‘ Christians Children’s Fund of Great Britain is a human, non-denominational registered charity…’ and it continues with information about the charity. The other additional difference is that the CCF also has small images of children at the bottom of the page, the images are divided into two groups. On the left side the groups, it shows faces of children who look hungry and need help. On the right side of the groups, it shows pictures of children who have been sponsored by us, the general public.
In both adverts Oxfam and CCF, the use of bold enlarged text draws attention to the reader. Other than the obvious photo of the young girl we are drawn to read the bold text,
‘Amie has a Mother & Father who love her…’
Language plays a very important part in the day to day running of our lives. We are often influenced by language that is used in television, newspapers and radios. Language is particularly important in media and advertising. The use of powerful emotional language is profoundly evident in the use of charity advertising.
The Oxfam advertisement headline uses the cliché
‘Look me in the eye and tell me that arms controls are tough enough’, this is a clever piece of writing since the reader is once again asked to focus their attention on the image of the girl. However we can not look this girl in the eye because of the injury caused to it, this type of writing is called a pun, it has a double meaning. In the Oxfam advert the main text uses short, sharp sentences as well as statistics this is a technique used for emphasis. The use of statistics is a way to learn the alarm the reader. Also by including the information,
‘almost half our children’, the reader is made to feel sorry for the young innocent lives taken.
We can only say as a nation that we are to blame for the injuries. Britain is the second biggest arms exports in the world, (which is a fact, the reader can not argue with it). This makes the reader feel guilty because we are to blame for the deaths and injuries of many innocent children.
The advertisement often repeats the phrase ‘a code’, for e.g.
‘a new code of conduct’, ‘a code that saves lives’, ‘their code is tough enough’, and ‘a truly restrictive code’. This repetition is used for emphasis, it is drummed into the readers head that some code of conduct is needed. Oxfam’s slogan,
‘Oxfam’s Cut Conflict Campaign’, uses alliteration, this will stick to the readers head because it is easy to remember. Again this is done for emphasis and so the reader can understand Oxfam’s fight against the using arms distribution. It makes the caption hard hitting to the reader.
The Oxfam advertisement uses facts and opinions in the advert. Sentences such as,
‘where arms controls cause 90% of war casualties, and 84%, of the murdered are ordinary men and women’. This is an example of a fact, the reader can not argue with this sentence, it can only be true. The other facts including,
‘This week n Cardiff, Tony Blair and other EU leaders agree a new code of conduct on arms sales’, ‘the UK boasts the second-biggest arms exports in the world’. These facts makes the advert much more effective because it shows that they’re using statements which are true and not just others opinions.
The use of facts helps the reader know this information is true. Sentences such as,
‘They’ll say its tough, Oxfam disagrees’. This is an example of an opinion. This may or may not be true, an opinion is not as strong as a fact, but it’s Oxfam’s own point of view. This will encourage and help the readers to think their own way of things in the article.
There are some adjectives in the passage such as,
‘ordinary and restrictive’. Adjectives do play a very important part in this advert because the reader gets a better view of the issue mentally. The passage ends very strongly by finishing with,
‘only EU leaders can look us in the eye and say their arms controls are tough enough!’. This makes the innocent readers think about the issue and also includes the government to think about the charity situation.
The advert ends with a pun,
‘a code that stops arms falling into the wrong hands’. This means arms as weapons falling in to the wrong hands, and the limb being shot off and dropping into someone else’s hands. A pun is like a joke. The advertisement tells a short story about the innocent victims who are innocently hurt because of the governments idea of arms controls. It makes the reader react with anger, towards the government, but sadness towards the innocent victims. It’ll also make the evidence help with to solving the issue. Emotive language is included in the short story. Emotive language is used to seduce the reader such as,
‘Only EU leaders can look us in the eye and say their code is tough enough!’. It’s a phrase, which the author writes to make the reader feel in any way, e.g. angry, sad.
CCF’s article starts off with an opening fact,
‘Amie has a mother & father who love her…’. Amie is a loveable girls name, in French it means to love or to like. This is suppose to make the reader feel sorry, it makes the reader also read on. Amie may not even be her real name it may just be used for the advert! The fact tells us immediately that Amie has a mother and father who love her, so why does she need our help, is the question the reader asks himself/herself. Because the author cleverly ended the fact with a ‘…’ it makes the reader think again and read on, this is done for a persuasive technique.
All the paragraphs written are written in shorts sharp sentences, this makes the paragraphs more dramatic and persuasive to read. The opening paragraphs tell a short story about Amie, her parents and her life in unbelievable poverty. It explains that her parents would do anything for their little daughter. The story sets the scene on the reader, that this girl has loving parents.
The next paragraph explains the food and resources Amie desperately needs. It emphasis that they do not even get a crust of bread to share. A ‘crust of bread’, in poor countries like the Gambia is the least food you would receive, so the advert is trying to say that they do not even receive the worst of worst foods to eat.
Amie’s parents work very hard to earn money they desperately need to benefit Amies needs. However hard they work they will never earn as much money. In countries in the west for example America, the more you work the more money you earn, but this is not to be for Amie’s parents. They receive very little however hard they work.
We can tell that the advert is aimed more at the audience because of the rhetorical questions used e.g.,
‘Can you imagine the pain of having to watch your child grow up without being able to give her enough food to eat, the simplest of medicines when she falls ill or any books to help her with her learning?’ This is a rhetorical question, which the author expects the reader not to answer. It also has a dramatic effect on the reader. It puts the readers present or future children in that position, that makes the question shocking and also sorrow for the children whose lives are being put in that position. This question also includes emotive language.
