Sample Short Response – WWF ‘Panda/Tuna’ Image
The WWF image of the tuna wearing a panda mask is persuading people to care more
about the crisis of over-fishing tuna in the world’s oceans through the use of a playful humor
and intentional focus.
The main visual feature is the tuna wearing a cute panda mask. This feature directly
relates to the main text of the image, a question asking “would you care more if I was a
panda?” This question, in quotation marks, is intended to be coming from the tuna itself. It is
insinuating that people care more about cute or cuddly animals, like a panda, than they do
about fish like tuna. It plays on or natural belief that some animals are more important than
others.
The other prominent visual feature is that all other tuna are blurred in the background of
the image. By shifting the priority of the image to the masked fish, it isolates that fish as more
important than the rest. The other fish are just nameless side characters in the story of the
image, while the central fish is larger and more brightly lit.
Overall, the image effectively asks the audience to rethink the way they look at the
struggle of animals by using humor and focused lighting, reminding the audience that all
animals are living creatures, even the less loveable ones.