WaterAid Advert

WaterAid Advert

UK represented in the advert

There's only a one-second clip of the UK. We do not actually know if it is the UK or not, but we can assume it is since in the background we can hear a woman with an English accent announcing that it will rain. A radio can be seen in front of a window with rain droplets trailing down the window. Behind the window, it seems as if it is someone's garden and gives the impression that it is set in a suburban area. Even though it is a brief scene, it stands out from the advert and shows how in the UK, people take the rainy weather for granted compared to a location in Africa where there is hardly rain water.

Target audience

The target audience is addressed from the start of the advert as people in the UK. From the first couple seconds of the advert showing a place in the UK, it is aimed towards UK residents, most specifically working-class people. The radio that is playing in the first couple seconds somewhere in the UK is meant to drown out the sound of the rainfall and that contributes to how we take rain for granted.

Near the end of the advert, text showing '650 million people still don't access to clean drinking water' and that is meant to stand out to people who watch the advert and think about making a change after learning that fact.

Claudia sings the song 'Sunshine on a rainy day' which is a popular song from the 1990s. This song may of been specifically chosen to be sung since the target audience is working-class middle aged people, they are likely to recognise Claudia's rendition of the hit song.  

Landscape of Africa

After the scene that is presumed to be in the UK, the advert suddenly changes to a medium shot of Claudia's feet. This may of been done to show that she is walking in the fields of somewhere in Africa. Natural lighting is present to emphasise the hot climate of Africa. The surroundings and landscape seems plane and dry. The colour in this scene seems very pale-looking and there are only a few colours present such as the dried, brown grass. As the advert goes on, colour is slightly being revived through the lighting becoming brighter from the sun and people wearing bright clothing colours such as pink, yellow and blue. 

People in Africa

At the start of the advert, Claudia is seen walking through a field with a bucket in one direction. She doesn't look into the camera to show that she has a place to go to and is focused on reaching that place. She also sings throughout the whole advert and there is no actual talking or conversation going on. She has a quite docile facial expression and it is not clear where she is going. There are then a few wide shots of people in the fields who appear to be working. When she reaches near the village or water supply, she smiles as she sings as there are then many other people in that village who fill up the water bucket and colour becomes brighter to show quite positive vibes now that she has water. They all appear as a community and they are all happy now that they have a supply of water. This is done to show that they are happy to receive water which is something as reflected from the start of the advert where people take rain water for granted.

Message

The advert has a similar structure to many other charity adverts an even includes the same features as many adverts. The advert is around one minute long and at the end of the advert it shows a fact about people who do not have access to clean water and says to contribute £3 to help people like Claudia who is revealed as the girl in the advert. 

In other ways it is quite different as for example Claudia sings throughout the entire advert which is different from other charity adverts which have voiceovers to persuade people to donate money. The singing may of been chosen to be done to capture the audience's attention without any voiceover or speech going on.