The poster is illustrated with a very graphic image of a dead rhino covered in blood and most importantly with its horn stolen, showing that poachers and hunters will do such things to an animal just to collect ivory. The headlines in this poster are presented as bold white writing on a black background. This effect is used to create a sense of urgency and to emphasise the cause that the headline is portraying. The problem is that in the last one hundred years humans have decimated the population of the animal kingdom and it is time, at the dawn of the millennium, that we did something to make up for what we have allowed to happen.
On the second page of the WWF advert there is a list written in bold, showing horrific facts of animal deaths and their extremely dwindling numbers. The list and the accompanying paragraph lay the blame on all humanity and not only the people who do this, as if to suggest that even those not killing them are to blame for letting it happen as well.
The entire advert is split up using sub-headings; each sub heading introduces the paragraph or section to come and effectively allows you to skim read or just browse through the paragraphs by the subheading alone. The text is laid out with informal
Paragraphs, with sections of bold and plain text divided by the subheadings I have described above. The only negative to the use of text is that it is quite small and crowded, so the reader would need to feel strongly about the subject to ‘read on’ from the main headings and this may discourage other potential audience other than what it is aimed for.
The text is introduced by a shocking and dramatic contrast between the progress of the human species and the decimation of the animal world our progress has caused. The words we, share and you are all used to make us feel guilty. It is everybody’s fault is the one clear message I get from the beginning of the advert. Ruined, destroy, decimate and extinct are all related to war violence and death. This language is reemphasising the central focus of the advert. That man’s progress has caused too much death to the animal world.
The advert is aimed primarily at getting people to donate money to the covenant. After the subheading ‘why a covenant is crucial?’ the text describes the way in which the public and the target audience can donate the money and tell you how it will be used and what benefits those uses will bring to the animal world. The text also details that all money donated can be further increased by the tax authorities and that this additional money will further contribute to the work the covenant is doing. The covenant itself is asking for a long term commitment of at least four years from one thousand people donating one hundred pounds per annum. To ensure that the reader donates money the end statement ‘if we fail their chances of survival diminish’ makes sure that anyone who does not donate will feel guilty that they have not.
If the advertisement is appealing to the target audience and them only I feel it has a fairly strong change of getting a response. But to those for who it is not intended the advert may not appeal enough for anything more than a glance. This essay I hope has shown that this advert is a good example of persuading people to donate money but it needs further improvement if the argument it presents is to be recognised by the majority rather than the minority.
