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.
This is a great first post. Keep up the good work!
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