Compare Two Advertising Leaflets for Christian Aid and the RSPCA

The purpose of this essay is to compare two advertising leaflets for Christian Aid and the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also known as the RSPCA. The RSPCA is an animal welfare organistaion whilst Christian Aid is a humanitarian organisation which focuses on the deprived people all around the world.

In this essay I will be analyzing what the purpose of the two advertisements and the effectiveness of each leaflet on how they persuade the reader to act differently by donating money to the charity, furthermore I will analyse the presentation, layout and effect of both the RSPCA and Christian Aid leaflets. I will also show the persuasive techniques used and compare the two charities.

The main purpose of charities is to help the helpless whether it being humans or living creatures. They want you to donate money to all the deprived humans and animals in the world.

There are many reasons why we donate money to charities. Firstly we might feel sorry for the people who are less fortunate in life. Another reason is guilt, we feel guilty if we do not give money to the less fortunate humans and animals in life. Other reasons could be because we feel it is our moral duty or religious beliefs.

There are many different types of charities for example animal rights like the RSPCA also there are environmental agencies and pressure groups. Charities constantly need to advertise because of the government doesn’t donate money to charities. Secondly, they advertise to remind people of reality and all the suffering surroundings around us.

Kids Beating Cancer which was founded in 1992 is a charity looking to increase quality of life for critically and chronically ill children with cancer, leukemia, and other life-threatening diseases and to see that the children whose survival depends on finding a compatible marrow or blood stem cell donor, have the maximum opportunity for a cure.

National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. is a charity that gives women inspiration, compassion, and understanding. They provide educational programs and give money to programs in order to support women with breast cancer. Also, they give money to offer free treatments for those with cancer.

Charities recently complained to the National Lottery and won a battle. The battle was over the amount donated by the National Lottery. By winning this battle the National Lottery now gives 30p of ever one pound on Monday to a charity of your choice. Every week there are five charities to choose from such as “Rethink”. This has worked out very well for the charities especially “Rethink” who are one of the five charities that have contributed to this scheme. It is very important for charities to advertise in our modern society because people are not fully aware of the cruelty in the world. Also things are starting to become more expensive and charities need

donations to give to the less wealthy people in the world. Charities advertisement surrounds us everywhere in our daily life in music, films and clothes.

Charities can advertise through nearly all sorts of the media: the television the radio and print media like newspapers, billboards and posters. They can also advertise through new technology like the internet.

The RSPCA do this very much. On June 16, 1824, that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in a London pub as the SPCA (of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals )It was the first society in history set up to end animal cruelty. When the RSPCA was founded it had an exceptional reputation for original work on the protection of animals. All over the UK its inspectors rescue abused dogs from dingy back yards and starving horses from run-down stables, while members of the public bring in injured and abandoned animals.

The other charity Christian Aid was founded 50 years ago in 1953, Christian Aid is generally considered to be the first agency to support and promote local mission groups. It has been the catalyst behind the present improvement in foreign missions.

Over the years, Christian Aid has provided more than $50 million in assistance to more than 700 ministries based in 122 “mission field” countries overseas. These boards deploy a combined total of 90,000 missionaries serving in the third-world nations of the world.

Charities are more likely to use print media to advertise because it is cheap. This is vital with charities because if they collect money and then spend all the donated money advertising they wouldn’t have enough money for the people and animals that need it.

Charities have to decide what type of audience to target. This is very important because if they target the wrong audience they will not get very much contributions from the public. Charities target people who are financial comfortable, socially and globally aware and someone who is quite sensitive

The layout of the Christian Aid leaflet is very interesting. It is in a shape of a can reading “Fresh Air”. The title of this drink suggests that nothing is in the can and that all that the suffering people have to drink is “Fresh air”. The slogan of the can is very ironic as it reads “Dying for a Drink? Imagine if this was all you had to drink today”. This slogan is ironic because people in the world are actually dying for a drink because they don’t had a drink or something to eat in a long time and all they have is fresh air. The colour of the can is interesting. It is coloured in red suggesting that it might remind people of a well known drink. The can looks like a coke can which is well known in the Western side of the world however not in Eastern side. The colour red is also recognized as blood, life, death and danger. All of these things are occurring in the Eastern side of the world such as danger of death. This is common as they have nothing to eat or drink. Therefore Christian Aid have named their can ‘Fresh Aid’ emphasising the devastation and the starvation of the people in Mali. I think they chose this colour because it is very eye catching and children can easily extinguish it.

In this leaflet seven statements are written in big bold red writing. I feel they have done this because these are very powerful sentences. For example the sub-heading “How one well helped save a community from extinction” The word “extinction” is a very powerful word as it means wiped out. Imagine a whole community being wiped out. This sub-heading also shows how only one well helped save a community, making you think how a dozen wells would help them. The fourth bold red writing is talking directly to you the audience “That’s the difference you can make – and it’s a difference you can make today. Please do”.

