Analysis of Baby-Boom Promoting Billboards in Iran
293conveyed by the metonymy, Iran would be facing such a sharp population
drop that in 30 years, the following generations would not believe that one
could have close relatives around, and terms like aunt and uncle would
only be found in fictitious stories. The reason that loss of family relations
has been selected as a harsh consequence of population restriction is that
visiting relatives is a highly important social practice among Iranians.
Keeping relationships with relatives is seriously taken into consideration
and having close relatives is an essential part of the social image of
individuals. In fact, losing close relatives is the loss of one’s Iranian
identity.
Figure 4. A schoolboy in the year 2040 asking his teacher about the meanings of
Iranian kinship terms in the book ‘Fictitious Stories.’
Figure 5 shows a family with three little children. In addition to the
slogan at the top: “More Children, A Better Life”, a quote from the
Muslim prophet has also been added in both Arabic and Persian. It reads:
‘A house without children is not blessed’. The quote points to a key
concept in Iranian culture. Barekat ‘blessing’ is a divine value assigned to
elements and aspects of human life which is assumed to affect quantity,
quality, and durability of what one possesses, or contribute to gaining
achievements in life. Food, house, job, income, spouse, and children are
among the items in which perceived existence or inexistence of barekat is
deemed important. The concept of BAREKAT is defined by two values: a)
bâbarekat ‘having or possessing barekat’ b) bibaraket ‘lacking or without
barekat’, based on the BAREKAT IS A POSSESSED OBJECT metaphor. Given
these values, gaining success or incurring losses can be attributed to the
existence or inexistence of barekat in an item. For example, if a person