Thursday 20 April 2023

How does the WaterAid advert and its marketing appeal to its target audiences?



Underline the key terms


How does the WaterAid advert appeal to its target audiences? [10]


Knee jerk reaction


The WaterAid advert uses a positive mode of address to appeal to it’s target audiences


Plan


Positioning 

Facial expressions

MES

Bright colour palette

Codes and conventions

Singing

Diegesis 

Diegetic sound

Immersion

Africa

Stuart Hall - reception (PNO)

Gilroy (postcolonial)

Binary opposition

Gauntlet - identity/pick and mix

Cultivation

Stereotypical 

(Uses and gratifications)

90s pop

Middle aged working class British target audience

Scheduled for daytime television 

Escapism

Ideology






Introduction


DAC - definition, argument, context


Target audience refers to the specific demographic that the producer of a media product wishes to reach. This can be achieved through creating audience appeal. In this essay I shall argue that the WaterAid advert uses a positive mode of address to appeal to its working class middle aged target audience. WaterAid is a successful UK charity that provides water to impoverished communities.


Paragraphs


PEA - Point, evidence, argument 



One way in which the WaterAid advert uses a positive mode of address to appeal to it’s target audience is to cultivate an ideology that ‘African people’ are vulnerable and must be helped. This is constructed through a montage of close up shots of Claudia’s Face and feet, which reinforces the MES of Claudia’s flimsy and cheap looking ballet pumps. In addition to this, the use of facial close ups directly positions the audience in a personal mode of address, and forces us to identify with her. Stuart Hall argues that producers use media language to encode their ideological perspectives and to manipulate the target audience. By constructing an appealing mode of address, the producers of the WaterAid advert are able to appeal to their working class middle aged target audience.


  • Colour palette and selection of MES

  • Use of positive and happy MES for eg clean clothes, laughter, singing

  • Construction of a positive narrative - advert takes place after restoration of equilibrium

  • Avoid desensitisation 

  • Representation of teenage girl creates a pleasing and relatable mode of address 

  • Use of 1990 pop song will be relatable to an English speaking target audience 

  • The use of a direct mode of address constructs a particularly persuasive and appealing ideology 

  • A straightforward mode of address is used which lacks any challenging information. The advert doesn’t even identify what country it is set in which may appeal to it’s uneducated working class target audience

  • The 90 second version of the advert would be screened during daytime television commercials, and therefore would appeal to a predominantly working class target audience


However, although this advert is constructed to be appealing, a negotiated reading may be to assume that people like Claudia are fine, and do need help. This advert lacks the typical genre conventions of charity adverts that tend to use a hard hitting mode of address, and instead takes a softer approach which may not appeal to all audiences.