Introduction to Charity Advertising

Introduction to Charity Advertising

• What is the purpose of a Charity Advert?
• The purpose of a charity advert is to make the audience feel guilty. 

• How do they work?
• They guilt trip the audience make them think its their responsibility.

• What mode of address do they take?
• They use a mass amount of emotional issues, which touches the audience's heart they also try to build a relationship with the audience.

• What conventions do they demonstrate?
• They are always usually near christmas time, they usually have a midday slot/early afternoon in the middle of Jeremy Kyle, homes under the hammer etc. The people who will be at home watching are housewives, elderly.
• The people speaking have soft toned calming voices
• They use a mass amount of direct mode of address 'You could help them'.

• How do they position the audience?
• We are placed in a more fortunate position so we feel as if we need to help them as we are with them almost. 

NSPCC - Open Your Eyes Video Advertisement (2000) 

• Repetition - of the on screen graphics and of the lexis and the language, the connotations of this repetition makes the audience seem as if they dont have a choice and puts the responsibility in their hands. 

• Shot Type - high angle shots, makes the children look vulnerable so you need to help them. The shot is in back and white the connotations of this is that it is down, miserable. The child also looking up makes it seem like they're asking for your help so you connect with the child. 

• Slow Paced Editing - on the last shot of the child crying makes you feel uncomfortable and you need to look away as you cannot cope, you feel as if you owe it to them to pay that £2 a month. 

• Costume - The clothes of the young boy is all tatted and ruined so you feel uneasy and want to give them money to get better clothes. 

• If we donate to the charity then this shot of the boy crying will stop crying and we will help him. 

• Music - full on ambient electronic track makes it seem more intense and we get swallowed into the misery that these children are going through. 

• It makes us think that if we dont give money then we are just as bad as the abuser and we are letting them get away with it. 

WaterAid No Choice TV Advert

• Looks so realistic due to the setting in which it is placed, and we see these people go about their day to day whilst also drinking this scummy water. 

• Direct looks at the camera, shows how it isn' 'real', we see these people from african countries, we see flies on their face and drinking dirty water, and she is looking at us, we are positioned as her last chance and her hope, we are British. 

• Two halves of an advert to empower the idea of binary oppositions, the colours are dull and desaturated the mood is reflected into the colour, which is a symbolic code. 

WaterAid Claudia TV Advert

• Complete opposite approach rather than the other adverts we have seen. We see the positive outcome, rather than the negative.

• We get desensitised seeing the same advert of the dying children and suffering children, so then we engage to this advertising campaign much more than other ones as it is something different and a breath of fresh air.

• The victim is a talented singer, so people would be familiar with her and makes the audience feel more obliged to donate to the campaign. 

• The eye level shot we see of her makes us feel as if we are on the same level as her, which is a different approach to the other adverts we see when we are looking at these children from a high angle shot and they are put in a vulnerable position, whereas this one is eye level so we are on the same level as her and relate to her more and build a connection with her. 

• We also dont see direct eye contact from Claudia, unlike other adverts when we are placed directly in shot with the subject and we get direct eye contact from them, ruining the realistic aspect from the advert, whereas with this advert we carry on that realistic aspect and its as if we are following her and seeing how appreciative they are of this clean water rather than begging for it, so when we see this pure happiness it makes us want to help as many people as we can to be as happy as Claudia. 

• The setting in the beginning is clearly English, which creates a true Binary Opposition, between this muggy english setting, the radio and the rain outside, also the radio presenter has an english accent and is complaining about the amount of rain to then suddenly change to this setting of a Zambian bush, in the scorching heat, with no technology and in the broad sunlight, needing water, this is good as it also relates to the audience instantly as it is a UK based company so the audiences majority is English, so we relate, and feel involved in the advert instantly making us want to help these children even more, as we see how much we take for granted in a clear binary comparison through the use of the editing and settings. 

• Proairetic Code - in the first shot someone is getting ready, and we dont know what they are going to do, they could be going to work or going out for the day or just listening to the radio whilst laying in bed, but our attention is quickly changed when Claudia comes on the screen as we are disorientated. 

• We see a low angle shot which empowers her as she gets her water rather than a high angle shot which makes her feel vulnerable so us as the audience feel proud rather than guilty which makes us want to help out other people like Claudia, its slowed down aswell to emphasise her getting her water and the importance of her getting her water, we also see her costume is not tatted it is quite nice actually again a completely different advert to the 'conventional' charity adverts. 

• Shot of flowing water is in slow mo so it is a symbolic code and the connotations with this water is the future, and the pureness of water. 

• The shots of water shows the binary oppositions between Claudia on her own and everyone together enjoying the water coming together as a community. 

• The empty establishing shot at the beginning of the advert when we arrive in Zambia, we are unknown to where we are so it is an example of a Hermeneutic code as we have a sense of mystery.