Jennie

Evaluate how the narrative techniques attempt to

persuade and position the audience to believe in
the products (8 marks)

The purpose of the NatWest advert is to regain peoples trust in

order to make money and they have used the narrative
technique of character functions in order to achieve this.
Firstly, the institution position themselves as the hero by
enabling two people to start a family, something they would
have supposedly been unable to do without the help of
NatWest. The advert incorporates clever narration by a child,
this attempts to persuade and position the audience to believe
in NatWest due to audiences being more likely to believe what
a child is saying rather than an adult. The innocence of the
child narrator almost makes it seem like getting a mortgage is
easy, which will more likely persuade audiences believe that it
is a simple process. This innocence combined with the non-
diegetic sounds of the upbeat music further position the
audience to believe in the sincerity of NatWest, therefore
positioning audiences to believe in the product and attempt to
get a mortgage with the institution.

The aim of the Save the Children advert is more about raising
awareness about global issues. The advert mainly reflects the
issues within Syria, which is established through facial
expressions. As the advert begins, the young girl represents
white capitalist cultures that have no fear, however as time
goes on, she gradually begins to embody the destruction within
Syria as the damage occurs. The institution has carefully
selected the young girl to be white, this is perhaps because it
is more likely that audiences will identify with an innocent
white middle class girl, rather than a young girl in Syria who
has relatively little affect on their lives, in order to make them
believe in the product and give donations. The institution have
incorporated character functions within the product, carefully
constructing the villain to be associated with audience
members in order to gain more sympathy, this is further
achieved by the young girls direct address at the very end of
the advert, implying a direct plea for help. Parts of Todorovs
three part narrative has been carefully selected, for example
the equilibrium and disequilibrium are present, however the
absence of a new equilibrium positions audiences to take the
responsibility of creating a new equilibrium themselves, this
persuades audiences to believe in the product because it
suggests that they have the power to do what they think is
best.

What are the dominant myths and messages

underpinning contemporary adverts? You may
also refer to other media products to support your
answer (12 marks)

Prior knowledge of myths in regard to the NatWest advert

suggests that it is easy to receive a mortgage no matter what
social class you are and how much money you have. Barthes
suggests that audiences look for signs to help them interpret
the narrative, therefore the dominant myth of being able to
have a mortgage is reflected within this contemporary advert.
This product will therefore be aimed at passive audiences who
are easily manipulated and dominated by the myths that
underpin this contemporary advert. Nowadays, it is evident
that the dominant myth is that a mortgage is not an easy thing
to have, whereas NatWest are trying to counteract the
dominant ideology within society.

A dominant myth that underpins the Save the Children advert

is the concept of globalization. This suggests that the world is
unified into a single society and that we see western cultures
as more valued. The institution has therefore used this
approach of using a white girl to represent the destruction in a
different country in order to specifically target a British
audience. It is evident that a dominant myth within this
contemporary advert is the tendency to believe that ones race
or ethnic group is the most important and that some or all
aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups.
Therefore it is more likely that individuals will judge other
groups in relation to their own culture, therefore
representations of Syria will be less regarded within this
particular contemporary advert.
Another dominant myth that underpins many contemporary
adverts in the issue of poverty on a global scale. At the
beginning of a Unicef UK advert, the words read, if you love
this country and you care about these children then please
listen up. This implies to audiences that if they dont donate,
then they dont care about the children in their country. The
issue of poverty has been represented in over thousands of
adverts, therefore suggesting that it is a dominant myth that
underpins many contemporary adverts. A further
contemporary issue that is frequently featured within adverts is
the subject of domestic abuse. There have been many adverts
in which the issue is highlighted; however the dominant myths
within this subject is that it is mostly women that are the ones
who suffer abuse. Larger percentages of women do suffer from
abuse however men also suffer from it too. For example an
advert expresses that 2.6 million men will suffer some sorts of
abuse within their life, this advert is therefore trying to change
dominant ideologies so that men are noticed as well as women.

What impact has digital media had on

desensitizing audiences from global issues? Use
only your own choice of media products. (12
marks)

It is rare that youth audiences paid attention to global issues

before the intense rise of social media. Nowadays, there are
apps that people can download such as online newspapers that
make it more likely for audiences to keep up with global issues,
which therefore desensitizes it for audiences. Having online
news means that audiences are able to pick and choose what
they want to read about therefore that means that it might not
be very desensitized as audiences can potentially ignore global
issues being presented within the media.
Digital media has successfully desensitized audiences from
global issues due to the introduction of things like on demand
that feature online and on TVs. Having things like on demand
that are very easily accessible means that there is a greater
selection for audiences to choose from in regards to
information of global issues, therefore if they are constantly
seeing it within the media then it is likely that it is having a
positive impact on desensitization.

The value of celebrity culture is something that is highly prized

within todays society; therefore one of the ways digital media
has desensitized audiences is by including celebrities within
their products. For example, a global issue is poverty and to
help improve the global issue, many celebrities joined the Band
Aid 30 song in order to raise awareness; therefore this creates
a more prominent way for audiences to pay attention to global
issues if they dont already. Similarly, many celebrities have
used their social media, for example twitter, as a way of raising
awareness for global issues, such as poverty, thus meaning
that the use of their digital media has desensitized audiences
from global issues.

However, the democratization of the Internet alongside the

minimal policy of regulation within the UK and many Western
cultures means that it is unlikely that digital media has had a
vast impact of desensitizing audiences from global issues. This
therefore means that it is actually controlled what is seen by
the public and they therefore dont have the free choice to
view exactly what they want to.