How is media language used in the Shelter advert?

How is media language used in the Shelter advert? Refer to the social, political and cultural contexts in your response [15 marks] Approximately 500 words

Shelter is a charity, that reaches out to people who have vulnerable unstable housing, not just homeless people. Within the Shelter campaign it relates to the audience by portraying situations, that could put them at risk for homelessness. Examples across the three different adverts are inclusive of, people in debt, people with difficult landlords, and what might happen if you lose your job. These were all realistic and relatable examples, which make the audience empathise with each individual, as it is likely they have faced these problems before or know someone who has. Shelter also uses personal language,  “we can help” repetition within every advert, which connotes the sense of community this in turn persuades the audience to seek help from them. As the key objective of this campaign is to targeted to people who at risk of homelessness. In addition to these simple but powerful slogans, which vary across the three adverts portraying situations for Shelter’s key objective; “BUT WHERE WILL WE LIVE?”, “HE CAN’T DO THAT”, “I CAN’T FACE IT”. These words are written in capital letters, in bold, and in the colour red, which whilst linking to the colour scheme within shelter’s logo also links to the colour red which connotes desperation, danger, and urgency.

Under the Slogans, faces at eye level are displayed each person has a direct address, close ups are used to show their facial expressions, which in turn exposes their vulnerabilities. The models used in the advert seem to be middle aged people, which could represent the generalizability of this, that homelessness can take place at any age. The adverts are also inclusive of both sexes, male and female. Neutral dull faces have been chosen as they all have no distinguishable features, which connotes how anyone can be affected by homelessness, which is their message. In the same way this is why they have not used a stereotypical representation of a homeless person.

The adverts produced in shelter’s campaign were innocuous, as the ASA which is the regulatory body for media adverts in the UK, could have rejected their campaign otherwise.

Shelter’s campaign came out in 2011. Their campaign was created as a direct response to the government spending review; the government, cutting back on social housing by 60% in 2010. As the government decided to build homes, which most people could simply not afford. Social housing is council owned and have cheaper rents for people in need of housing, within social housing rents are fixed, and it is secure so you will not get kicked out.

The intention of the shelter campaign was to urge people to seek external advice from shelter, when they encounter housing problems. Shelter wanted to increase the number of people coming to them for help, and wanted to help them reach a positive outcome by solving their housing problems. Their message is too seek help from shelter before they lose their homes. Amplify is the name of the advertising agency who produced the campaign for shelter.