Discourse, Advertising and Representations of Overseas Help

In Irish Non-Profit Organisations

Author: Ana Cuevas Romo

ID: 0320897

MA in Sociology (Applied Social Research)

University of Limerick

Supervisor: Dr Carmen Kühling

Submitted to the University of Limerick, September 2004.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Table of Contents………………………………………………………i
List of Figures, List of Tables ………………………………………….ii
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….iii
Abstract………………………………………………………………..iv

Introduction……………………………………………………………1
Overview………………………………………………………..
Research Questions……………………………………………..

Chapter 1 : Non-profit Organisation………………………………...

1.1 Non-profit Organisations……………………………………
1.2 Organisations‟ Profiles………………………………………
1.2.1 Bóthar……………………………………………
1.2.2 Trócaire...………………………………………..

Chapter 2: Literature Review………………………………………...

2.1 Discourse and Social Change……………………………….
2.1.1 Discourse as a social practice……………………..
2.1.2 Discourse as socially constructed
and socially constructing………………………………..
2.1.3 Fairclough: discourse and social change………….
-Discourse, power and ideology……………………….
-Democratization of discourse ………………………..
-Commodification and marketization of discourse…….
-The marketization of public discourse: an example.….
2.2 Media and Development…………………………………….
2.2.1 Media influence……………………………………
2.2.2 Media representations……………………………..
2.2.3 „Charity Appeals‟ and the Debate around Them…..

Chapter 3: Methodology………………………………………………
3.1 Methodology………………………………………………..
3.2 Research Process……………………………………………
3.2.1 Dissertation Proposal and Literature Review…….
3.2.2 Discourse Analysis……………………………….
3.2.3 Interviews…………………………………………
3.2.4 Presentation and Discussion of Findings…………
3.2.5 Ethical Issues……………………………………..
3.3 Reflections on the Research Process……………………….
3.3.1 The Researcher‟s Role……………………………
3.3.2 Pitfalls of Discourse Analysis……………………
3.3.3 Reliability and Validity…………………………..

Chapter 4: Presentation of Findings…………………………………

4.1 Discourse Analysis…………………………………………
4.1.1 Bóthar…………………………………………….
4.1.2 Trócaire…………………………………………..

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 4.2 Interviews………………………………………………….
4.2.1 The Strategies Used……………………………..
4.2.2 The Media Used…………………………………
4.2.3 Discourse and Imagery………………………….
4.2.4 Development Issues……………………………..
4.2.5 The Organisations……………………………….
4.2.6 The Audience……………………………………
4.2.7 The Role of Advertising…………………………
4.2.8 The Website……………………………………..

Chapter 5: Discussion of Findings…………………………………..

5.1 Overseas Help Discourse…………………………………..
5.1.1.1 NPOs Representation of the Organisations,
the Donors, Donating and the Projects………………….
5.1.2 NPOs Representation of Recipient Countries……
5.1.3 Overseas Development Discourse……………….
5. 2 The Role of Advertising……………………………………
5.2.1 The Role of Advertising in NPOs…………………
5.2.2 Tendencies of Discursive Change…………………
- Democratisation of NPOs Discourse………..…
- Marketisation and Commodification
of NPOs Discourse……………………………...

Conclusion…………………………………………………………….

Bibliography…………………………………………………………..

Appendices………………………………………………………………1
Appendix I: Tables of wording in the websites………………….1
Appendix II: Tables of images in the websites…………………..3
Appendix III: Transcripts of the websites………………………..5

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 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 3.1: Three-dimensional framework for discourse analysis

FIGURE 3.2: Coding scheme

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 4.1: Images in Bóthar‟s website

TABLE 4.2: Representations of recipients in Bóthar‟s website
TABLE 4.3 : Social actors in development aid
TABLE 4.4: Problems in RCs and times mentioned in Trócaire‟s website

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To everyone who during this year guided me in this learning process by

sharing their knowledge and their very interesting world views.

To my classmates and lecturers in the MA in Sociology from whom I learnt

so much.

To my supervisor, Carmen Kuhling, without whose guidance and valuable

advice I would not have been able to complete this project.

