This paper one text can be interpreted to be a lot of things but I
believe that it is an advertisement disguised as an informative article. The
text starts off with an introductory paragraph that explains what the article
will be about – something that many articles have. It starts off with facts and
numbers and so the reader automatically knows that it is meant to be
informative and factual. The article is split into three different parts and
each part has its own subtitle, also another quality for an article. The last
part explains the entire organization and everything they do and convey it in a
positive light – something that might lead people to believe that it is an
advertisement. The company helps areas with deep poverty and the article
continues to explain how the company achieves this and is also very interactive
with the audience and that is a good quality of an advertisement. The purpose of the article is to persuade and encourage the audience to donate and help the organization. The target audience seems to be people that are looking for ways to help and are considering organizations to donate to because this article recalls every possible way to shed a good and positive light on the organization.
The article is written from the
point of view of a worker in an organization called “Oxfam”, an organization
dedicated to address issues of poverty in extremely poor countries. The article
is taken directly off of the Oxfam website. The target audience seems to be
people who are interested and worried about growing epidemics and are looking
for ways to help. In general, the text is meant to do two things: to inform and
to persuade. Firstly, many facts and numbers are brought up. People tend to
believe a number and tend to be more affected by such things. The article
explains the problem very effectively. Secondly, as stated before, there is a
hidden advertisement in this article. Firstly, the article is placed on the
website and so it must aim for something specific. The organization is
portrayed in a very positive light. Often, things like “we can help” are often
said. By using pronouns like “we”, the article becomes very interactive and
personal with the audience. The audience therefore is more encouraged to donate because it becomes more of a personal task. It very subtly persuades people to donate to the cause
and do something about the problem. It offers a problem - solution scenario because it states all of the growing issues and then goes on to explain how Oxfam is the solution.
The article goes on to explain about
the hunger epidemic that is present in West and Central Africa. The problem
seems to be a result of poor food harvests and water shortages. A study shows
that around 12 million people are facing the possibility of a serious food
crisis like the one that occurred in 2005 and 2008. Oxfam is sending
humanitarian aid to millions of people in this area and working closely with families
to help set up a foundation in order to prevent further such epidemics.
The tone and mood of the article are sad yet hopeful. The article is structured in
a way that it begins very sadly and explains this crisis and how many people
are involved in this epidemic but then continues on to explain that there is
hope and that many communities are hard at work to fix these problems. The reader
would begin reading the article and would feel very affected and upset but by
the end of the article, they would feel as if they can help and as if there is
hope. It has a certain sad mood because it gives us facts about poverty and hunger and when people have numbers in front of them, it is difficult to not be effected by it. By setting a depressing atmosphere, the audience is immediately snapped into reality and it encourages them to want to help and do something about the problem. This article very efficiently informs and persuades the target audience
in a way that this problem can be solved but the company can also benefit from
it.
No comments:
Post a Comment