For Business communication class we were given the assignment of choosing two websites that where we could analyze ethos and provide how each website appealed to the audience.
The two web sites that were chosen for this group project are, “UNICEF” and “Feed the Children”. We chose these two websites since these are charitable websites with good moral, good will and practices which provide great ethos. There were several differences in design and structure between the two websites which will be described in the following paragraphs.On the web site for UNICEF, this organization is for the assistance to aide countries around the world. They distribute food, supplies, medicine to villages in foreign countries. UNICEF helps by building schools to educate the local inhabitants, so they can become self-reliant.
Donations are the primary source of income for this organization. Which it disperses funds around the world. Many volunteers assist this organization by contributing their skills in areas most needed. The use of children faces grasps at you and draws your attention to certain stories.Smiling children learning at school, groups of people making wells so they can have water are a few things you will see on their web page.
The option of selecting what language you would prefer to read the site is posted on the top of the page. The insignia for this organization uses the combination of the insignia of the United Nations with the inset of person and a child in the globe. The layout of the web site is not clustered, so it is easy to maneuver the site. The use of video also gives you an insight to what the organization does to help and assist people around the world.The ethos presented in the Feed the Children organization website builds an interest of involvement and support but not as strong as other charitable organizations. At first glance, it displays a photo of a child holding a backpack with a saying “He sleeps with his backpack, it’s his.
A simple backpack can change lives. ” It follows with a link where you can make a donation. It’s not really a persuasive way of making the viewer a donor but you understand the website’s purpose. Displayed at the top of the webpage is the logo of a child holding up a bowl, as if asking for food, with the words “Feed the Children”.
The slogan presented beside it states, “It’s who we are. It’s what we do”. The logo and the slogan are catchy but don’t really create an interest to continue reading their website. From the information provided by the website its focus is mainly on feeding children. Throughout the website, pictures of sad children are displayed, along with a statistic of how many children are starving, followed with a request of a donation.
Again they are using similar ethos like other websites. The front webpage also gives you a link “Who is Feed the Children? where you can find more information on the organization such as their background, accountability, and their presence in the news. The Feed the Children organization has been involved in serving the community within the United States and Internationally. They also created the Abandoned Babies and Children (ABC) program that serves the same purpose.
The website provides separate links where you can access information regarding the United States, around the world, and the ABC program.In the “Accountability” link, you will find financial information on their organization such as a pdf file of their annual financial statements. This provides crucial information as it gives more credibility to the organization that the majority of the proceeds are used to serve children in need. The “In the News” link sends you to a page full of news articles where the “Feed the Children” organization has been involved in the community.
Every webpage is informative, whether its statistics, their presence in the news, or the several ways on how you can be involved.But it does not really stand out or differ from other charitable organizations. The website also doesn’t provide statements from families whom they’ve helped. Donors want to see that they’ve made a difference in someone’s life.
A “thank you” video clip or photo of an assisted family or school group would probably have satisfied this issue and made this organization more desirable to participate in. It provides enough evidence for credibility from their existence in the news and links to their financial statements. It seems like a legit charitable organization with a good purpose but they also rovide similar ethos as displayed in other websites, which in effect doesn’t necessarily derive an appeal to join this particular organization. Although UNICEF and Feed the Children both aim to help underprivileged children with food and water. UNICEF focuses to help on a global level with other issues such as illnesses like HIV/AIDS, child protection, education and gender equality.
Feed the Children concentrates mainly on providing food and water. Between both websites, the UNICEF presents itself to be more well-known because of all their assistance programs.One feature that the UNICEF site offers is the option to change the language. They offer five different languages as oppose to the Feed the Children site which is only in English.
The fact that Feed the Children only presents their website in one language means that their target audience is smaller than UNICEFs which in turn might not be as successful as UNICEFs. This gives a greater advantage for UNICEF as it targets almost everyone around the world to find interest and to participate in the UNICEF’s program.The logo for UNICEF is a small picture of a mother and child in a globe, this image isn’t as strong as Feed the Children’s logo which is an outline of a child holding up a bowl as if asking for food. This to some level might appeal to a maternal instinct since it images a child begging for food.
The UNICEF webpage displays a number of goodwill ambassadors such as Serena Williams, David Beckman, Shakira, and Audrey Hepburn. This shows the amount of influence UNICEF has. Whereas the FEED THE CHILDREN page presents many link options to donate, volunteer, or to organize church groups to raise material to be donated.Demonstrating that Feed the Children needs more assistance. As seen, ethos can play a major role in persuading an audience into buying or in this case donating money to their organizations. The structure and design of these two websites can assist in raising funds for projects to help the needy by captivating attention of the audience who happen to come across these websites.
The audience always determines the whether the material has high or low ethos and in this case we determined both had high ethos. Reading the stories and services provided would entice any reader to donate money to the organizations.
