Social Action and Community Media

Existing Product Research

Charlotte Shaw

Case Study: Shelter

Purpose:To campaign To provide information

Aims:The aims of this campaign is to raise awareness of the this issue arising in todays society, especially with the recession and the current climate, which is relatable to many people in todays society, and so along with this it coincides with the issues of debt which people are faced with. Some of slogans used to really catch to eye of the reader include; ‘but where will we live?’ this is a good clear message which gets the information across in a clear manner as this could happen to anyone down to there job or living accommodation.

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Techniques:(You may want to use more than one slide to discuss the techniques used)To grab the attention of the reader the colours used are muted and toned down to reflect the mood which this represents and the sadness that homelessness causes. However to contrast this a red font has been added which have effectively been used to grab the readers attention, in bold capital letters and in a clear font that can seen from a far. The rhetorical question added also really hits home this message and the devastation it causes, questioning the reader. The photograph used in this poster also complements to general look of the poster, using a close up shot and at direct eye level with reader it catches there eye and capture’s the emotion behind the image by the expression and the emphasis on the eyes. As well as the font the smaller detailed information stating ‘ losing your job doesn’t have to mean losing your home. We can help’ which is added for impact also representing a sense of community.

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Case Study: (campaign/organisation name)

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Impact: Evidence of any change being brought about through projects using words and or graphics.When looking into more detail of the work that this company has made here are some of the changes that they have made throughout the years. • We convinced the Government to provide guidance to all local

authorities on how to tackle rogue landlords.• We persuaded the Housing Minister to set up a rogue landlord

taskforce, invest £1.8m to deal with ‘beds in sheds’, and ensure there is no limit to fines imposed on rogue landlords.

• We persuaded the Government that more new homes need to be built: they launched a new £400 million ‘Get Britain Building’ investment fund.

• We named and shamed rogue landlords and we’re working hard to help protect private tenants from poor housing conditions.

• We’ve won greater protection for tenants who face eviction without warning when their landlord’s property is repossessed.

• We helped save 194,000 people from the danger of losing their home by getting a Government U-turn on cuts to housing support.

• Around 100,000 homeowners struggling to pay off mortgage arrears now have access to vital funds to prevent their homes being repossessed.

• Millions of people who rent their homes now have their deposit protected, thanks to Shelter’s campaigning.

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Case Study: (campaign/organisation name)

http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/making_change_happen

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Case Study: Barnardos

Purpose:To campaign To bring about local, national or global change To build relationships with the subjectAims:the aim of this campaign is to bring to the attention this issue in todays society, and so there is one main reason and that is to improve the life of children in todays society, and effectively doing so by including the call now number. This campaign is also a way of raising awareness of this issue that is sadly now becoming more common, because when researching into this, via the Barnardos website the reports they have carried out show; ‘The lives of 3.8 million children in the UK - one in three are blighted by poverty. This report is based on interviews with over 40 families with whom Barnardo's works.’ showing the scale a proportion of this problem. Other research shows;

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The housing crisis in numbers1.4 million children in England live in bad housing. [3]In 2008/09, 654,000 households in England were overcrowded. [4]In 2009 the number of repossessions rose to 48,000 from 25,900 in 2007, and it is predicted that repossessions will remain high in the coming years. [5]7.4 million homes in England fail to meet the Government's Decent Homes Standard. [6]The UK is now more polarised by housing wealth than at any time since the Victorian era.In 2009/10, more than 62,000 households were found to be homeless by local authorities. [7]At the end of September 2010, 49,000 households were living in temporary accommodation arranged by local authorities. Just over 38,000 of these households had dependent children. [8]http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/why_we_campaign/the_housing_crisis

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Techniques:(You may want to use more than one slide to discuss the techniques used) the photography used helps to grab the attention of the reader, and creating emotion in the reader with direct eye contact with the reader. the lighting also has specific emphasis on the child’s face to make her look vulnerable and lonely with bleak surroundings, which is emphasized by the light on the child’s face which is heavily highlighted. The words ‘change a child’s life now’ is simple and straight to the point. This text is also in capital letters with a bold fold which also helps to grab the attention of the reader. The logo that they use on many of there promotional material, leaflets, websites and freebies is also clearly visible for campaigning and can be easily recognized by the reader when aware of the work that they do. The colour scheme for this advertising campaign is black and white which is simple and easy to understand, and connotes the sadness, pain and hardship which then relates back to the story behind this poster.

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Case Study: Barnardos

Impact: Evidence of any change being brought about through projects using words and or graphics.From looking more closely into the work that Barnado’s do, you can clearly she the changes made through the year and how far there campaign as come, and this shows it; Across the UKOur Cut them free campaign has also achieved:Nearly 1800 people took action to get their Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to pledge, if elected to support our campaign. This means that of 41 newly elected commissioners, 23 are committed to tacking child sexual exploitation.13,000 campaigners supported our work which saw 107 Councils in England sign up to do everything they can to tackle child sexual exploitation.Over 3,000 people signed Barnardo’s Scotland petition on child sexual exploitation. As a result, the Minister for Children and Young People has made a series of important commitments to take action on child sexual exploitation, including updating the 2010 National Child Protection Guidelines and commissioning research into the nature and scale of the CSE in Scotland.Campaigners in Northern Ireland seem likely to secure child sexual exploitation as a priority of the Safeguarding Board.In Wales, policies on child sexual exploitation were so advanced that campaigners have simply needed to encourage the other nations to catch up! 7Creative Media Production 2012

Case Study: (campaign/organisation name)

Which helps to show the positive progress which has been made, in changing the lives for these children, and with the generous support from the public more things can be changed to.

http://www.barnardos.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/campaign_success_stories.htm

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Case Study: Child Health Foundation

Purpose:To campaign To build relationships with the subjectTo bring about global change Stop smoking Aims:The aim of this is to initially stop smoking. This is a campaign which adds an element of shock into there advertising you strong hard hitting language ‘children of parent who smoke, get to heaven earlier’ making it relatable to anyone with a family.

