A Level Media

Studies Component 1

Section A

Advertising & Marketing

Media Language & Representation

Case Study: Wateraid

Component One Section A:

Advertising & Marketing

Water Aid Audio-visual Advert

LI: To understand & be able to apply the product & social context of the

advert.

To analyse media language & apply Semiotics.Component One Section A:

Advertising & Marketing

(Media Language &

Representation)

1. WaterAid audio-

visual advert

2. Tide print advert

3. Kiss of the Vampire

film poster

Genre conventions of

advertising?

Write down 3 genre conventions of advertising on a

post it note and stick it to the board.

Genre conventions of charity

advertising?Look at the following charity adverts

Make notes on the visual and technical codes they use to create meaning.

How are they similar/different to conventional adverts?

Use the table in your handout to record examples.

Do they have their own (sub-)genre conventions?

Charity & Cause Advertising Youtube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szT7grQnHRU&list=PLUPxDOG-YGRCs_79sjpqEDD6DyX2Jh1a1

Genre conventions of charity

advertising?

What visual and technical codes did they use to create

meaning?

How are they similar/different to conventional adverts?

Do they have their own (sub-)genre conventions?

Starter: what are the conventions of charity

adverts?

Shocking, hard-hitting images (often using

children)

Emotive soundtrack

Use of a voice-over to reinforce the adverts’

message

Emotive language

Personalised narrative featured within the advert

Dark colours, bleak colour pallette

Personal address ‘you can make a difference’

Repetitive messages

Includes donation details

Memorable logo

Hard-hitting facts

Create continuity across a series of adverts

Wateraid: Product Context Water Aid charity established in 1981 as a response to United Nations

campaign for clean water, sanitation and hygiene education

Works with organisations in 37 African, Asian & Central American countries

Prince Charles has been patron since 1991

Created by Atomic London in 2016

Shows 16 year old Zambian student Claudia and aims to depict how communities benefit from clean water.

Wateraid: Cultural Context Following 1984’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?

single for Band Aid, 1985’s Live Aid was the first global charity event aiming to raise funds for relief of the ongoing famine in Ethiopia.

The Comic Relief telethon was launched by Richard Curtis and Lenny Henry in 1985 with the same initial famine relief aim, and went on to raise over £1bn for charitable causes across Africa and in the UK.

Wateraid: Cultural Context

The contemporary audience for this advert could

be assumed to be familiar with the codes and

conventions of both audio-visual adverts and

those for charitable organisations in particular.

Wateraid: Cultural Context“Compassion Fatigue” and the “Empathy Deficit”

In 2016,the “Charities Aid Foundation UK Giving report showed that over a 10-year period, people are giving considerably less when inflation is considered”.

Charities were warned to “stop “hounding” donors by the Charity Commission chief in a public statement’”.

“Aggressive tactics have eroded goodwill in charities.”

“Research shows the single biggest barrier to giving is a sense of uncertainty that people’s money will translate into action.“

“Another major barrier for giving is ‘cause overload’.”

“The psychology of why people give […] is simple – having a personal connection with the cause. If you have a pet, you’re more likely to want to give to charities about animals.

http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2016/03/03/compassion-fatigue-era-giving-goodwill-over-so-what-next-charity-marketing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiy3dkTwPcQ

Wateraid: Textual Analysis

Watch the advert and make notes on how media language (visual codes,

verbal codes, camera, editing, etc) is used to construct meaning.

WaterAid Vs A2 Theory:

LanguageHow can you apply the following theories? (see theory summary sheet in content library for help)

Roland Barthes' semiotics

Steve Neale's Genre theory

Tzvetan Todorov's Narratology

Roland Barthes' Narrative Codes

Claude Levi Strauss's Structuralism & binary oppositions

Jean Baudrillard's Postmodernism & hyperreality

Representation

Advertising & Representation:

Stereotypes

What are the common stereotypes of black, Asian

and ethnic minorities used in the media and

especially charity advertising?

Ethnic Minority StereotypesManuel Alvorado (1987) identified 4 themes in how ethnic minorities are represented in the media:

1. Dangerous

2. Exotic (inc. sexualised)

3. Humorous/ridicule

4. Pitied

https://wearenotentertainment.wordpress.com/category/alvarados-theory-1987-representation-of-ethnicity/

Wateraid

RepresentationWhat parts of the ‘world’ (i.e. groups of people, places, ideas, etc) are portrayed?

Are these representations stereotypical?

Do they go against stereotype in any way?

How is media language used to construct these representations?

What aspects of reality have been selected and omitted?

What values and beliefs (ideologies) are present within the representation?

What factors do you think have impacted upon this representation?

WaterAid Vs A2 Theory:

RepresentationHow can you apply the following theories? (see theory summary sheet in content library for help)

Stuart Hall: Representation & Stereotyping

David Gauntlett: Representation & Identity

Liesbet Van Zoonen: Representation and Gender stereotypes

Bell hooks: Representation and Intersectionality

Judith Butler: Representation and Gender Performativity

Paul Gilroy: Representation and Post colonialism

Compare and contrast the use of

media lanaguage and construction of

representations in

the Wateraid "Rain for Good"

(Claudia sings) and from with

this Oxfam ad from 1963.

•In what ways are they similar?•In what ways are the different?•What are the reasons for this?•How has the context impacted upon them?•Apply theory where appropriate

• Write your response (400-500 words) and be prepared to share findings with class