A Post About Schizophrenia, Facebook ads, and Images w/long Image Descriptions and my BS Commentary
I've been meaning to rebegin hi bbs!!
I’m here writing more on the mentally illest, a post that I think is appropriate for the name of the blog, at least. I abandoned my written and art made tarot exploration, as I have abandoned many projects this past year. The more you fail at the more other things you succeed at, am I right? That’s how it works.
I continue to explore tarot on my own. And I still make art! Perhaps I will start posting it on here with image descriptions. In any case, most recently, I have been collecting and thinking on these schizophrenia study ads as I scroll during the day. I think they’re rhetorically interesting. I’ll let you know why in the below image descriptions plus my bullshit commentary.
In this first image above, one of my favorites from the study ads, a person stands in front of a lit doorway. Their shadow is slightly elongated. Text reads: Living with schizophrenia? What if an app could help? Compensation available. The background is blue. // I love this one. I think it is one of the best of the lot because we all have a shadow, and some of us are more willing than others to acknowledge that shadow side. In any case. Maybe I should read Jung, IDK.
Now this one is my ultimate favorite. I love that the inside of this persons head looks like a Dali painting. At the front of the composition, there is a person turned with their back to the viewer. There is a second layer, purple stairs which the figure in the foreground seems to ascend. The layer behind that, is a head thAT IS EMPTY save being half filled with water… from which a bare tree grows. Branches like bones against the back of a yellow sky. Fog or clouds linger at about half the height of the tree. / A yellow traingle is layered behind with a half circle in bright pink just below the tip of the triangle. text reads: schizophrenia trial opportunity. We’re working to improve quality of life for those with schizophrenia. compensation available.
A person in black and white sits crosslegged and hunched down in a hoodie and a winter coat. They seem to be on a platform in the sky. There are clouds or fog surrounding the person. Text reads: Living with schizophrenia? Compensation available. This one is in grayscale. The person does not have a face. They are hunched over as if in pain, ashamed, or something bad.
I hate this one. There is a black faceless figure giving a bear hug to a man from behind. The man is not resisting and is head down looking at the ground. The second figure is being shouted at by ghosties and the third has face in their hands along with about 10 ellipticals that intersect with the person’s head and look like some insane crown.
A GIANT BLOB ENVELOPS A GIRL WITH ITS MOUTH AND VACANT EYES can you guess her posture? She is hunched into her knees with her face in her elbows.
This one is in black and white. It’s a figure that looks ephemeral, it kind of has a body that trails off into vines or veins IDK. There were 4 crows animated and chaotically flying around in this ad. Text reads struggling with schizophrenia?
We’ve reached the pinnacle of badness and yes friends it is a fucking ridiculous superVILLIAN AND MASS MURDERER? The joker. Oh and btw I think he’s DROWNING. When you hover over the ad it animated so that the joker’s face here was showing underneath shimmering water. His hair waves ;like a mermaid’s.
A woman with her arms crossed in front of her chest with her face downturned and flush and is ghostly replicated to her right but this time with her hands on her head and her mouth open seemingly exclaiming in pain or surprise, maybe, with her eyes shut.
A woman covers her face. Above her and around her head you can see four minature hers one with hearts above her one with fire, one qwith sunshine where she’s smiling and one with tears nad clouds above her face. This one isn’t bad because it shows people with schizophrenia have a range of feelings. Though still, it bothers me that the face is covered over in the main picture.
This one is from Manhattan Psych Center. It is of a face with puzzle pieces missing. If you look closely none of them fit to “complete“ the head. Maybe that’s their metaphor. I don’t really like this one. It is like they’re picturing their research subjects as puzzles. When they are ppl.
THIS ONE IS WORSE< YALE». Same idea as the image above this one with the puzzle pieces but this time it’s just ripped paper pieces. They don’t even “go together“ like the puzzle image gives the previous image. There’s a destruction without recuperation feel to this image.
A woman’s reflection upside down plus her face, upright, from the nose down. She has a blank expression in the upside down image.
Two figures merge with their backs towards one another. One is navy blue the other is sky blue. .
A woman straight mouthed looks ahead. She is ghosted in four other images of her with varying levels of pain and disocmfort on their replicated faces.
A man is naked from the waist up he looks like he might be writhing. There are ten other faces in states of pain all emerging from a grey goo.
A painting with vertical lines in many bold emotional colors: reds, yellows, blues, greens. There is a person looking up with their arms outstretched and hands facing up. There are no irises or pupils in the eyes.
A woman with dark long hair holds her fists up to her temples and scowls.
A cartoon person covers their face with both their hands. Spikes like red lightning come out of their head.
A man looks at the sky out his window as though he is pleading with the Lard himself. A younger man looks off into the distance. It appears to be raining inside.
I guess I want to know a few things so I’m posting this on the internet in hopes that someone who knows more than I do reads this and responds to me.
who designs the shit imagery in these fucking ads?
who would think that it would beckon me to want to participate in your study—these miserable cartooned usually no-faces that are in varying levels of distress, panic, and possible homicidal rage (see the joker drowning from above). I mean I’m not saying it’s a fucking picnic to be a schizo but I am just appalled that these no-face quasi-humans in pain states are the only representation that I get.
how does facebook know to target me for these ads? THIS I RLY WANNA KNOW. Does it target young people for ads like this too? I CAN SEE THIS MAKING ME EVEN MORE INSANE WERE I PSYCHOTIC. I think this shit is fucked and we need a data bill of rights.
Meds ads to doctors. How do they represent schizophrenia? This I’m going to do some research on myself because this must be available somewhere.
I am ending there for now. This took me days to write and I feel like I barely even used full sentences. Maybe I’ll write something prettier next time. Like a poem.
Yours,
Sarah