2. Advertising is heavily influenced by social and cultural contexts
such as inequalities, social values, consumerism and postmodernism. Especially
in charity adverts as they are made to create awareness and create the ‘shock’
aspect. However, generic charity advertising conventions can create controversy
and conform to stereotyping in order for the audience to feel empathy and guilt
toward the cause as they are already familiar with these.
For example, in the Shelter charity advert in figure 3, the use of
similar ethnicities shows the community of people in the same position all
facing the same sort of housing issues. The social values are clear here as
their values are trying to find a new home and being able to provide care and
safety for themselves and their family, as opposed to some people that value
new technology etc. The use of the middle, working class subjects is very
relatable for some people and they empathise with the people because the shock
to the public makes them realise that this could happen to anyone, even
themselves. Culturally, consumerism is suggested through any homelessness
campaigns as some believe they only have themselves to blame and the more the
campaign relies on people feeling sorry for the subjects, the more they will
doubt the purpose. They may be desensitised toward these now as they all rely
on empathy, guilt and sympathy which is becoming too generic and predictable.
This then contributes to postmodernism. More social context is shown through
the different reasons each subject has become homeless, each situation is
personal and emphasises that you can become homeless for many different reasons
even with similar ethnicities and emotions.
|I believe that they advertise in this way because, disregarding the
desensitised people that have found faults in the stereotypes and conventions
used in most advertising, as it makes the audience feel guilty and empathy
toward the people affected in the advert. The realism used through the simple
layout of figure 3, the main text being in a conversational tone and the use of
unknown people just like you and me. This realism contributes to the social
context as it is a very real issue in England for many people.
