Finally, there are also many linguistic devices within the advert: alliteration: “senseless slaughter” and repetition: “there are… there are… there are” are used to stick in the readers’ minds. Emotive language: “human crimes” and pronouns: “you” direct the advert at the audience and ‘crimes’ suggest the reader has done something wrong and should make up for it. They can do so by donating money. Words such as “harpoon” contain connotations which relate to whaling and semantic field; “the gun, the grenade”, are associated with war. War and whaling are both wrong which, with pronouns (“you”) which direct the advert at the reader, makes the reader feel responsible and want to donate.
Overall, the advertisement contains many linguistic and presentational devices and structure to achieve its purpose: to collect money and receive support from the audience- animal- loving adults. The advert is successful in achieving its aim because it is very persuasive and gets the reader involved- it makes them feel responsible for what has happened to the animals.
The next advertisement, for Christian Aid, is mainly aimed at adults who shop at supermarkets, as the purpose is to persuade the audience to communicate with the supermarkets “for fair prices and conditions”. The purpose is also to persuade the reader to get involved, get more information and help workers in the third world countries. The advert is useful for promoting the charity.
Several presentational devices are used in the advertisement to aid in persuading the audience to help towards the cause. The title is written like the writing on a crate of pineapples; it is also used to attract the readers’ attention by taking up half of the page. The picture of the crate of pineapples links to the quote towards the end of the text. The text, like the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advert, is written in columns resembling a newspaper, which makes the writing appear more believable. Different fonts and styles are also used- the subheadings are written in bold to separate the text and the quotes are written in italics, therefore they stand out. The coupon at the bottom of the page, also similar to the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advertisement, is an open invitation for the reader to send off for an information pack, therefore the advert fulfils one of its purposes: to make the reader find out more information.
The structure and meaning of the text also plays a key role in attracting the readers’ attention and getting the audience interested. The very large picture relates to the following text and the use of black and white (a technique used in the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advert) reflects the story in the text. The long quote underneath the picture emotionally involves the reader and interests them in the cause. The first section of the text is mainly about the conditions the people in the third world work in and the remainder of the text is about how the problem can be solved. This positive and negative contrast is reflected in the black and white colour of the picture. A quote towards the end of the text contains a fact, which backs up the claims made in the advert.
Finally, many linguistic devices are used; sometimes to trigger certain emotions or to make sure the reader remembers the cause. The reader is made to remember the advert with the use alliteration: “entire economies” and repetition: “listen to…listen to”. ‘Entire’ suggests the problem is on a massive scale. The advertisement connects with the audience by using emotive language: “heart-rending stories of exploitation” which will encourage the reader to sympathise with the workers and find out more. The use of questions and pronouns: “Are you sure the fruit you buy is full of goodness?” aims the cause at the readers, in effect they feel responsible and want to do something about the problem.
The advertisement is successful in persuading the audience to find out more information and help their cause. This is done with the use of many devices and a clever structure which attracts the readers’ attention, gets them involved and wanting to help- resulting in the advert reaching its aim.
The final advertisement is Help the Aged, the purpose of this advert is to persuade the audience to donate money to heat elderly peoples’ homes. It is aimed at adults who are willing to donate money towards the cause. The advert also has other purposes- to promote the charity and give the reader some information about the cause.
Unlike the other two advertisements, which are written like newspaper articles, this advert is written in the form of a letter which addresses the reader directly. The title is a rhetorical question, which is written in large, bold, underlined capitals, consequently standing out from the rest of the text. There is also a fact written in the form of a subheading: “₤2 a month could save a life” which is large and bold, standing out (like the title) from the rest of the text. Many different text styles are used in the advert such as bold for quotations and facts or important phrases underlined to make them different for the rest of the writing. Also, like the other adverts, black and white is used to reflect the stories.
The structure of this advertisement is quite similar to the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advert- there is only half a page of text on the front and a full page of text on the back. Unlike the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advert (which has the emotional appeal on the front and information on the back) this advert has emotional appeals in the form of real-life stories throughout the whole text to constantly remind the reader of the cause. This constant move from personal to general stories re-engages the reader, making them sympathise and want to do something: it puts the responsibility on the reader.
There are some linguistic devices in the advertisement although there are not as much as there are in the other two advertisements. The title alone contains rhyme and is a rhetorical question: “HEATING OR EATING?” This makes the reader think about what they would choose, if put in the elderly people’s situation- a situation they wouldn’t want to be in. The rhyme sticks in the reader’s mind and the rhetorical question encourages them to think more about the cause. Lots of emotive language is included in the advertisement; “against impossible odds to make ends meet”. The reader will want to help ‘make ends meet’ and stop the odds being impossible. The reader is constantly reminded of the real-life stories with the repetition of words such as; “struggling…elderly… winter”. Most of the repeated words are negative- nobody wants to struggle and winter is associated with coldness which links to the issue of heating the elderly peoples’ homes. The letter is written in first person singular; “I know… I wish” so the letter appears to have been written by only one person, this is very direct towards the reader.
The advertisement is successful in persuading the audience to help their cause. This is because the audience is reminded, throughout the advertisement, about the stories of real people, making them want to help the people rather than reading about statistics or a general group of people.
Each advertisement is different from the other but the Wildlife Millennium Covenant and the Christian Aid advert are very similar in terms of the structure- an emotional appeal on the front and more information on the reverse. The Help the Aged advert differs in this way as the emotional appeal is spread over the whole advertisement and there are only a few facts and statements about what the money will be used towards. The Help the Aged advert also differs in the way that it is written in the form of a letter, rather than a newspaper like the other two adverts. Many of the linguistic devices are similar in all three adverts but the advert containing the most devices is the Wildlife Millennium Covenant. The Christian Aid advert is much briefer than the other two advertisements as it is much shorter and gets to the point a lot quicker. In some ways this can benefit the charity (the reader doesn’t have to spend a lot of time reading it and if they would like more information they will send off the coupon) but in others it cannot, as the reader may want easier access to more information.
After many comparisons, I think that the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advertisement is the most successful in interesting the audience, involving them in the charity and resultantly persuading them to donate money to their charity. I think it is superlative because of: the use of quotes from both a male and female- attracting a wider audience; the use of connotations and semantic field which are rarely found in the other two adverts and add to a dramatic effect; the directness to the reader- pronouns, rhetorical questions and a donation coupon and finally because of the clever layout- the large picture and emotional appeal on the front to pull in the reader, then more information on the reverse. All these factors, I believe, make the Wildlife Millennium Covenant advertisement the most persuasive advert.