I'm not sure what the image is supposed to convey. I enjoy the aesthetics, especially the pen and ink silhouette style. But what I see a man in black informing an unsuspecting cow of a mission and then an allusion to the cow getting chopped up, perhaps turned into steaks. That could be me visiting a slaughter facility after work, trying to negotiate a freezer order but first wanting to give thanks to the cow. :)
I guess a helpful answer would be, it depends. It depends on who the target audience is, what you are trying to convey and for what purpose.
Starting with the last question, what is the purpose behind wanting to deliver a message. Is it to educate or otherwise inform? Understanding your motivation might reveal quite a bit about your ego needs as much as it does a genuine desire to help others. As well, it helps you consider all outcomes of your actions. Remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
When considering what you are tying to convey, it is important to remember that the depth of complex concepts is rarely realized by an entire audience. Trying to do too much with as little as possible limits the potential for complete understanding and broad uptake. Often, simpler concepts expressed through multiple, yet varied, instances carries a greater chance that each concept is well understood by the entire target audience.
Segmenting the audiences and understanding those segments is the final piece to the puzzle. Different age groups, each with their varied socio-cultural experiences requires delivering messages to their interests, levels of comprehension, attention span, frame of reference, etc. provides the highest likelihood the message will be received, understood, and acted upon (if the message has a call to action). Inappropriateness will kill a message's chance faster than not issuing the message. Gory or pornographic content, for example, delivered to the wrong audience could create such a negative reaction, ranging from repulsion to anger, that the message and the messenger, as well as anyone associated with either, lose credibility and become targets for the reaction.
This, of course, is well known in the Psyops world, which is why anything or anyone conveying truths inconvenient to TPTB will inevitably suffer from attacks on their credibility, their reputation, forcing many close to the issuer to distance themselves to avoid guilt by association (divide and conquer).
Sorry if this sounds preachy, but I think we often need to remind ourselves to think beyond the inspiration and desire, especially when we find ourselves motivated through an emotional response to reading something like The Wave series.
My $0.02, fwiw.
Gonzo