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Techniques:(You may want to use more than one slide to discuss the techniques used) The editing to this image has been cleverly used to create a smoke like halo over the child's head, showing innocence and incorporating the image with the message. The text for this campaign is a simple sans serif font, the fact that is in a small font really draws the reader in to the page, the lighting has been focused onto the child in a stark white to strongly portray the child’s innocents. The fact the child is wearing pink and floral reflects her childish nature, and is stereotypical of that age group. The logo is clearly visible shown at the bottom right of the poster, which makes it recognisable as a reader. The background to the poster is a dull colour which supports the fact that this is a dull campaign, and emphasising her loneliness.

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Case Study: Child’s Health Foundation

Impact: Evidence of any change being brought about through projects using words and or graphics.

The impact that this will have on the reader is massive, as it has a way of hitting home this important message. From this message some people might feel; Why people still continue to smoke when they know is going to effect children? Children seen as innocent in society its sad to think, and in there young age no one wants this? And is formatted into a way which is short, to the point and abrupt.

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Case Study: Child’s Health Foundation

And so from there website I now have more of an understanding into what they do and the projects that they are involved with; Our mission is "to save the greatest number of children's lives at the lowest possible cost." We accomplish this through our unique network of health professionals and organizations committed to improving health policies and practices. We operate as an independent agent of change, seeking and promoting more effective, easily-delivered and less-expensive methods to prevent illness and death of children, such as oral rehydration therapy to prevent dehydration, immunizations, and breastfeeding.How We're Making a Lasting Difference Research...We plan and support clinical research to develop new health care technologies for children affected by disease or disaster, and disseminate and implement proven, effective results through our network worldwide.Professional Medical Education and Outreach...We promote the transfer of medically effective, scientifically sound, low-cost technologies and the sharing of knowledge among health practitioners and policy makers in the U.S. and in developing countries.Public Education and Outreach...We educate families and communities through culturally-appropriate public education and outreach programs .

http://www.childhealthfoundation.org/about.htm

When comparing the two it is important to look at the similarities and the differences between the two advertising campaigns which use a similar strategy by including children in their advertising. As it is an effective way of engaging the reader, other similarities include the layout of the posters which involve the text to the right of the page and the image to the left, capturing the innocence of the child especially with the lighting across the face of the children to focus in on the detail and expression of these children, which seems to follow in many child’s advertising campaign’s. As well as this they all include the logo of the companies this makes these campaigns more recognisable to a viewer. The only real difference is in the text used which have used different strategies to get across there message, in either large bold font, or in a smaller font which takes up less room but seems to emotive because of the image which is the main focus. Overall I feel that in terms of impact I feel that the second advert for child’s health foundation works is more of an effective advert at getting across this message because of the clever use of editing to the image and the key simplistic sentence that is used but still gets noticed and the message across.

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Case Study: Comparison Between Child’s Health Foundation And Barnado’s

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Case Study: Comparison Between Shelter And Frank

When comparing the both ‘shelter’ a charity supporting homelessness and ‘frank’ which supports drug abuse, there websites share a number of different similarities and differences of which include the links to social media and other ways of contacting, which is important as a way of connecting with others in the same situation as well as other organisations. The logo can be clearly seen of the company at the top left of the page, each of these webpages have a distinct style to them, in the layout, text and images used, which makes it look professional and high quality as well as being recognisable to the reader linking in well with their other promotional material such as posters and leaflets which work well as an advertising campaign . They also have a specific colour scheme to them, in terms of colours I feel that the shelter webpage is more eye-catching and appealing using a red and white colours, the tags/titles specifically in a red font which helps to split up the sections more making it easier to read, where as the franks webpage is a lot more dull in a black and white colour scheme with more emphasis on other elements of page such as the text and graphics. Another difference is to the amount of content on the homepages of these charities, as there is a noticeable difference between shelter which has laid there content out using a lot more space and adding photography where as the franks website only consists of text. shelter have included these images to catch the eye of the reader and also helps to split the text up, adding specific photographs that relates to the each piece of text which I feel works well at making it look more visually appealing.

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Case Study: Comparison Between Shelter And Frank

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Case Study: Comparison Between Shelter’s Different Advertising Material

Continuing on from my analysis of the webpages, when analysing there other forms of advertising such as the adverts you can see the similarities and how they had tied both products together, some of these similarities include;

• Colour Schemes- red, white and black which are all contempary and professional colours. Red which catches the eye as titling of the different sections to the page and the white is used as a clear and simplistic background that works well with a lot of content and moving imagery to the page which is the main focus, and the text is mainly in black as it fits in well the rest of the style, and is commonly known as a text colour used on a regular basis.

• Fonts- in terms of the text a sans serif is used making it easy to read for all ages, and to highlight key areas a bold font is used to highlight specific areas, that are of the most importance.

• Language- the text written has been formatted in a formal way that can be read easily and clearly the key area to both of the promotional material is the element of volunteering and donating which is clearly shown as it is the main purpose to most charity work; websites and numbers.