Monday, July 16, 2012

Inquiry Three: Research Blog 1


Doddington, K., R. S. P. Jones, and B. Y. Miller. "Are Attitudes To People With Learning Disabilities Negatively Influenced By Charity Advertising? An Experimental Analysis." Disability & Society 9.2 (1994): 207-222. Education Research Complete. Web. 16 July 2012.


This article focuses on how images used in charity campaigns impact the attitudes towards the people they portray. While this article focuses on people with learning disabilities, a lot of what the author talks about can be applied to my topic. The author uses deductive reasoning to support her claims, by stating “…those who are constantly being portrayed as damaged and dependent and having to feel grateful for help and donations are going to be unhappy with the situation.” Using this logic, she is implying that because a study conducted found a group dealing with the mentally disabled unhappy with the way the disabled were portrayed; all charities must then have a negative effect on the groups they are trying to help. While I don’t personally agree with this reasoning, I definitely agree with her thoughts that charities need to be more conscious about what images they chose to present in a campaign to the public, as well as even consult with member of the group they are representing to further avoid problems. I also like this article because it ties into my other research about the Kony video. Some of the main criticism about the video was about how not enough people from the affected regions in Africa were present to give their input, and that the images only perpetuated the “white savior complex.” The author does a great job explain this when saying “… a positive move in the right direction would be to consult with the very people the charities aim to represent; in this way charities could move from being organizations who are concerned mainly with the money in the collection tin towards being concerned with the promotion of positive attitudes towards those they represent…” I think that by reading this article, I can better elaborate on my topic on whether the “white savior complex” is the reason for charities successes, and what else contributes to a campaign’s success.

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