To the participants of the study - the people of Trócaire, Bóthar and Spark-

for their crucial participation and kindness. I sincerely admire and respect

your work.

And finally to the people who supported and encouraged me during this

year: my dear family, boyfriend, friends, and flatmates.

THANK YOU

“Gratitude is one of the least articulate of the emotions, especially when it is deep”.
Felix Frankfurter

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 ABSTRACT

This dissertation explores the overseas help discourse of and the role of
advertising in Irish Non Profit Organisations (NPOs). It starts by defining key
concepts and the Irish non-profit sector. The first chapters of the dissertation are
concerned with reviewing the relevant literature on media and development,
discourse and society.

The mainly qualitative methodology used was based on the discourse analysis
approach suggested by Fairclough (1992, 1993, 2003) and Gill (2000) together
with semi-structured interviews with those involved in the production of the
organisations‟ advertising.

Finally, the discourse analysis, interviews and theoretical framework are linked
together in order to discuss how overseas help is constructed, what does it tell us
about society and what is the role of advertising in NPOs. Two major tendencies
of discursive change are also discussed: marketisation and democratisation and
used to argue that overseas help discourse has acquired some features of the
market and commodity orders of discourse, and that democratisation is a tendency
in the organisations‟ discourse.

This project concludes with some recommendations about discourse and

development, and suggestions for further research.

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 INTRODUCTION

“Development is about creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential
and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests”
United Nations Development Programme

This study was conducted in order to gain an in-depth perspective of the

representation of overseas development by Non Profit Organisations (hereafter
NPOs) and the role of advertising in them. The following questions were asked:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 How is the overseas help-discourse constructed by NPOs?

o How are the organisations defined?
o How are the recipient countries represented by the organisations?
o How are donors depicted?
o What do the organisations say about the participation of the donors
and donating? What do they suggest/invite the donors to do?
o How is the work of the organisations constructed? How are the
results presented?
o What do they say about their finances and administration?
o How is the relationship between the organisations and the donors
presented?
o What do the organisations say about the key issues surrounding
development?
 What does it tell us about society?
o Does it construct a certain image of overseas development help and
the subjects involved in it?
 What is the role of advertising in NPOs?
o What tendencies of change are reflected in NPOs‟ advertising?

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In an attempt to find answers to these questions, this dissertation will analyse
NPOs‟ advertising discourse and link the discourse with its social context. The
methodology was comprised of discourse analysis (Fairclough 1992, 1993, Gill
2000, Fairclough 2003) and semi-structured interviews which functioned as a
secondary resource to compliment the discourse analysis.

The dissertation will explore the role of advertising in NPOs and try to find
whether overseas help-discourse is going through a process of change, thereby
adding to the knowledge about NPOs and linking it to discursive change.

“Exploration of tendencies of change within orders of discourse can make a significant

contribution to current debates on social change. Processes of marketization, the
extension of market models to new spheres, can, for example, be investigated through the
recent extensive colonization of orders of discourse by advertising and other discourse
types” (Fairclough, 1992: 99).

DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS

Discourse
The use of the term discourse in this dissertation is about language use conceived
as a social practice, which is socially constructed and socially constructing.
Discourse is an element of social life which is closely interconnected with other
elements (Fairclough 1992, 2003).

Development
There is an ongoing debate around development, development discourse and
development theory. The concept of development means different things to
different people (Crush 1995). For the purposes of this dissertation, the concept of
development devised by Crush (1995) will be used in its general form, where
development is about the improvement of human kind through relief from poverty
and realisation of human potential.

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Third World or Developing Countries
To label poor nations with the same term is a complex and debatable task, due to
the fact that there can be many criteria applied in each definition. Criteria such as
ideology, poverty, geography, economic performance, industrialisation, social
indicators, aid or trade are often used to define a group of countries as „Third
World‟, „South‟, „developing‟, „under-developed‟, or „non-industrialised‟. All of
these labels are very problematic and raise political sensitivities (Holland 2002).
Even some authors use the labels „Third World‟ and „developing countries‟
indistinctively, as synonyms (Hulme and Turner 1990) 1. There is an ongoing
debate around these terms because they all imply a certain kind of hierarchy and
power; and because there is a danger when using one single term to name such
different nations that an image of such nations as a homogeneous group with
similar circumstances and problems is created. Therefore, regardless of the chosen
label, we should also remember the considerable economic, social and political
diversity that exists both among and within such nations, and that there are a
number of which cannot be defined by a single term.

