The given text informs the audience of the food crisis in the Sahel region of South Africa, and enumerates the steps that Oxfam is taking to reduce this deficit of food. At least this is what the article looks like it's trying to convey on the surface. But on closer investigation, it turns out to be a persuasive piece that tries to publicise Oxfam. We will now analyse how this article tries to persuade the reader, starting with the analysis of the target audience and its real purpose.
The main purpose of this article, as stated above is to spread the word about the work of Oxfam on the scarcity of food in Africa. Since Oxfam is an organisation that runs massively on donations, it can be said that the real purpose of this persuasive piece is to bring in more donations. This leads us to discovering the real target audience: the rich and/or philanthropic people of today. This is seen by the use of 'we' and 'investing' in the sentence '
By investing in longer term interventions to reduce people's vulnerability to external shocks, we can work to break the hunger crisis in Sahel.' Prospective Oxfam workers and curious readers are also targeted here, but the main motive here is to popularise Oxfam and hence bring in more resources. How the content does this is addressed in the following paragraph.
The piece starts off by introducing the problem, which is the risk of the up and coming food crisis in the Sahel region of Africa. It gives statistics regarding the number of people who are at a risk of facing a food crisis, and compares them with the numbers from previous years, then explaining why they are acting early on the issue. The situation in Sahel is then explained in great detail along with some alarming statistics, followed by the steps Oxfam are planning to take to address the situation in specific countries. The text is concluded through the statement that preventing future crisis would require action to address the root causes and provide long-term support to the vulnerable groups.
Here, the key idea is informing people about the situation in Africa, along with how it requires early action. This theme of acting early to address the root cause helps in developing the tone immensely.
Being informative, this article also has an urgent tone. This is strongly reflected in the language used.
Necessity to take immediate action is shown in the diction of the introductory paragraphs, which leads to a development in an urgent tone. Some examples are phrases like '
..enabling action months earlier than in previous crises...' and '
... investing now in earlier and cost-effective solutions...'. Information is presented to the reader in the form of crude statistical numbers, which ensures that information gets across to the viewer without breaking urgency in the text. By using phrases like '
... we can work to break the hunger cycle in the Sahel.' and '
...vulnerable populations can be protected from the worst impacts...', Oxfam wants to plant the seeds of confidence that even some action by the reader
can help to address the situation in Africa. In the few paragraphs that follow the introduction, it describes the dark situation in Africa. Phrases like '
low rainfall', '
poor harvests' and '
lack of pasture' paint a bleak picture in the viewer's head. This sad tone alerts the reader and helps in developing the overall urgent mood. The statistics are then given, ensuring that the urgent tone is not overlooked. After this, Oxfam states what they are doing to address this situation and what they want to do, which leads to the development of an urgent and philanthropic mood. The development of the tone in this text is one reason for its effectiveness. The eager tone in the introductory paragraphs, coupled with the
you can tone in the body, and the informative conclusion all leads to creating an urgent, philanthropic and positive mood.
This text uses literary devices, namely ethos, pathos and logos to a large effect which are scattered throughout the text. First off, logos, which is appeal to logic, is used in this text as a lot of statistics are given to persuade the reader to support Oxfam's efforts. For example, the text starts off with the statistic that 12 million people across West and Central Africa are facing a food crisis. This statistic makes the reader visualise the region as one with many food problems, hence supporting Oxfam's main purpose of raking in donations. Statistics like these lie throughout the text, to stiffen the reader's understanding of the magnitude of problems in the Sahel region of Africa. Most of the statistics are presented in percentage format, which makes it easier to show the drastic need for addressing the issue.
Pathos, which is appeal to emotion, is also used widely. For example, the personal pronoun 'we' is used in the following way: '...we can work to break the hunger cycle...', which prompts the reader to take some action regarding the issue. But if the reader doesn't do it, he will feel guilty, which is exactly what the article wants to achieve. Pathos is also coupled with logos to provide a drastic impact, which is made further lasting due to the fact that it is in one of the final sentences. The line '
... provide longer-term support for the poorest people in a region where 300000 children die from malnutrition related diseases in a non-crisis year.' is very effective. It plays with the readers emotions, implicitly stating that if you don't help, 300,000 children will die every year. This coupled with the statistic that 300000 children die every year due to food scarcity creates a lasting impact on the reader, due to which the reader will feel more obliged to help than otherwise.
Pathos is effectively used as well, as Oxfam establishes itself by stating the steps it is taking, and the steps it is planning to take. In the text, it is stated that Oxfam have started a co-op vegetable gardens program for 1300 women. Also, it states how it has already started helping the vulnerable groups across the
Gorgol and
Brakhna regions already. These statements further support Oxfam in establishing itself as an effective charity, which will in turn persuade the reader to help them in some way.
The text also uses imagery to a certain effect, with phrases like '
low water levels', '
lack of pasture' and
'high food prices', which paint a picture of poverty and uncertainty for the future. This also helps in appealing to the readers emotion, as they would find it compelling to do something to address the issue.
The structure of this text also plays a part in its effectiveness. It starts off with a picture of a very thin person on the back of a horse, captioned '
Sahel region of West and Central Africa may face a serious flood crisis in 2012'. The image of the thin person gives the reader an impression of what they are about to read. The by-line here is:"
The humanitarian response must tackle the underlying cause of crises like this to prevent them from recurring." Before the reader even starts reading the text, they know that it is about the response to the food crisis in Sahel, which makes it more effective than it would have been otherwise. In addition to that, the text is divided into sub-divisions and further into very brief paragraphs, which makes it easier for the reader to skim through the text. The briefness of the paragraphs may also keep the attention of the reader, as not everyone in todays world likes reading long texts, which they have to do since they intend to gather more resources. The first paragraph is in bold, which states a lot of crucial statistics about this particular situation. Making it bold captures the attention of the reader for a longer period of time. These statistics will also be at the back of their mind while they go through the article, reinforcing why they should take action to address this situation.
After analysing this text in depth, we have now found out how Oxfam tries to persuade its readers carefully through the language used. The strong appeal to people, careful development of tone and effective creation of mood, and finally the structure of this text makes it persuade with ease. Hence, we see how the real purpose behind this article is not only to inform people about this dark situation, but also how they should take action to address it: by helping the effective charity, Oxfam.
