Barnardo’s is the country’s largest children’s charity that was established in 1870 by Dr Thomas John Barnardo. His first home for children was opened in London’s poverty-stricken east end. Barnardo’s was established because they wanted to help children overcome tough experiences in early life and grow into healthy adults with a positive future. Barnardo’s philosophy is the same today, that they “help young people leaving care become independent by teaching them how to cook and to budget, by helping them develop social skills and by supporting them in their own homes. We help young people with disabilities receive professional training to help them find work where they can earn proper wages.”
Barnardo’s started this series of advertisements because it is designed to help people realise what Barnardo’s do, so young people can get back their future. The series of advertisements show examples of homelessness, alcohol abuse, suicide and prison. The adverts were designed to be hard-hitting so Barnardo’s can get a message across.
The aim of this series adverts was launched in an attempt to change the public’s perceptions regarding children who are abused through poverty, homelessness, disability, bereavement and abuse. They also highlight the point that not all children are born with the same opportunities for the future. The adverts also raise awareness of the effects of poverty on children's futures and create support for Barnardo’s. Barnardo’s have used a number of national newspapers to present this series of adverts. They have done this because they know that the majority of the national newspaper readers will be adults. This means that Barnardo’s can use shocking images because they are relying on the fact that the younger audience won’t see these images. Barnardo’s chose national papers because it will mean that a high percentage of the British public will spot these adverts and be affected by them.
The intended audience to see these adverts are people who are mature enough to realise the message sent through these adverts and people who have enough money to be able to donate money to Barnardo’s. These types of people would be people who read the newspapers and/or are well educated. These advertisements are suggesting many social concerns and attitudes in the 1990’s. In the 1990’s the social problems that became more common were child sexual abuse, homelessness and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Barnardo’s were aware and became concerned. This is why they launched this series of adverts.
The adverts, which I intend to analyse, are the one of Carl White and the one of the girl sitting on the sofa. The layout of the adverts has the children presented to shock people because they are being abused or they are abusing themselves.
The picture fills up the whole page and the writing describing the picture is in small text. The one of Carl has the information in the bottom right corner where as the one of the girl has it next to her. This is because Barnardo’s want the reader to see the picture first and then read the text as the picture will grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read the writing.
The camera angle of the girl sitting on the sofa is directly in front of her at her eye level. This creates an effect as if the girl is looking at and pleading to the public for help. The lighting used is very bright as if it were someone’s living room. In the back you can see the light shining through the curtains. The colours used are mostly yellows and pinks, but the man in the background is wearing a green shirt. This will attract our attention and make the audience wonder what he is doing there. The girl is shown to have an old face. Barnardo’s have created this effect to comply that her childhood has been lost through the abuse she has suffered and her life has been stolen. The impact of this abuse will continue to cause damage throughout her life unless she is helped.
In the case of Carl White, the camera angle is high the impression created is to make him look not unimportant as if no one cares for him. The lighting used is like a spotlight directly focussing on him, where as the background is the opposite contrast, mostly dark apart from a fire. The boy’s wearing bright colours including green, yellow, red and blue. This tells the audience that he is the main person in the picture and must be Carl White.
The advert with the girl sitting on the sofa hardly has any text in comparison to the advert for Carl White, which has a lot more in depth writing. For both adverts the writing supports the picture because it describes what is happening in the picture. The language used is emotive; to affect the reader and make them see the relationship between the image and text.
The purpose of this emotive language is to get the reader to react emotionally and by doing this you are getting the readers attention. The girl sitting on the sofa has the words written next to her, “Abuse through prostitution STEALS CHILDREN’S LIVES.” ‘Abuse through prostitution’ informs the reader of what the girl has gone through. ‘Steals children’s lives’ is the main point Barnardo’s are expressing. They present this well because they write it in capital letters, which makes it stand out from the rest of the text.
The advert of Carl White has the words, “Carl White age 26” in the middle of the page in bold letters. This shows the audience who the boy sitting down is. But our first reaction is that the child clearly isn’t 26 years old and this is what makes us want to read on. The text that describes the picture says, “Neglected as a child, it was always possible that Carl would turn to alcohol.” This tells us a brief part of Carl’s life and what he has been through. He is shown acting out his possible future life as a result of a disadvantaged childhood.
Some individuals react badly to these adverts as the images are of humans being treated badly. Some people might feel upset, shocked or even unsure about the adverts. When our class were first showed this set of adverts most were shocked by them and most people gasped.
In my opinion, I think that this series of adverts is successful. I think the strengths of this set of adverts are that the audience is made to feel sorry for the children in the adverts. The language used is very emotive and so the audience is made to feel guilty about not doing anything to help. Because of this the audience is much more likely to be persuaded to phone up and make a donation. The adverts attract the readers’ attention because they have used many different effects including shock tactics and bright colours. I think that Barnardo’s have made a good decision advertising in national newspapers because the majority of adults reading national newspapers are likely to see at least one Barnardo’s adverts in the newspaper.
The potential weaknesses of the adverts are that they are hard-hitting and some of the public may not agree with the way in which they are advertising especially if younger children were to see it. If they were to see the adverts, most children wouldn’t understand them and possibly feel emotionally shocked by it.
By Chris Corbett 11BM
