Key Text: Wateraid Charity Ad

Analyse how the wateraid charity advert uses its technical codes to provoke responses, emotions and connections with its target audience.

The WaterAid advert uses many technical codes such as camera shots of a community in Africa to illustrate the positive impacts of donating money to their cause. The Advert begins with a landscape close up of a radio, windowsill with raindrops in the background and plant pot at the edge of the frame. Initially, from the scenry it is clear that the target audience is middle class. It then cuts another landscape shot of a wheat field in Africa. Instantly, the lighting goes from the cold, blueish tint from the rainy scene to a warm, yellowish lighting from the bright sun on the wheat fields in Africa. These contrasting visual codes represent the binary opposition of Africa and the UK. It then cuts to a extreme close up of Claudia.  She appears to be happy as she is singing a song while walking with a bucket on her head. Even though she is walking a long way to reach the water tap she is singing an upbeat song. The song connects with the western audience as it is a well known pop song by the British pop singer Zoe. This clever inter textual reference contradicts with many typical charity adverts which often have many negative representations of African people in poverty.