There is use of facts in the CCF advert such as,
‘Yet just £15 a month is all it takes to give a child like Amie a very different life. One where she can develop into a happy and healthy child full of hope and vitality.’ This is a fact the reader cannot argue with it, the author wrote this carefully, its persuading the reader to join. When you join it will be a good outcome and that’s a fact, which is true. This fact is a persuasive technique written carefully by the author to persuade the reader to join.
On the sixth paragraph, it has a list of three,
‘her, her family and community’. This list of three which is written in such a way so it will stick into the mind of the reader. It has emotive language included, and a bit of persuasive technique, because it persuades the reader to join even more. The reader is now aware completely how his/her money will be helping.
The next paragraph much more of a persuasive technique,
‘Amie would get the nutrition, healthcare and schooling she desperately needs.’ This persuades the reader to join, if the reader does join a family will live an almost happy life and that Amie will live a better life free from poverty, starvation and exploitation. The final paragraph ends pretty strongly,
‘Please make that decision today and bring hope and happiness to another precious child. Thank you.’ The words thank you makes the reader feel in charge. The reader has spent his/her time reading the article and the advert or author has said it in a way like, thank you for your time.
Below the end of the main text it says,
‘…so why does she need a sponsor like you?’. If we join that and the fact at the beginning of the advert it forms a rhetorical question. It has been placed purposely by the author.
‘Amie has a mother & father who love her so why does she need our help?’ this question could only be created when the reader had finished reading the article, another clever piece of writing by the author. The reader realises after reading the advert why Amie needs a sponsor like us.
On the right side of the payment slip there is a highlighted box which explains where our money will be going when we donate to CCF.
‘Your sponsorship can be for as long as –six months, a year, or until the child leaves school. You will receive a photo of the child, details of his or her family background, regular progress reports and letters from the child you are supporting.’ When we sponsor CCF tell us how our money will come as a use, we will receive photos and letters from the child so we know our money will not be wasted but used in the most easy way possible.
The Oxfam advertisement has a lot of effect on the reader by the pictures and language included. The picture shows a young girl with bandages on her eye, arm and leg. The use of white bandages on a black background stands out clearly and it is the first noticeable image in the Oxfam advert. The girl has obviously been injured in some way. The cloths are very old, dirty and ripped, this also stands out. The girl has no decent cloths to wear. There is also the use of the girls eyes looking straight at the reader this creates an effect. The look on the face is sending a message across to the reader, which is that she needs help.
In the Oxfam advertisement the picture is the main source of effectiveness. It has an emotional effect on the reader, the reader is made to feel sorry for the young girl. Advertisements use emotive language in order to persuade the reader to help their cause. In the Oxfam advertisement the headline,
‘Look me in the eye and tell me that arms controls are tough enough’. It tells us that arms controls are tough enough when in fact they are not tough enough. The headline uses a persuasive technique, it tells us that arms controls are tough enough when the reader knows its not.
The fact,
‘the UK boasts the second biggest arms exports in the world’, this fact makes the reader feel guilty when the arms exports are coming from the country they live in. So the young children including the girl in the image are getting injured because of our arms exports. This has a big effect on the reader whom should be feeling guilty.
The use of the image of the girl with bandages the headline and a fact was all it needed to create emotion to the reader. It did have an effect on the reader.
The CCF advertisement has many examples of effectiveness and emotional language. The first noticeable image is the watery eyes of the young girl staring straight at the reader. The girl’s face has a very sorrow look about it, she looks as though she’s crying for help from the reader. The cloths look very old and dirty. The rhetorical questioning, the headline,
‘Amie has a mother and father who love her…’ and the persuasive techniques e.g.
‘Amie would get the nutrition, healthcare and schooling she desperately needs.’, Are the main sources of effect need to create emotion to the reader. Most of the text makes the reader fell sorry in a way.
The use of girls being in the adverts plays a very important part in charity advertising. Us as the readers tend to feel more sorry for the young girls more than young boys, because girls grow up not as strong and can not cope as boys do so at the young age girls are made to feel more sorry for. Also the girls have the very sad and emotional face to create an effect to the reader, which is to be sorry for young girls.
In conclusion we can see how advertisements use pictures, logos and slogans as a technique to draw in the readers attention. Both the Oxfam advertisement and the CCF advertisement do this in different ways. The image of the two young girls is used in both ads and this image makes the reader feel sympathy for the cruelty inflicted upon their lives. However the main difference that there is the result implicated by mankind and the other of natural causes. We cannot but help feel sorry for both especially the young girl in the Oxfam advertisement since it is us the human race that has caused her pain and misery. The Oxfam advertisement is more powerful that of the CCF advertisement. However our sympathy also goes out to Amie since we are informed in detail about the desperate need for our help. The CCF advertisement is heavily emotional and detailed, and the sponsorship form is a clever way to influence the reader into providing help to those suffer like Amie. In my own view if I wore to choose over the two adverts I would choose the CCF because it has been well layout using the image in the middle of the page. The writing layout has been set out in a way so you are forced to look in to the image and in her eyes and feel for her. I thought that the Oxfam advert was never more persuasive enough to match the CCF advert. Although it was more powerful with the use of its facts but it never had the emotion, rhetorical questioning or any emotion towards the reader. The CCF advert makes the reader feel full of emotion for Amie and her community it had a useful payment slip where donations could be given it explained how our donations would help the poor, we would be given of the picture of the sponsored child so we know how the donation is helping and CCF wrote a thank you for reading the advert. The CCF had most of the emotion is well. But in my view the Oxfam advert could not match the cleverly written CCF advert.