The audiovisual representation of poverty in the advertising of the NGDO Manos Unidas.

Abstract

Every day, the communication media offer portrayals of the so-called Third World and developing countries. These areas of the world, being more or less far geographically, are conceived through a mediation and representation process, be it with informative or advertising purposes, with a large emphasis on the value of audiovisual and digital media to generate empathy through emotions. This study offers the most noteworthy results of a research effort focused on the audiovisual advertising of the Spanish Non-Governmental Development Organization (NGDO) Manos Unidas, analyzing its advertising campaigns since 1995, when their first advertisement was released, until 2015. Using a content analysis approach and the application of the audiovisual narrative analytical paradigm, this diachronic study explains concrete aspects regarding the representation of poverty in 30 advertising pieces, where we can highlight the feeling of hope in human kind, the use of images to represent real-life stories or testimonies and the permanent suggestion of transformative action and the encouragement of empathy and the values of commitment and solidarity. In this case, advertising is a genre that allows us to understand how poverty is represented in the media.