it subjects one to undergo an introspection (examine his or her thoughts and feelings) and to realise the degree of HIV risk involved in the interpersonal relationship that one is presently engaged in, as well as the ones that one has had before. This had the effect of making one feel scared.
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5.1.2 CRITIQUE OF THE POSTER
In relation to the poster’s communication value, it appears that a viewer would already need to be aware of HIV issues to appreciate the full implications of the intended message. For
instance, a viewer would need to know how HIV is transmitted in order to infer what is happening in the poster. Also, depending on the geographic location and the level of education, a viewer would need to be willing to make their own connections in order to understand that the poster is addressing them in particular, because the pictures are not
inclusive of all sectors of Basotho society, not even members of the youth fraternity outside of tertiary education. For example, the dress of the characters in the photographs does not
represent people from the rural areas, making it highly possible that they may think that the message is aimed at the urban population. Thus, the material has not included the total
population of the target group in terms of their knowledge, culture and life experience. Since I did not have the opportunity to meet the material producer, including others who were
involved in the ministry’s pre-test exercise, nor to access the pre-test report, it was not possible to find out how others, besides the participating learners, felt about this poster.