The amount of “shock tactic” imagery in charities’ news media adverts has decreased in the past decade, new research has found.
Only 11 per cent of images from a sample of charity, NGO and INGO adverts found in UK national newspapers were classed as “pitiful” or used “shock tactics”, the study found.
This is a drop of 23 percentage points when compared with a similar study in 2011 to 2014, which found that 34 per cent of charity newspaper adverts contained such imagery.
The research, carried out by the University of East Anglia’s School of Global Development, analysed 541 images found in 17 national weekend newspapers in the UK between March and August 2021. All adverts analysed were in support of overseas cause areas.
Of the images that were considered to be “pitiful” – a term used in the research to describe images that emphasised human suffering – three were from an advert from the visual impairment charity Sightsavers, which was used 20 times in national newspapers between March and August 2021.
When this advert was removed from the figures, only two images met the criteria to be deemed “pitiful”.
David Girling, associate professor at UEA’s School of Global Development, said: “This research proves that charities are making significant efforts to improve the representation of people in other countries.”
The research also found that more than half of the charity adverts in UK national newspapers were supporting international causes. Of these, 56 per cent were focused on countries in Africa.
The number of children used in advertising had decreased when compared with a similar study in 2005/6, dropping from 42 per cent to 21 per cent.
But of the adverts in the study, 50 per cent showed images of women and children, with traditional family units remaining underrepresented – just one image included a mother, father and child.
Of the images analysed, 20 per cent were of people characterised as professionals or leaders from the global south, such as doctors, nurses and other development workers.
Girling said: “It is good to see that there are more professionals involved in the development work portrayed in the images used by charities. It is also positive to see the reduction in the use of children as helpless victims.
“Saying that, most of the images of children are still passive and often with their mothers. Charities and INGOs must strive to present a more diverse cast of characters and consider the negative impact of Afro-centric representations of people in need.”
Deborah Adesina, co-researcher and communications and development consultant, said while the study revealed how charities had reacted positively to previous studies and critiques of ethical storytelling, it also posed more questions about the erasure of traditional family units in charity adverts.
“Ethical storytelling is not a buzzword or some check-box exercise, it’s an active pushback against the pervasive stereotypes and antiquated ideologies that continue in representations of distant others.
“The stories INGOs choose to tell and the images they use over time become deeply entrenched in the collective memories of supporters, donors, development partners and the ‘beneficiaries’ themselves.”
An online database of all of the adverts collected over the six-month period has been published, which the researchers say will be a “valuable tool” for practitioners, researchers and students interested in improving ethical storytelling in the charity sector.