In this dissertation, when referring to other authors‟ ideas I will use the terms
employed by the authors themselves. For example: Benthall (1993) uses the label
„Third World‟, Smillie (1995) uses the concepts of „North‟ and „South‟ and
Devereux (2003) refers to the „West‟ and the „Third World‟.

Recipient Countries and Communities

Therefore, in an attempt to use more accurate terminology, I will use the words
„recipient countries‟ or „recipient communities‟ (hereafter RCs) in this dissertation
to label these countries. By utilising „recipient‟ it is implied that these countries or
communities receive the final outcome of what the NPOs have collected through
fundraising. It does not however imply any kind of power issues that could
possibly arise as these go beyond the scope of this dissertation.

1
When searching the literature about this debate, I found that many authors use the terms „Third
World‟ and „developing countries‟ indistinctively. And when they choose one over the other, each
one gives their own definition of the term accordingly to the purposes of their texts.

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Non Profit Organisations (NPOs)
An organisation is considered to be part of the non-profit sector if it is organised,
private, non-profit distributing, self-governing and embodies some degree of
meaningful voluntary participation (Ruddle and Mulvihill 1999). The NPOs
studied in this dissertation will be those providing overseas help, that is to say,
those working in programmes outside of Ireland.

Overseas Development
Overseas development help is the assistance provided by the NPOs to
programmes located outside Ireland, which focuses on long term results rather
than on short term relief. A straightforward way to understand development is to
think of it as being juxtaposed to emergency relief. Emergency relief is corrective
and immediate, whereas development work is more constructive and long-term

OVERVIEW

The first chapter explores Non Profit Organisations, how they are defined, the
non- profit sector in Ireland and gives a general profile of each one of the
organisations analysed: Trócaire and Bóthar. The second chapter is about the
theoretical framework on which the dissertation is based. It reviews the related
literature on the dissertation‟s two main topics: discourse and social change; and
media and development. The third chapter then discusses and justifies the
methodology used, the research process, and specific issues made apparent during
the research. The fourth chapter includes a presentation of the discourse analysis
and semi-structured interview findings, while the fifth chapter discusses them and
links them to the concepts examined in the second chapter. Finally, the conclusion
is presented together with some final comments and recommendations.

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 1. NON PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

1.1 NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

The definition of the non-profit sector used in this study will be that proposed by
the Johns Hopkins Comparative Non-profit Sector Project (Ruddle and Mulvihill
1999). This definition proposes that if an organisation is organised, private, non-
profit distributing, self-governing and embodies some degree of meaningful
voluntary participation then it is considered to be part of the non-profit sector.

The International Classification of Non-profit Organisations (Ruddle and

Mulvihill, 1999) categorises NPOs according to the different fields of activity
with which they are concerned: Culture and Arts, Sports and Recreation,
Education and Research, Health, Social Services, Environment, Community
Development, Civil Advocacy, Philanthropy and Voluntarism Promotion,
Religion Related, International Activities and Other.

The Irish organisations studied here -Trócaire and Bóthar- are those Non-Profit
Organisations (NPOs) whose main concern is overseas development programmes.

1.2 ORGANISATIONS’ PROFILES

1.2.1 Bóthar: Helping People Help Themselves

Bóthar had its origins in 1989 in the city of Limerick. It started with the objective
of sending dairy cows to Africa in 1991 as part of the Treaty of Limerick
tercentenary celebrations. A Board of Directors of a new Third
World Development Agency (specialised in the use of livestock in developing
countries) was subsequently formed. Now Bóthar is part of a community of NGOs
using livestock in development aid and works closely with Heifer International

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(USA), Send-a-Cow (UK), and Heifer France in particular. Bóthar also works in
partnership with Heifer International in some countries while in others the projects
are supported by indigenous NGOs.

