The World Wildlife Fund. Founded in 1961 the world’s leading conservation organization has been
actively conserving nature and protecting wildlife for over 50 years. The WWF works in 100 countries
and is supported by about 5 million members all over the globe.
This WWF ad depicting a giraffe as a multitude of coins is interesting to say the least. The text in the ad
toward the lower left had corner reads, save the world with a few coins.
The overall tone of the ad is very calming; the picture of the Sahara’s sunset is relaxing and seems as if
the clouds even have an orange color to them. I believe the atheistically pleasing view is a plea to the
audience not to erase this beautiful site and donate to the WWF and help conserve the wildlife.
I believe the font of the text to be important as well, as the text is seemingly small and isn’t anything
fancy, looks like an average times new roman font. Somewhat hard to read as it is positioned in the
lower left hand corner. The rhetor does this to make the ad seem insignificant; the text is downplayed
like it isn’t even asking you to donate even though it is. By not being over direct by begging for
donations, people may be more inclined to donate since it’s not an in your face ad.
Aside from the font, the actually text of “save the world with a few coins a day”, which is somewhat over
exaggerated implies YOU can save the world with just a few coins. Think, a guy like me could save the
world with the change in my back pocket.
The giraffe itself is also clever, made of coins, it makes a connection between wildlife and your
donations. Kind of saying, if you donate money the animals can be, but without donations the animals
are nothing. Basically extinct.
Though I do believe the ad along with its color, font and strategy is effective in a way because it is clever
and in theory would make the audience ponder whether or not to donate money to WWF. But it is not
effective because in general, a majority of people just wouldn’t donate to the WWF.
Survey Question: Would any of you stop what you were doing and donate if you saw this ad online or in
a magazine?
Now exigence is defined as a need or a problem. And in this ad there is a need for donations to help
endangered species. The problem is animals are becoming endangered and extinct rapidly and are in
need of help.
The audience or who the ad is talking to would, primarily be anyone who cares for animals and are
willing to donate. Secondary audience would be those who don’t care for animals, but are guilted into
donating.
Constraints or what hinders the message for this ad include the negative constraint of those who cannot
donate because they don’t have any money to spare.
The rhetor or the speaker, in this case WWF, is perceived by the audience to be a prestige’s organization
that truly cares about its mission in conserving nature. A trust-worthy organization that has been around
as long as WWF has holds a lot of credibility or ethos.
The ad is also used in a way to get at your emotions, or pathos. Pathos as described by Carroll in
Backpacks vs Briefcases reads “Few of us are persuaded only with our mind, though. Even if we
intellectually agree with something, it is difficult to get us to act unless we are also persuaded in our heart.
This kind of appeal to emotion is called pathos”. You as a member of the audience feel saddened by the
fact that animals are becoming endangered and feel obligated to donate to the WWF.