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Humans of New York as a Persuasive Artifact

Jennifer Minogue

Nova Southeastern University

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Humans of New York and Persuasion

Art as persuasion comes in many forms. From movies, such as Brokeback Mountain, to

paintings done by Banksy, to gangsta rap lyrics that influence societies perception on racism;

messages are created to be interpreted by those whom receive it. In addition, storytelling

captures audiences from all demographics. By combining two powerful ways of influencing an

audience, Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York, has found the formula that has

captivated the globe.

Brandon Stanton, a photographer from New York compiles portraits of everyday

people. A project which originated in New York City, one of the most diverse areas of our

world, has now become a global project spanning throughout dozens of countries. By using

these photos, Brandon has created visual rhetoric combined with narratives which humanizes

thousands and allows others to help on their behalf. According to Sonja Fosss Theory of Visual

Rhetoric, there are three characteristics that make a visual image rhetorical. These

characteristics are of the following: the image must be symbolic, involve human intervention,

and be presented to an audience for the purpose of communicating with that audience (Beeson,

2015, p. 239). According to his website, Brandon Stanton began a photography project in 2010,

with a goal of photographing 10,000 New Yorkers. At first he began with simple portraits of

random people that he happened to encounter. After a short while of taking pictures of people,

the people he was photographing would say things to him, which started him to begin quoting

them next to their pictures. He started a blog called Humans of New York, and now has over 18

million followers on Facebook alone. HONYs (Humans of New Yorks) work receives its

meaning when people view the images. Satisfying criteria one of Fosss theory, the images that

Brandon creates are symbolic because like a stop sign, the photos would be just pictures of
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random people just as a stop sign would just be a sign that said stop. They become symbolic

because people attach meaning to each picture, leading them to think of these people in a

different way. This leads into part two of her theory which states that human intervention is

needed to establish visual rhetoric. By using his camera to capture the moment that a person is

in, Brandon can make that person the focal point, when usually, they would be somewhere in the

background. Without explicitly stating what his cause is, Brandons photos illicit reactions to

people initially seeing the pictures, and allow them to make assumptions based on their own

lenses of life. The viewers place their own perception on these people based on their life, and

their experiences. When the audience can read the quotes next to the portraits, it allows them to

see levels that are beneath the surface of what they have may originally presumed. To satisfy the

third part of Fosss theory, Brandons images communicate a message of unity, a message that

despite what we see on the outside, everyone in this world has a story.

Speaking of stories, stories are the most powerful delivery tool for information, more

powerful and enduring than any other art form (Duarte,2010,p.16). Brandons discovery of

using stories along with his visual rhetoric gave him the formula to provide very powerful pieces

of work. According to Duarte (2010), we empathize with characters that have challenges in life

that are similar to our own. When we hear a story, our bodies chemicals change and our minds

become fixated on the subject at hand. Brandon recently visited a plethora of places outside of

the United States. His travels led him to Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ukraine, India, Nepal, Vietnam, and Mexico. In many of

these countries, he used the power of visual rhetoric, mixed with storytelling to re-humanize

people, especially in areas of the world in which there is great stigma attached to the places and

people who live there. In many of his pictures and captions, people from everywhere felt
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connected and inspired to not only accept those who are different, but help. In 2015, according

to Brandon visited Pakistan to help raise awareness of Syeda Ghulam Fatima's efforts to help

Pakistani brick workers that had become bonded laborers. His original post when first arriving

in Pakistan was of Syeda Ghulam Fatima in a bright yellow garment that was juxtaposed by all

red rock behind her. His caption stated Described as a modern day Harriet Tubman, Fatima has

devoted her life to ending bonded labor. She has been shot, electrocuted, and beaten numerous

times for her activism"(Gringberg & France, 2015). Another story was of a man that found

himself in the situation of becoming a bonded brick worker. "My sister's kidneys were failing.