Bóthar raises funds from the Irish public by appealing for different kinds of
donations: once-off donations, monthly donations and legacies. The funds
received go towards micro-farming projects, while administration costs are
sponsored by specific organisations. Bóthar also works closely with Irish schools.

Bóthar‟s work consists of establishing families in micro-farming units by giving

them a live farm animal. This „gift‟ is given as the last stage of a process. This
process starts with villages and communities forming a committee, which decides
which families will receive the animals first and the subsequent „pass-on‟
families. They then continue by training the families about caring for the animal
they are to be given- its housing, healthcare, nutrition, etc. The family must
prepare the housing facilities for each animal, and the necessary crops with which
to feed it. When all these are ready, Bóthar donates the animals, and each family
that participates in Bóthar projects must formally agree to „pass-on‟ to another
selected family the first female offspring born to their animal. The families are
also provided with veterinary assistance for their animals.

Bóthar implements several strategies to invite the Irish public to donate. They use
direct mail –personalised and not personalised-, TV ads, radio ads, loose inserts in
newspapers, website, e-mail appeals, newsletter and on-the-street fundraising. In
addition to these mass media appeals, they also organise talks in schools or groups
of people.

1.2.2 Trócaire: Working for a Just World

Trócaire is the official overseas development agency of the Irish Catholic Church.
Founded in 1973, with two main objectives, its name comes from the Irish word
for “compassion”. Its foreign objective is to support long-term development

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projects and to provide relief during emergencies and its domestic objective is to
inform the Irish public about the root causes of poverty and injustice and mobilise
the public to bring about global change.

From its current headquarters in Maynooth, Trócaire espouses two main kinds of
activities -campaigning and fundraising. At the present time, Trócaire is
campaigning to raise awareness amongst the Irish public about issues such as the
millennium development goals, debt relief, child soldiers, the toy workers
campaign and trade matters. Part of the work involves lobbying to draw attention
to the underlying socio-economic and political factors that exacerbate the impact
of disasters (natural or otherwise) on the poorest sections of society. Particular
attention has been given to organisational advocacy projects such as EU
Development Policy, trade and institutional reform at the World Trade
Organisation (WTO), poverty reduction strategy processes and debt. As regards
fundraising, the most salient activities are the Trócaire Lenten campaign, the 24-
Hour Fast, the Global Gift, as well as appeals for regular or once-off donations
throughout the year and legacies.

With the donations received, Trócaire funds projects in Africa, Asia, Latin
America, Europe and the Middle East. The organisation largely relies on local
partner agencies –including local church structures and missionary orders- to
implement the projects and thus takes a partnership approach to development. In
the 30 years it has been in existence, Trócaire has funded nearly 8,000
development projects in over 60 countries.

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 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will first look at past research and theoretical frameworks concerned
with discourse analysis and society; exploring the concepts of discourse; discourse
as social practice; discourse as socially constructed and socially constructing; and
discourse and social change. It will then move on to a review of the related
literature on the relationship between media and development.

2.1 DISCOURSE AND SOCIETY

Discourse is a category used to refer primarily to spoken or written language use,

conceived as a social practice (Fairclough 1993).

2.1.1 Discourse as a social practice

Some social scientists (Fairclough 1992, 1993, van Dijk 1997, Gill 2000) have
emphasised discourse as a form of action. If it is a form of action then it does not
occur in a social vacuum (Gill 2000). Text and talk are important elements of
social life. Text and talk are a vital source of social interaction, and a way of
representing the social world.

Fairclough (1992) proposes that language use is a form of social practice, rather
than a purely individual activity or a reflex of situational variables. Social practice
has various orientations (economic, political, cultural, ideological), and discourse
may be implicated in all of these without any of them being reducible to
discourse. There are many implications to seeing discourse as a form of social
practice. Firstly, discourse is seen as a mode of action as well as a mode of
representation and secondly a dialectical relationship between discourse and social
structure is implied. Social structure is a condition for discourse, but it also is an

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effect of discourse. This dialectical relationship will be developed later on in this
chapter, as part of the discussion of discourse as socially constructed and
constructive.

