“Vuvuzela is a long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet, which makes a very loud noise when you blow it and is popular with football fans in South Africa”. – Oxford Dictionary 2010 Edition.
The Vuvuzela was a major discussion in 2010 world cup in South Africa. Today after two months and according to websites from different countries (India, Zimbabwe, Australia …) this instrument becomes an English term in the Oxford Dictionary new Edition with other 2,000 new words.
ndtv.com (Indian website) and abc.net.au (Australian news website) websites introduce this subject with a picture of the instrument taken from the last world cup in South Africa. A picture is a great tool to give the reader a hint about the subject… but is it the right one to use?
According to Oxford Dictionary the Vuvuzela makes a very loud noise, so a video is more important in this situation to let us hear how bad the noise is. The Indian website briefly wrote about this article while ABC news gave much more interesting information but with a poor graphic design.
zimdiaspora.com, newstime.co.za, asianage.com and theaustralian.com.au did not add a single picture of the instrument. Authors of these articles focused more on the information of the story itself more than focusing on the design; they didn’t give any importance to the visual point of the article.
On another hand Theaustralian.com. au included on the same page a video on the Australian federal elections which practically killed all type of interest in the vuvuzela article.
Articles can be bringing valid information to the readers but if they are not well presented, the message may not reach the intended audience and therefore it may not reach its purpose.
In this particular case, introducing a new world to the English dictionary failed to reach to the people and impact them because of the poor media and its related design.
REFERENCE:
Unknown (2010), “Vuvuzela gets entry in Oxford Dictionary” Available:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/vuvuzela-gets-entry-in-oxford-dictionary-45762
Editor (2010), “Vuvuzelas blows way into Oxford Dictionary”, Available:
http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3821:vuvuzelas-blows-way-into-oxford-dictionary&catid=38:travel-tips&Itemid=18
Shelembe, S. (2010), “Vuvuzela blows its way into the Oxford English Dictionary”, Available:
http://www.newstime.co.za/Lifestyle/Vuvuzela_blows_its_way_into_the_Oxford_English_Dictionary/9583/
Montoedi, I. (2010), “Vuvuzela earns place in Oxford”, Available:
http://www.asianage.com/international/vuvuzela-earns-place-oxford-807
Santow, S. & wires (2010), “Vuvuzela blows into dictionary”, Available:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/19/2987714.htm?section=world
Staff writers (2010), “Vuvuzelas blare their way into dictionary”, Available:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/vuvuzelas-blare-their-way-into-dictionary/story-fn3dxity-1225907318277
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