We tried to raise the money to save her. We sold our cattle. We sold our property. We sold

everything we had. When we ran out of options, I took a 5,000 rupee loan ($50) from the brick

kiln. I thought I could pay it back by working for 15 or 20 days. Within weeks the loan turned to

11,000 rupees ($108), then 30,000 ($294). Now his debt is 350,000, the equivalent of $3,400.

"My sister died a long time agoThere's no way out. Soon my debt will pass on to the next

generation (Gringberg & France, 2015). After many days of posting the stories of the bonded

brick workers, and allowing millions to view these stories from their home, Brandon set up a link

on his page allowing individuals to donate money to help these people in need. In 12 hours 1

million dollars was received, in 48 hours, the amount doubled (Gringberg & France,2015). This

shows that not only do his posts change peoples minds about who people are from first look, but

it also persuades them to act and to help something bigger than themselves. Without these posts,

people from across the globe are just names, but by sharing a picture and their story, Brandon

gives them a place in the audiences heart, and makes them feel an urgent need to help in any

way possible.
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Another part of what makes HONY so successful is because his work reaches all

demographics. According to Beeson (2015), demographics, which are characteristics of a

population, psychographics, which is the study of groups of peoples life styles, and age and

gender are all factors that contribute to how companies advertise products, and services.

Although HONY is not advertising good or services, (Brandon does sell books with his material,

so in this case, he might be trying to sell those), the blog is still looking to persuade its audience.

There is not a specific niche that he presents his work to. Regardless to whether his audience is

young, old, college age, black, white, Spanish, ectthere is surely at least one story that any

person can relate to. In another charity effort for Mott Hall Bridges Academy, which is known

as a safe zone in a high crime neighborhood in New York, Brandon met a young, African

American boy named Vidal. Standing in the street outside of his housing project, the boy wore a

hooded sweatshirt, his face, a mix between hope and sadness. According to Whiteman (2015),

Vidal was asked who his greatest influence was in life, and he replied that it was his principle.

Over the next few weeks in the year of 2015, Brandon took photos of Vidals principal along

with other school employees. Little did Brandon know, Ms. Lopez, the principal, was planning

to quit before Brandons work started, and before she knew of young Vidals hope in her as an

individual. Not only did Vidal renew her faith in her skills as a principal, but the positive

comments and hope that strangers offered her also persuaded her to keep her job. Brandon once

again set up a campaign to raise awareness of the Mott Hall Bridge Academy, and raise money to

send the children that attend the school to Harvard for a field trip. According to Gringberg &

France (2015), within only 45 minutes of the campaign, over 100,000 dollars was donated. The

huge outpour of donations over the time of the campaigns beginning to end, allowed the school

to set up a permanent scholarship fund for children, in addition to yearly field trips to Harvard
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University for the students. Regardless of age, gender, race, everyone that has heard Vidal and

the schools story, was sure to have been influenced in some way. Whether it be rethinking the

conditions in poor neighborhoods, to contributing money towards a cause that helps those

children.

Humans of New York uses the power of visual rhetoric in conjunction with narratives to

create a highly influential blog. The audience not only rethinks their original perception of

people that they see at first glance, but also feel connected to these people and feel responsible

for their lives. By reaching all demographics and audiences, HONY has captivated millions and

has had the power to make changes for individuals around the globe. By combining portraits,

with short quotes to go along with them, people have captured a piece of humanity and have

continued to act and make change.

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Works Cited

Beeson, L. L. (n.d.). Persuasion Theory and Applications (Ser. 2015). Oxford University Press.

Duarte, N. (2010). Resonate. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH.

Grinberg , %., & France, L. (2015, January 29). Boy's 'Humans of New York' image helps raise
more than $1 million. CNN.

Humansofnewyork. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2017, from http://www.humansofnewyork.com/

Whiteman, H. (2015, August 19). The photos that raised $2 million to free bonded brick
workers. CNN.