The media text I am examining is a charity advertisement on a double page spread, it is from a Sunday supplement magazine. Amnesty International is an organisation, which exists all over the world that works to help free political prisoners.
They also campaign for human rights and refugees. It is a non-profit making charity that depends solely on donations made by the public and Government grant. The advert published in a Sunday supplement because people have more leisure time and there is a wide circulation of the supplement.It persuades people to take an active interest by using shock tactics and eye-catching text; on Sunday people have more time and so they are more likely to read it. The advert is structured in such a way that it makes the reader more emphatic and feel that they are in their shoes. The story is split into four main sections: Sallay's story, the story of Marie, Britain's view of refugees, and what the reader can do to assist the refugees.
This is effective as it makes the reader feel that supportive towards the cause; it gradually makes you feel more compassionate regarding the refugees.The picture is used as a trigger to instantly attract the attention of the advertisement. It immediately pulls the reader in to look at the article and to read the text. The picture at first glance is grotesque and disturbing, but on a second glance, it becomes slightly clearer. It uses a shock technique to capture the reader immediately and so they might get interested and read further. The emotive picture preys on people's sympathy and so the reader feels personally inclined to help in some ways.
When the reader studies the picture in even more detail, we see how her facial expression is one of distress and grievance. The picture also has a caption that follows it, which states her name, and this shows how the woman has an identity so the reader feels personally involved in her plight. By giving her an identity, Sallay Goba becomes humanised. "I begged them to kill me. Instead they cut off my hands with machetes.
" This shows how she was so desperate to die because of the pain inflicted upon her.She suffered so much Sallay cannot ever get on with her life normally again. In capitals and in bold next to the image, a caption reads, "Don't look the other way. " This caption has a double meaning, it literally calls you not to look the other way away from the advertisement, as some people might from the slightest distraction; the other meaning is that you should not look the other way and pretend that this sort of thing is not happening. It persuades the reader to take an interest as by using an imperative.The imperative is a command or directive, like an order that you have to follow.
This linguistic device is meant to be very blunt to catch your concentration and so you sit up straight in your chair. Straight away, the leading paragraph gives the reader a shocking figure. "Every twenty one seconds, somewhere in the world, a refugee is created. " This means that in the time it takes to write this, quite a few would already have been made.
They give out facts to show that Amnesty International is not just exaggerating the problem with refugees and that they really do need help.They then use a first person plural pronoun to personalise the statement to everyone of us. Not just other people but you. By directly implicating you, it plays on your feelings and so you feel that the advert is directly talking to you. It lays guilt on the reader, as we are meant to think that it is due us for the creation of refugees. The last phrase, "yes, all of us" is used as a repetition for emphasis on the fact that it is the reader's fault.
Amnesty International uses a personal tale of tragedy to persuade people to take an interest in the people Amnesty International helps.Firstly, they give you background information about Sallay and so the reader feels as if they know her thus they can relate to her; by putting her into context of a family; it heightens the sympathy we feel for her. Graphic language is used again as a shock factor to emphasise how much grief was caused to an innocent person, for example, "Sallay's hands were severed and tied to her elbows with string. " The advertisement again employs the use of personal pronouns like, "we". This makes use feel at fault, so the reader has an enhanced chance they will take an interest in the organisation.
Amnesty International brings out how the Westerners feel about refugees (they feel as if the refugees are leeching off us and are too lazy to work) and to portray how they are unwillingly to help; this creates guilt in the reader so they will help. Another linguistic device the advertisement uses is rhetorical devices like, "listen"; it also uses rhetorical questions, like, "Did she ask for her hands to be hacked off? " To emphasise the point that refugees are people just like us and do not wish to be hunted or hurt in any way.The story of a second individual is added because the advertisement wants to show another scenario where innocent people are driven from their homes to become refugees. It uses past tense to show how because of the sequence of uncalled for events; her life will never be the same again.
It also uses the phrase, "an ordinary woman" to show how Marie was just like any other person getting on with their lives. There is nothing strange about her, like she was poor and wants to become an economic migrant, but that she was just ordinary.As with the rest of the advertisement, it contains graphical languages to convey her story, "Marie was urged" and, "they seized her husband". Then it gives another angle that makes us want to help; it shows how even when she comes to the West, the Home Office is unwilling to grant her asylum.
It is meant to portray how it is us who are in the wrong and are bad not the refugees, as we are refuse to give shelter to someone who has escaped with their lives to another place.Away from the individual stories, the advert gives a broader more outlined view of immigrants because, even though they would like to write the story of every refugee, they do not have the space. This shows how the West is against the refugees seeking asylum, and is unwillingly to help. This is very effective as the readers, compassion are played upon to make them feel sympathetic.
It does not so much play on the readers' guilt but sympathy as it tries to make your emotions fluctuate to make you feel sad for the refugees, guilty for not helping and sympathetic in some cases.By making this section more factual, we can see how the situation is real that they are not making it up. This is a good way of getting the reader to take an interest as it uses our own thoughts against us and makes use of sarcastic comments. The repetition of the phrase, "you decide" makes us think and use our own mind to think of the answer, and not someone else telling us the answer as we would not feel so bad if the conclusion that we came to was from ourselves.
The last section in the advertisement, it needs to have an impact so that the reader will give money or to help the charity.It persuades the reader to be active in the charity instead of just reading the advertisement. It does this quite effectively as it sums up what they have been saying in the whole ad, and continues the tactic of laying guilt on the reader. It again uses personal pronouns that denote everyone, and not just singling out a person. The advertisement compares us to the refugees by saying how we would not want to be in their position, "People don't want to be homeless anymore than you do.
" By using syntactic repetition, it tries to reinforce the points it is putting across. The emotive language makes the reader more sympathetic and emphatic.The personal appeal persuades reluctant readers to become actively involved by changing its tone to become softer and steps down from the hard tone to a more pleading tone, this makes the reader change the way they think about the article The subscription coupon is at the end of the article because by this time if you have been convinced, you would have and so there is an ease and speed of access to donate money to them. This helps the reader become active, as all they have to do is to write in the amount that they wish to donate, they do not even have to go and get paper.The article is quite effective as it gradually leads you up to changing your mind, by which point in has an ease and speed of access coupon for you to donate money by.
It also uses many techniques that either shock you or plays on your emotions, this persuades you to take an active interest as it is on a Sunday so you have more free time and you feel guilty if you do not help. How does Amnesty International persuade the reader to take an active interest in its organisation and the people it helps? You should consider the structure, organisation and layout of material; the content of the article; and the use of language and linguistic devices
