Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Examples of media are television, radio, internet, and newspapers. Media is an avenue through which information is given to the general public. It influences modern society, the way we think, our political choices; attitudes; and beliefs.

It plays an important role in society today. My assignment is to analyse two sources of media entitled "Blinking Hell" produced by the sight savers international and the RSPCA appeal produced by the RSPCA which are both charities For this assignment I have studied two appeals, the first one "Blinking Hell" second "the RCPCA appeal".The purpose of the sight savers international appeal is to persuade the reader to support their charity and understand how it may feel for a sufferer of trachoma; it also states how little it costs to treat trachoma and how the disease develops from something small to something great. The purpose of the RSPCA appeal is also to persuade but to make the reader understand what the sheep go through before being slaughtered for meat. It also brings across a point of how meat traders treat sheep.

For example "The sheep could be slaughtered close to their farms, refrigerated and transported (a method favoured by many farmers)". The RSPCA appeal is about how the sheep are treated during the journey from the farmer to the meat trader, it gives detail on what happens during this journey and how it can be prevented. The RSPCA also explain why the sheep should not be held all together in a tight space. The sight savers international appeal is about the disease trachoma and how it evolves from just a little itch in the eyelids to blindness.

It also describes how it may feel if it was the reader and how life would be. It lets the reader know how little it costs to stop the disease from progressing. The visual images in "Blinking Hell" support the text in the way of giving a better understanding of how it feels for someone suffering from trachoma. It makes the reader sorry for the sufferers. The picture shows a pair of eyes with barbwire for eye lashes; the eyes look scarred and badly strained; this has an emotive effect on the reader and helps the reader to visualise what it may feel like blinking with barbwire for eyelashes.

Cropping of the image helps to focus one area for effect; the passage also brings across emotion to the reader because the in the image the eyes look like it may be child's eye. The imagery in the "RSPCA appeal" is very effective in the way that it is also cropped so that the reader can focus on the image. It supports the text in a way that it helps the reader to visualise what the appeal is saying. In the image there are sheep squashed up on a lorry, it shows how bad the sheep are being treated.The use of pun in the headline "Blinking Hell" is very effective it allows the reader to interpret the title in different ways.

One way in which the title could be understood is as it being a swear word. Secondly it may also mean that the involuntary act of blinking is hell, excruciating. It is also in bold letters which emphasizes the point being brought across to the audience. Whereas the title from the RSPCA appeal uses shock tactics which has an emotive effect on the reader; it makes the audience to think about what they are actually eating.This also creates contrast, it plays on the reader's feeling because it first states the lamb being roasted in garlic and rosemary then it adds the fact of the sheep being soaked in urine and excrement before hand.

The use of pun in the headline "Blinking Hell" is very effective; it allows the reader to interpret the title in different ways. One way in which the title could be understood are as it being a swear word. Secondly the image of hell is associated with pain and torture; it may also mean that the involuntary act of blinking is "hell", excruciating.It is also in bold letters which emphasizes the point being brought across to the audience. Where as the title from the RSPCA appeal uses shock tactics which has an emotive effect on the reader, it makes the audience to think about what they are actually eating. This also creates contrast because it plays on your feeling because first it states lamb being roasted in garlic and rosemary then it adds the fact of the sheep being soaked in urine and excrement before hand.

Blinking Hell uses persuasive tone to make the reader donate to their charity and believe what they are saying about the victims and what happens in the text.They also use sympathetic tone, which makes the reader feel sympathy for the sufferers of trachoma; this brings across emotive devices making the reader feel pity for the people with trachoma. The RPSCA appeal also uses persuasive tone in their text but this makes the reader want to take their side and want to help. This is also conspiratorial against the meat traders because of the way they are treating the sheep; this may make the reader feel anger towards the meat trader.

The information in the text shock the reader, and make the audience feel disgusted with how the sheep are being treated.Through out both of the texts I think the tone and style changes and switches from conversational to informative in both appeals. In both texts the writer influences the reader to feel emotive and have pity on the victims (sheep and sufferers from trachoma). The RSPCA appeal causes shocking and disturbing emotions. It makes me feel disgusted with the way the meat traders are treating the sheep. It disturbs me on how much waste are soaked into the sheep.

For example "in 24 hours 800 sheep produces 700 grams of faeces a day" which is outstanding and saddens me in how the animals are being treated.The RSPCA appeal gives me an urge to help them and support them to fight against cruelty to sheep. It plays on your feeling because first it states lamb being roasted in garlic and rosemary then it adds the fact of the sheep being soaked in urine and excrement before hand. The RSPCA appeal also uses descriptive language it emphasizes how the sheep suffer from skin burn. It also states that the sheep may be wet and cold, they also suffer because the revolting journey. This has a disturbing impact on the reader, evoking anger from the reader.

In "Blinking Hell" the emotion played on is sadness, it makes the audience feel pity on the children and creates sympathy because the writer is talking about mothers and fathers and how they have to cope with the disease that their children have. The Blinking Hell appeal makes the audience feel more compassionate because they sufferers are little children. Persuasive devices are used to influence the reader in the way that meat to us and causes concern, because we eat lamb. We are not directly connected with the appeal because we eat meat are directly connected and this effects us as humans because we consume it.So using shock tactics on the reader helps to make the reader think about how the sheep are being mistreated.

The appeal also gives list of facts to exaggerate the point being brought across with makes the appeal sound more serious. Although we are not directly connected with the appeal in blinking hell it still uses persuasive devices because it use pity and sympathy to persuade the reader; and feel sorry for the trachoma victims. The appeal is even more emotive because children are involved and it may touch the reader's heart and create sympathetic emotions because the children are young.The image used in "Blinking Hell" is very powerful in the sense that it creates a sense of interest to find out what the article is all about.

The article is arranged in paragraphs making it easy for the reader to understand and for each point to be explained and raised. The format of the article is indeed in that of a newspaper and creates importance in the text; it influences the reader to take their claim seriously, and take into the fact that what they are saying is true. Bold print is used to highlight important information.For example "image, every time you blink, you scratch your eyes". The style and size of the font also influence the mood of the text.

In the article the writer uses short sentences through out the text to build tension; for example "some die", "think about it". It also creates suspense, leaving the reader hanging to think between the lines. For example "The trouble is, it'll be back". The writer also uses short paragraphs that hold the reader's attention through out the article.The use of symbolism in the logo is effective because it expresses that the organisation is genuine. In blinking hell the readers are reassured that all of the money donated to the charity will go to the claim in article because the readers are given certification that the charity is well established and is a member of a reputable association or society.

The writer shows the inspiration of our confidence in organisations' work; this is shown by "Wouldn't you pay a hundred or a thousand times that if it were your eyes at stake? In the appeal it makes it easy for the reader to respond because it states the address, so that the audience can send of their donations to the charity.For the RSPCA appeal readers are reassured that all donations made are put towards the appeal by stating the RPSCA logo which certifies which charity it is; and because the charity is well known it has a good reputation of helping people in the third world. The appeal makes it easy for the reader to respond because it leaves a phone number, so that people can call in to help.I think for the charities to be dependant on the public's generosity because they need the public's help to fulfil their needs on what they want to be done. The appeals that I have analysed are successful in the way that, the organisations sound persuasive and convincing enough for me to donate if I were the one being asked to. I think that the Sight savers international will be more successful, because the appeal talks about young children who may be more effective on the reader; it is also more appealing because it creates pity.

Therefore Sight savers international is more successful.