Media Language and Representation: Shelter Advert

OCR Spec.

•Shelter, the UK based housing and homelessness charity launched an advertising campaign in 2011 that was produced for those at risk of homelessness to point them to Shelter’s free services and guide them to seek advice on issues around homelessness earlier. 

Taglines are somewhat relatable to the audience as these situations could easily happen to them. 

Red eyes can relate to fear and crying. 

Font -- “The famous homelessness charity had changed what it did, but no-one had realised. They were now concentrating on the bad housing that wrecks lives, hence the pitched roof on their 'h’.” – johnson banks

 21p spent on fundraising and 79p on helping 

Services -- 

Face-to-face services

Our advice and support services across the UK give people one-to-one, personalised help with all of their housing issues.

National helpline

Our free emergency helpline is open 365 days a year and is often the first port of call for people facing a housing crisis.

Online advice

You can find expert information about everything from reclaiming your deposit to applying as homeless, and you can talk to an adviser over webchat.

Legal support

Our solicitors provide free legal advice and attend court to help people who’ve lost their homes or are facing eviction.

Article --
'Each advert depicts an ordinary person in distress because they are facing a serious crisis, such as sudden job loss or mounting debt. They carry a headline which shares the desperation the person is feeling. The aim is for the combined impact of the headline and image to tap into the concerns of the people experiencing these problems, driving them to seek advice on Shelter’s website.'
Kay Boycott, director of campaigns, policy and communications at Shelter, said: “In these tough economic times, more and more people across the country are struggling to keep their heads above water and are in desperate need of our help.
“50% of people don’t seek external advice when they encounter housing problems, so our priority in this campaign is to increase the number of people coming to us for help and reaching a positive outcome.
“Visitors to our online advice pages have increased by over a third in the last year, proving that there’s a growing demand for digital guidance. We hope the campaign will have a significant impact in showing people who have been hit by difficult times that help is just a click away, while raising the profile of housing issues further.”

Founded in 1966 during the “Swinging Sixties” are the stuff of legend, three million people were living in slums. Shelter was born out of the belief that this appalling injustice must be put right.

Fifty years on, the country is in the grip of another housing crisis. A huge range of people are affected by our current housing shortage, from a generation of young people who can’t afford a home to those struggling with sub-standard housing.

As we enter our 50th year, 100,000 children are homeless. So, while we will reflect on our achievements, we will only celebrate when everyone has a place to call home.

Important effects -- 

'We are not always successful. We failed for too long to get the need for more homes back on the agenda. We also weren’t able to convince governments to replace homes sold under Right to Buy, and many people’s homes today aren’t as secure as they once were. Today, the safety net which Shelter helped to create is also under threat.

However, despite the challenges we face, we are always confident that we’ll prevail eventually.

For example, in 1980 we helped to convince the government to give social housing tenants the same security of tenure as private renters. This legal change was fiercely opposed by local authorities, but provided protection for families facing eviction at short notice.

We faced a critical moment in 1996 when the Housing Act threatened to erode some of the rights established in the 1977 Housing (Homeless Persons) Act. We successfully made the case to the government that the Act should include the Right to Appeal in a county court, which made it harder for local authorities to turn people away.

This was key to softening the backward steps of the 1996 legislation and it gave individuals the power to challenge decisions made against them. Once again, our lobbying strategy had been informed by our experiences on the ground.'

Some emphasis on families as there are pictures of these which are also black and white in documentary style. 

Representation and Media Language

There is diversity in terms of gender but not in race, as they are all white. It can be argued that gender representation is fairly unconventional as a man is shown to have been made homeless which is arguably a 'weak' situation, especially as he shows emotion. He does not conform to stereptype ideas put forward by McRobbie. 

There seems to be some differences in age which targets a wide range of audiences. The target audience seems to be homeless people themselves but also people who could donate to the charity in order to help as there is a high level of sadness presented in an attempt to gain sympathy. It attracts this audience through the saturated red compared to low-key lit backgrounds of sad people and use of taglines that portray very possible situations. 

Surprisingly there isn't any disability representation even though those who are disabled are a large proportion of the homeless population. (In 2009, 40% of homeless people in the US were disabled). 

Personal elements such as sexuality are also not obvious or mentioned, only by assumption, though LGBT youth are very commonly homeless.