Photographic Effects on Students' Perceptions of the Agriculture Industry

Photography is a staple in news media, in magazines, in marketing/advertising, in entertainment, and in public relations as a means of persuasion and illustration. The purpose of this study was to determine if photographs had a persuasive effect on reader opinion of the agriculture industry when standing alone and when coupled with agriculture news leads in magazines. A stratified random sample of students (N=300) was asked to complete two online surveys-pretest and post test. Parametric- and nonparametric-type questions were used to measure the reactions of students, most of whom had no strong association with agriculture or photography, toward an agriculture photograph, and asked if their reaction were influenced by associating the photographs with a positive agriculture news lead. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, and one-way ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. By using two photographs that represented different agriculture settings, this study showed how photographs can either heighten the public's fear of or renew its faith in the agriculture industry. This study showed that most respondents viewed photographs, negatively regardless of the presence of a news lead that depicted agriculture positively.