The statement emphasis on the word “you” using repetition. Also in that statement it adds “Please do”. They are now literally pleading for your support and your donations. This makes the reader feel sympathetic and act differently. The next sub-heading is very effective as it mentions the word “life-saving” these are very powerful words because it is a life or death situation. This leaflet emphasis on the little amount of money you have to give as it mentions “Just 24 pounds”. Twenty four pounds is a very little contribution in comparison to people starving and dying in the world. The size of this leaflet is important is written in a quite big font which is good as it is easy to establish and quite eye catching.

There are many statistics in this leaflet. It mentions that ’36 pounds’ can provide ’36 women’ who are benefiting from a water project with tree sampling to make extra income. This statistic means that for only one person you only have to donate one pound to give them a better life. The leaflet includes determination from the villagers to make a better life for them, showing that they care as well and they will make an effort if you do.

The shape of this leaflet could be turned into a can. This is very effective as it is in a shape of a can. This is very eye catching and I feel this is done for children.

This leaflet uses a variety of emotive language some examples are “life-saving”, “extinction” and “dirty”. These are powerful words as they give a huge impact on the reader making them feel as these people are living in harsh drastic conditions. These words are also very effective as they are all emotive.

The captions used in this leaflet are quite shocking. There are four captions and the picture of the fresh air can. These captions show women in these third world countries trying to make a living for themselves without the resources. These give a great impact on the reader making them feel quite upset to see these people working so hard.

The other advert is the RSPCA leaflet. This leaflet is in back and white. This is done for a reason because it is not suppose to be a happy topic. This indicates the sad mood making us feel gloomy and depressed. It could also be black and white because it could be from a newspaper. Also the colours are quite effective as they are quite easy to see. The font used in this leaflet is quite big bold headlines however consisting of small writing. The reason is so it stands out. The logo is on the leaflet three times. It is in the corner however can be recognized from quite a far distance as it is written in bold white writing surrounded by a black background. It is also simple but effective. The purpose of the logo is to let people know about the RSPCA and make it a well-known charity. There are three images on this advertisement. It has got two of the same picture of a cat sitting inside the window with it glaring eyes

always looking at the reader reflecting one another for a reason. Firstly it can always be seen wherever in the leaflet. Another reason is because it creates an illusion of happiness and you can’t get away from it and the staring cat. The other picture is taken from inside showing both sides of the story, and that you cannot judge on the first appearance. This picture is a derelict image of inside the house. It creates an illusion of a happy cat. This illustration contains a lot of detail and emphasis’s the poor conditions that the kittens are going through. It also contains a picture of cute and very easily adorable cats. This creates a huge effect on the reader as it makes us feel extremely sad for the cats as we feel that the cats are very cute. This makes the reader feel sorry for the cats and therefore donate money to the RSPCA. The sub headings and headlines used in this leaflet are all very powerful. As in the leaflet it says “Is this cat happily watching the world go by”? Involving the reader straight away getting them thinking.

“Or crying out for help? Most of these are rhetorical questions getting the reader thinking. These few headlines are very influential because on one side you think there is a happy cat and when you open it up you wonder if it is. The advert uses a lot of emotive language throughout the advertisement a few examples are: “Desperate”, “cruelty”, “suffering”, “Cat found dead”, “The Cats name”, and a list of three: “Beaten”, “terrified” and “starving”. All these words are effective as they make the reader feel sympathy and compassion, making them contribute to the RSPCA. There are not a lot of facts and statistics in this leaflet however there are a few. It gives three examples of what three pounds of your money a month can do for these animals. This is very effective as it is a list of three and they read it they realize that only three pounds could do so much for these animals. This advert is extremely in a way as on the last bit of the advert it has a order form. This is very clever as after they have looked through this leaflet they feel sympathy for the animals and want to give money. This is a good way of doing it as it is fast and very easy. If they don’t include this order form the readers might just forget about the leaflet and never donate money.

Increasingly, charities are using shocking images in their adverts in order to shock the readers. They do this to exploit the reader’s emotions and feelings making them feel horrified to see that people and animals are going through this much in their lives.

The RSPCA advert uses many persuasive techniques to the adverts. IT uses many rhetorical questions like “Is this cat watching the world go by happily”? Or crying out for help? It also contains negative and emotive language like, cruelty, suffering, Cat found dead and the cat’s name. This emotive language persuades the reader to give money if they see how much this cat and many animals are going through. The Christian Aid advert uses a lot of emotive language like extinction. This is a very powerful word as it suggests that something will be wiped out forever. It also uses many shocking images like the women trying to make a living for themselves. This helps persuade the reader as they notice how much effort and hard work these people are going through.

Both adverts are very effective. However, I believe that The RSPCA charity advert is more effective as it uses a lot more emotive languages, rhetorical questions and includes an order form. It is also laid out better with the two reflecting images as

you cannot get away from it where ever you are in the advert. I believe that The RSPCA would get more support from the public because it is more persuasive as it makes you think of the drastic conditions the cat is living in also it includes more emotive language. This is very important as you need to make the reader feel as sensitive as possible for them to contribute to the charity.