water-aid

Product Context

The charity Water-Aid (established in 1981) as a response to a United Nations campaign for clean water, sanitation & water hygiene education. Created by Atomic London in October 2016 this advert stars a 16- year old Zambian student Claudia and aims to show how communities benefit from clean water by depicting everyday chores.

Cultural Context in relation to media language

• After the 1984 ‘Do they know its Christmas?’ single for Band-Aid. This was the first global charity event aiming to raise funds for relief of the ongoing famine in Ethiopia. The comic relief was launched with the same initial famine relief aim, and went on to raise over £1bn for charitable causes across Africa and in the UK.
• Genre- Water aid advert reinforces charity advertisement conventions by including key information about the concern, a personalised narrative. However it explores a non-diegetic voiceover and black & white visual codes could all be seen as unconventional of this advertising sub-genre.
• Codes & Conventions- Opening medium shot with a pull focus between digital radio and the rain against the window establishes the advert in a modern, British setting.
• Visual & audio codes work together to construct a narrative of ‘sunshine’ 9in Africa) on a rainy day (In Britain). With associated problems of drought and ‘lack of access to clean drinking water’

Social Context in relation to representations

Launching the Rain For Good campaign, Water-Aid said that it had ‘deliberately broken away from the traditional charity ad formula’.

The stereotypical ‘victim’ needing our help is an archetype with which the audience would be familiar from many other charity adverts. This would perhaps make the more positive representation of Claudia as a healthy, independent and musically talented woman stand out to an audience who might otherwise become immune from the emotive representations conventionally deployed by this advertising sub-genre.

Social and cultural context in relation to audience

In December 2016, the advert had been viewed roughly 47,000 times on YouTube and actively encourages the sharing of the advert through social networks. Further evidence that the likely target audience are literate with technology is that donations are encouraged through the imperative to text a number. The advert cover of Zoe’s 1990 song “Sunshine on a rainy day” could indicate that the target audience are in their 30s-40s and get pleasure from the nostalgic value of hearing a song which they’re familiar.

• Audience demographic is constructed through the advert’s use of a young woman with whom they might personally identify (Uses & Gratifications Theory). Parents might make similar readings, identifying empathetically with the ‘better life’ Water Aids clean water provides for the children.
• Opinion Leader for the target audience who would assume the “650 million people…” statistic is true and reliable.
• Unconventionally positive visual codes, audio codes and representations would, give the advert some unique selling points compared to other charity appeals

A criticism of these programmes and charity campaigns is that, in order to raise money they only offer negative representations in order to elicit an emotional response from the audience. Water-Aid presents a more positive representation, highlighting how the money spent and the effect of clean water on a community.