Charitable Advertising

Compared to regular products charitable donations don’t aim to meet tangible needs. The idea of giving and contributing to a cause is what these organisations hope to communicate and address through their campaigns. There are clearly different dynamics and strategies which these organisations can choose to use which will be explored in today’s comparison.

This campaign above was showcased by Oxfam, one the world’s most well-known charitable organisations in intention of addressing the issue of poverty in many various countries. The stimulus evokes a benevolent sense of community in solving the problem through use of words like “our” and “we” to establish a connection with the consumer so that they feel involved as part of the problem and therefore should be a part of the solution, also reinforced by the smiling child to reflect an even greater level of positive personal connection.

This advertisement above was created by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) with the core goal of stopping child abuse in the UK. Unlike the advertisement above for Oxfam this crusade captures donations through a very negative and empathetic approach toward consumers, in inducing sadness and distress so that they will donate in order to solve the problem. The use of greyscale colouring creates a cold framework against the clear “I Hate You” quote above it to generate a setting where the view feels connected to the situation. While the company logo and “Stop child abuse with a click.” link are situated in vibrant and lively colours to contrast the advertisement as an indicated solution to the problem.

In both of these advertisements the companies have looked to engage the consumer in order to achieve donations while using contrasting emotional techniques in order to do so. While these two images may be powerful in their own right they do not come close to comparing to different mediums like for instance video advertising. Through use of video broadcasting channels such youtube these companies can do a much better job at appealing to these consumers emotionally, the video below shows and advert released by Barnados, an international charity aimed at stopping child abuse, about the issue of child poverty in modern societies. And through its utilisation of communicating through this channel makes the consumer physically visualise the problem and how it can be eradicated.