The headlines are both rhetorical questions. By using “Isn’t” this makes the letter seem more informal, perhaps a formal letter would make it seem as if the charity was more of a business. When it asks you the question “Isn’t it time we tackled the causes of poverty”, ‘poverty’ is in orange. However, in the paragraph below, poverty is in blue. This is a contrast and works because you notice poverty twice. By using blue in the paragraph below, the leaflet tells us that it should be a sad and wrongful paragraph.
The tear off section below the whole form has the words “YES, I’ll support World Development Movement”. This means that once you have filled in the form and sent it off, you have supported the charity. It also means that there is no room to reply to say “No, I will not”. The form states that if you join the ‘Core Voice’ you will receive a ‘Good Shopping Guide’ however this costs ₤5 a month minimum. By offering the reader something that is an actual good in return, I think it is more likely they will sign up to the core voice. You can also subscribe to be a voting member; however this would cost a minimum of ₤16. I noticed that the more ‘expensive’ options are more detailed, another way to manipulate people to give more money. The tear off section is orange, and because the blue used in the leaflet is used to show sad and wrongness, the orange which is a bright contrast, gives us the impression that the slip must be right and happy. It also means it will be for a good cause.
There are two logos on the sheet, the World Development Movement one and the Direct Debit logo. I actually first noticed the direct debit logo, and I therefore knew that this charity would be asking for my money. I only noticed the World Development Movement logo when it was pointed out to me, but again, I think this is because the World Development Movement do not want people to think it is a business and I for one associate logos with businesses.
The arrow is in the middle of the sheet, this is probably because the reader will look to the middle for a quick overview of the sheet. The arrow points towards the tear off slip, another way to get the ‘sign me!’ point across. The arrow contains “a free copy of the good shopping guide for ethical consumers’. This would entail that whoever donated for the Core Voice is a decent, fair and honest person. Another benefit of donating more money.
I find the text to be quite logical, it starts off by telling us why the countries are so poor – “Policies that ensure global trade benefits the rich”. In then tells us how the people of Britain can help change this and that is why ‘our actions matter so much’. It’s very personal, and it tells us that we are the only ones that can help – which makes us feel slightly uneasy. My only complaint about this section is ‘the three richest men in the world are wealthier than the 48 poorest countries’. I know that two of these men work for Microsoft, and I am pretty sure that it has nothing to do with making countries poorer – they do have offices in most countries around the world too. It then goes on to explain what you will gain from supporting the World Development movement – “you’ll help win real and lasting change”. Again, they use ‘you’ll’ making it more personal. It also says “we can only do it .. with people like you”. Again this makes the reader more personal, and it actually will tell the reader that the charity is looking for him/her (great!).
In the first paragraph I also noticed the alliteration of the ‘P’. “People, poor, policies, profit”. These are the things that the charity would like to solve. And therefore they want them to stand out.
