Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter Twelve Editorials, Opinion Pieces, Columns, Blogs and Cartoons 381 Suppose a local community college offers your football team something that seems too good to be true—college credit for off-season weight training. But your publication has discovered that the summer weight training program will deplete most of your football budget if the players sign up. In such a case, your editorial cartoon can portray the situation with a reference to Little Red Riding Hood. Most of your audience will recognize the story. A burly football player dressed like Little Red and the wolf in Grandma’s bed labeled with the name of the community college would make an allusion to a well-known fairy tale. (This allusion works even better if one of your school colors is red.) Or the weight training could be a Trojan horse, community college offi cials the Greeks and the high school football fund could be the city of Troy about to be raided. Song lyrics, movies and books all help editorial artists communicate, but the artist and the section editors should use multiple responders to make sure most of the audience understands the references. An editorial cartoon is no place for an inside joke. Be sure to use a variety of responders to see what your cartoon communicates (Figure 12.13 above). Clip or print three editorial cartoons or editorial illustrations: one that relies on labels, one that relies on symbols and one that relies on an allusion to a commonly known story or saying. Your Turn Cl i Figure 12.13 Get opinions, as many as you think necessary, to make sure that the majority of your audience will “get” your metaphors and allusions. The point of these references is to clarify and strengthen your message, not show off your vast knowledge.