Moving on to the second and third pages of the leaflet, your attention is divided between the sharp contrasts of the black and white pages with the glass of water placed in the middle. Concentrating on the black page first we can see that the images displayed are of the hardships, poor living conditions and poor way of life faced by many people living in third world countries. By placing these images on a black background, which conjures up connotations of ‘bad’ and ‘dark’, reinforces the awful living conditions these people face. Looking at each picture you can see there is at least one person included in them this again plays on the readers emotions, seeing a human enduring these hardships has a much greater effect and encourages more people to become involved and do something about it, by donating. The quotes which accompany the images are all followed by the person’s name, this again is similar to the pictures with people in as it makes it more personal, as readers will know that this is an actual person saying this and thus makes the meaning more powerful and more real. Similarly on the white page of the leaflet images are again used, they are of the same people shown on the black side of the leaflet however this time the people are shown with a smile on their face and the images contain more colour, this increased energy and colour ties in with the white background which forces images of pureness, clean and good into your mind. Again the quotes are from people which make it more personal and show the reader that by the money they donate they can make a huge difference to those people. All of these images are connected to the glass of water via red lines the red lines give the connotation of life and with your money being used to give water to these third world countries it can give life the chance to survive. Also the use of a simple glass tumbler to contain the water reiterates the fact that something which we take for granted in developed countries can make all this difference shown in the contrasting images on the black and white sides of the leaflet. The glass of water also helps to divide the ‘good’ images and the ‘bad’ images. The sentence at the top of the page “Just £2 a month from you can make the difference” is very cleverly set out starting on the black page and running over onto the white page which breaks the sentence up into two sections. The first part which is written in white writing on the black background, refers directly to the reader by ending with the word ‘you’ this makes it personal as though the leaflet is telling you directly, also the way in which the ‘£2’ is written gives the impression of a very small amount as it takes up a small area within the sentence and page. The second half of the sentence which is written in black writing on the white background, again appeals directly to the reader by telling them that their ‘£2’ can make a difference. By braking the sentence up into the black and white text it makes the reader pause slightly which reinforces the meaning from the two parts of the sentence, which are that only a small amount from ‘you’ ‘can make the difference’ to these people from third world countries.
The small green box which covers the bottom of pages two and three gives the reader a few facts and statistics to further persuade them into donating to Oxfam. The use of the ‘£2’ a month is used a lot throughout this paragraph again it is written as a number to show that it is only a small amount and for many people is pocket change which they do not care much about. With the section being backed in green it draws your attention to it, again the green colour gives connotations of life and nature which water fits perfectly into both. The final sentence of the box is written in different colour from the rest of the text, this is done for two reasons the first is because it is no longer a fact or statistic which they are telling you, it is how ‘you’ the reader can donate your money to Oxfam and by splitting this into a different colour from the rest of the text it makes it clear what the reader has to do in order to help the people from third world countries. The second reason is that by splitting it off from the bulk of the text, by using a different colour, leads you onto the next page in the leaflet which is the regular giving form. The regular giving form is where the majority of readers would be most likely to put the leaflet down and not bother donating money, so by having a smooth connection between page three and the giving form increases the chance of the reader donating money.
Page four which is the regular giving form is where Oxfam would lose the majority of readers from donating money as many readers cannot be bothered with the hassle of filling out a form. At the very top of the giving form it is made clear to the readers that by filling out this form they are going to be donating money to Oxfam, however by calling this a regular gift makes the reader feel as though it is less of a chore and as though they are not giving money away, which nobody likes to do, but rather they are giving a gift which encourages and makes them more likely to fill out the form. The use of writing the word ‘YES’ in capitals gives a positive attitude and reassures the reader they are doing the right thing. By placing the ‘regular giving form’ in the green box shows the possible donator clearly what they are filling out which makes the reader feel more assured and more likely to fill the form out. Calling the form a ‘regular giving form’ also helps Oxfam to entice readers into filling it out, if they had called it a standing order form which is what it is they would not have been very successful in receiving donations from people, as a standing order form has negative connotations because this is what many people pay the bills through so by eliminating this negative name keeps the positive attitude of the readers going which has been built up by the other pages of the leaflet, and therefore increasing the chance of the possible donator to donate money. The giving form is standard to most other giving forms, Oxfam have filled out everything they can in the giving form to increase the likelihood of the reader filling it out because they have less to do. Around the outside of the giving form is writing which tells the reader that the form is a self sealing envelope again this increases the chance of someone sending the envelope off to Oxfam as the donator does not have to go and look for an envelope to send the form off in. Finally at the bottom of the giving form the Oxfam logo is again shown this gives verification that the reader can trust their money is going to the actual charity and not some ‘middleman’ organisation and again the logo is in green to give the connotations of life and nature which is what the gift of water will provide.
Turning over to page five of the leaflet on the reverse of the giving form is a free post envelope, by making it freepost it again gives less reason for the reader to put the leaflet down and not bother sending it off, in another way it means the reader does not have to bother looking for a stamp but can just post it straight away as the address is written on, meaning there is less effort involved for the reader and Oxfam are therefore more likely to receive donations. The other section of writing on the freepost envelope is printed so that it looks hand written this is more personal to the reader because it looks as though another person has written it. The actual words have a double meaning similar to that of the first page on the gift tag. It says that “your gift of £2 a month will make a world of difference” in each case it is the “world of difference” which has the double meaning, the first meaning which can be inferred from this is that the ‘£2 a month’ will make a massive difference to those people in third world countries, a big difference like this is often referred to as making a world of difference as the world is very big and so the idea is that this ‘£2 a month’ will mean a great deal to the people in third world countries. The second meaning which can be inferred is that this “£2” will help change the lives of the people in the third world countries thus making the world a very different place to how it is at the moment with many people in the less developed countries suffering huge poverty. The message that Oxfam are trying to give is that your “£2” could make the world a very different place hence a “world of difference”.
The sixth page of the leaflet is similar to that of pages two and three, where by images are used to appeal to the reader’s emotions. At the top of page six the image shown is of brown cracked earth, this image is used to show that these third world countries need the water which the reader will be providing through their donation. The use of a quote followed by the persons name after each picture makes it more personal to the reader, as I have said previously this targets the reader’s emotions and makes them feel more sympathetic to the people of less developed countries and makes them more likely to donate to Oxfam. Showing a picture of the two, one pound coins again gives the impression of how little an amount two pounds is, something which most people can spare as pocket change. The “£2” is printed in red so that it stands out from the rest of the text and again reinforces how small an amount the reader is being asked to donate. All of the pictures shown are positive, bright and colourful. The first picture of a woman holding a picture card makes the image more personal, by including a person into an image it makes the reader feel more attached to them and the situation they are in. The second image is of clear blue skies the reason this image has been chosen is that blue skies bring connotations of happiness, by providing water to these people in the third world countries it will bring happiness into their lives. The third image is of a well being built, this image has been chosen to show the reader what their money will give to these people in third world countries. By showing the donator how much of a difference their money will make it encourages them to give to Oxfam. Near the bottom of the page the “make a difference” heading and the ‘thank you’ tag are both in red this grabs the readers attention by making them standout from the rest of the text, also the red gives images and connotations of life which is what Oxfam are trying to say here is that you are giving the gift of life by donating money which will “make a difference”.
After analysing the effects and techniques that the Oxfam leaflet has used to achieve its aims I can see it is very effective at targeting the reader’s emotions and using stereotypical colour and word connotations to persuade the reader to donate money. The leaflet is filled with hidden meanings which make the reader want to get involved with Oxfam’s aims of providing water for third world countries via the two pounds which they are asking you to donate a month.