The Big Issue

 Key Text Summary: Water Aid “Rain for Good”

General conventions

The purpose of the advert is to raise money for people who don’t have access to water. The use of the main characters name “Claudia” evokes more empathy from the audience and it seems that they now know the girl on a personal level. The advert also gives us facts about the cause “650 million people still don’t have access to clean water”, the information could guilt the audience into donating money as it’s putting the responsibility on them. Strauss’ theory of Binary Oppositions could apply as there is a big contrast between the representation of the UK and Africa; The UK could be the antagonist as they are represented as ungrateful for the water they have. 

How is the UK represented in the advert?

In the “Rain for good” advert the UK is represented as the antagonist of the storyline for being ungrateful for their access to water. At the opening shot, the audience sees the inside window of a middle-class house; the advertisers are using middle-class stereotypes such as having a digital radio, flowers and a garden. The close up shot of the window shows the rain and emphasizes the theme of water access. 

The cold lowkey lighting in the primary shot reinforces the idea of the UK having cold weather and many rainy days. 

Who are the target audience?

The target audience are middle-class adults; by using a song created in 1990 – Zoe – Sunshine on a Rainy Day, the target audience can recognise it and relate more to the main character who is singing it. In order to get the target audience to donate to the cause, they have used the main character’s name – Claudia. By using her name, the audience gets to know the character and she becomes more familiar and relatable. Also, the fact that they’ve used a Western-Italian name, enables the audience to find her more relatable to their culture. Although, the use of a Western name and a Western song could possibly play into the idea of White guilt, where countries whose ancestors have colonised African countries; as part of the audience would feel guilty for previous injustice towards Africans, they might be more likely to donate to the charity.  In the advert, the African people are represented as being happy, which has to be done very carefully as the audience might interpret it wrong, as if saying that they already have their necessities and do not need help or charity. However, the more socially aware audience would know that the advert presents us how happy they would be if we donate to the cause. Over time audiences have seen many adverts about the less fortunate, therefore many of them have become desensitized to charity adverts showing their lives; by using Claudia's name and adding information about her they humanise her and help the audience to perceive her as a real person. 

How is the landscape of Africa represented in the advert? 

At the beginning of the advert, when Claudia is walking with the empty bucket, the colours in the shots are quite muted and dull. She is walking on an empty road surrounded by a field. The plants that are on the field seem to be quite dry, further reinforcing the lack of water and evoking empathy from the audience. As she is alone on the road and you can only hear her voice, the advertisers uphold stereotypes about Africa by representing it as uncivilized and deserted. As the advert progresses, the main character gets to her town; the audience can see other girls carrying buckets. By the end of the advert, when she has arrived in her town, the colours change – they become more vibrant and opaque. By the end, the image of Africa being empty and deserted is contradicted as we see Claudia and her neighbours. The image of Britain - having the radio on and having English speech with a British accent, the glass window and most importantly the rain and plants outside - is very opposing to the dry and empty image of Africa. 

How are the people in Africa represented?

Our main character is called Claudia and she's an adolescent African girl. Throughout the video she's singing a song and carrying a bucket, as well as a very serious expression on her face. She and the other girls are shown to be carrying the water and then washing clothes; in a way Van Zoonen's theory could apply here as these girls are shown to be doing domestic work that is a stereotypical gender role, however the act of carrying the heavy buckets needs strength, therefore it could be challenging the stereotype of women being weak. In the beginning, Claudia is shown to be walking alone, and as she is a young girl this puts her in a vulnerable position and evoking empathy from the audience that would later donate to the charity.  As Claudia walks by we can see the children that are a bit younger than her playing at the back. This shows how children in more difficult situations need to grow up faster and learn how to take responsibility. Also, a small part of the advert shows African men working on the field, which challenges Western stereotypes about people in Africa being lazy.

What is the central message?

What is different about this advert is that they are not pitying the African people and showing saddest parts of their everyday lives, but rather show how they are happy with the little things they have, such as water. For the British society, water is something that's very accessible  and taken for granted, however in Africa, people appreciate it. The advert shows the small African village appreciating the water and representing them as happy, that is quite unusual for charity adverts as they'd rather evoke empathy through their narrative. The "WaterAid" advert shows the audience how happy it would make these people if they had the same access to water as we do. Although it is quite hard to do, as the message might not be interpreted the right way, adding the text at the end that gives factual information, actually encourages the audiences to donate in order to help these people keep their water supply. Whereas, in "Most Shocking Second a Day" advert, the advertisers rather try to evoke empathy and guilt by showing the shock that the little girl goes through and how vulnerable she is and the danger she is put through. Although, the conventional narrative that would evoke guilt from the audience might not be in the charity's best interest as audiences have become desensitised from the same narrative they've always seen.

How are audiences positioned by the representations in the WaterAid advertisement you have studied?

•In your answer you must:

•· consider how the representations construct versions of reality

- In the establishing shot we see the British view point, that is the rainy weather, suggesting the abundance of water the UK has; maybe even making the British audience feel guilty or ungrateful for the resources that they have and not appreciate. 

In the African setting, we see the stereotypical idea of African weather, that it is warm and dry, therefore lack of water. 

•· consider the similarities and differences in how audiences are positioned by the representations

•— make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the representations relate to relevant media contexts. (30)