Language Persuasion : Save The Children

There are multiple persuasion techniques used on the Save The Children website. Some of the ones used are

· Association

• Huge numbers of associations.
• Examples include TY Toys, Bulgari, Good Morning America, IKEA, KRAFT Food, Microsoft and Wal-Mart Foundation. Those are only a few of the corporate partners.
• Everyone knows all of these companies, so if they see any one of these companies working with Save The Children, then it at least gets them to start thinking about the organisation.

· Glittering generalities

• “An Organisation You Can Trust"

· Beautiful people/plain folk

• Beautiful people are used through the cute little kids. They’re all happy and smiley and so look cute.
• But also use plain folk as the children aren’t celebrities or famous by any sorts

· Warm and Fuzzy

• Because the children are so happy and smiley, they make viewers/potential donators/actual donators feel all warm because they know that by donating they make children smile
• The main is how by donating money you feel good about yourself

· Experts

• Shows how they use the money
• Financial annual reports with analyses of the donations

· Bandwagon

• Lots of people already donating
• Mentioned loads with associates
• “Join the million moms challenge” – suggests that a “million” mothers are participating in some sort of function with the site

· Testimonies

• Success stories with people who’ve received donations
• People who’ve donated stories (e.g. the Miller Family)

· Flattery

• Empowering the general public - It's in their hands to make children feel good. And because it’s in their hands, it makes them feel better when they do

· Simple Solutions

• By donating you save children

· Repetition

• You
• We

Do you think these techniques are effective?

I think that these techniques used are quite effective. They were able to use a broad band of different types of techniques throughout the website. The most successful would be the flattery. Through flattery, the company is empowering those to donate. How? They use words that show that you have the power. And because of this power you create through donations, you become “powerful” and feel good about yourself. It’s quite a sneaky way to get people to do what you want.

Are they propaganda?

In some ways yes, this is propaganda. Obviously it’s not the usual political style propaganda that we’ve seen in the past, but it is still a form of it. Propaganda is basically some form of communication which is trying to influence the thoughts/opinions of others in order to benefit a particular cause. In this case, Save The Children is the cause (because you’re donating money to help children). As a charity, they are trying to get money to help said children. They are trying to influence the general public with feel good messages, empowerment, and the use of the cute little kids smiling.

Is propaganda ever justified?

In this day and age, you have to ask yourself, what is not propaganda? In some ways, almost everything we come into contact with is propaganda whether we realise it or not. Is it wrong to shove your beliefs down someone else’s throat? Yes it is wrong as everyone should be able to make the decision by themselves. Propaganda is a form of brainwash if you think about it. It’s not full on brain-wash, but subtle.

When asking if it can be justified, morals come into play. A lot of people say that propaganda can be justified if used for good. But what defines good? It depends on opinions and views. To me, propaganda is scary but can always be justified. Whether it’s justification is good or not, it can always be justified.