Ithaca College

Cory Young, assistant professor in the communication management and design program in the Department of Strategic Communication, authored a chapter in the recently published book, Visual Impact: The Power of Visual Persuasion, edited by Susan Barnes.

Young's chapter, entitled "The Power of Visual Images: Constructions of Mexicans in Two 1996 Presidential Advertisements," offers an analysis of two negative political advertisements that were aired in late June 1996, and were pulled because many Hispanics complained the ads were racist.

In the advertisements, Mexicans were conflated with the issue of illegal immigration through the use of "dark-skinned" men jumping over a border. The chapter attempts to explore the complex relationship between images and text to capture the power of visual persuasion.