Van Dijk (1997) discusses that language users, while engaging in text and talk,
perform the role of speakers, listeners, writers or readers. In addition to these
roles, they also engage in discourse as members of social categories. That is to say
that they interact in a complex combination of their social and cultural roles and
identities in addition to their roles as speakers and listeners. They also actively
construct and display such roles and identities at the same time as this interaction
is taking place.

Discourse emerges from a particular context, and it is directed to a specific group

within a specific context. Therefore, discourse analysis which views discourse as a
social practice, goes back and forth comparing the text and its social context
where context is the socio-cultural situation surrounding the discourse. Discourse
as part of social life expresses –and at the same time shapes- the relevant
properties of its context (van Dijk 1997).

Van Dijk (1997) also suggests that people do many social and political things with
discourse. Discourse as a political practice establishes, sustains and changes
power relations. And Fairclough (1992) states that discourse as an ideological
practice constitutes, naturalizes, sustains and changes significations of the world
from diverse positions in power relations. Different types of discourse in different
social domains or institutional settings may come to be politically or ideologically
„invested‟ in particular ways.

2.1.2 Discourse as socially constructed and socially constructing

In the previous section it was argued that describing discourse as a social practice
implies a two-way relationship between discourse and society. Fairclough and
Wodak (1997) state that there is a dialectical relationship between a particular

xv
discursive event and the situations, institutions and social structures that frame it.
A discursive event is an instance of language use, analysed as text, discursive
practice and social practice (Fairclough 1993). Hence the discursive event is
shaped by situations, institutions and social structures and vice versa. In other
words: discourse is socially constructed as well as socially constructive. Discourse
is socially constructed because it is shaped by situations, objects of knowledge,
the social identities of and relationships between people and groups of people who
participate in text and talk and it is constructing, or constructive (socially
shaping), in the sense that it helps to sustain and reproduce the social status quo,
and in the sense that it contributes to transforming same (Fairclough and Wodak
1997).

A view of language as being socially constructed implies firstly that language

originates from pre-existing linguistic resources. Secondly, it implies that building
a discourse involves a selection from different possibilities -included and
excluded. Finally, it implies that “we deal with the world in terms of
constructions, not in a somehow „direct‟ or unmediated way… texts of various
kinds construct our world” (Gill 2000: 175). In the widest sense, discourse is
shaped and constrained by social structures at all levels (Fairclough 1993).

On the other hand, discourse is socially constructing. Discourse contributes to the

constitution of all those dimensions of social structure which, at the same time,
directly or indirectly shape and constrain it. Discourse is a practice not just of
representing the world, but of signifying the world. There are three aspects of the
constructive effects of discourse; each one corresponding to one of the three
metafunctions of language that interact in all discourse. The first aspect is the
construction of social identities and subject positions for social subjects, which
corresponds to the identity function of language which is in turn related to the
ways in which social identities are set up in discourse. The second aspect is that
discourse helps to construct social relationships between people, corresponding to
the relational function of language i.e.how social relationships between discourse
participants are played and negotiated. The last aspect of the constructive effects
of discourse is that it contributes to the construction of systems of knowledge and

xvi
belief, which corresponds to the ideational function of language which is in turn
related to ways in which texts signify the world and its processes, entities and
relations (Fairclough 1992).

Gill (2000) also discusses the importance of discourse in constructing social life.
She states that discourse analysts reject the notion that language is simply a
neutral means of reflecting or describing the world, and that there is a conviction
among them that knowledge is and socially constructing and socially constructed
i.e. determined not by the nature of the world itself, but by social processes.

Language use is constitutive in two ways: conventionally and creatively. It is

constitutive in a conventional way because it contributes to reproduce society and
in a creative way because it contributes to transform society. Much depends on
social circumstances which can contribute to making one stronger than the other
(Fairclough 1993).

Here it is important to add that discourse is socially shaping only to some extent,
because many other factors construct the social world as well, and sometimes
more directly than discourse (Fairclough 2003). The constitutive effects of
discourse work together with those of other practices, and it takes place within the
limits determined by the dialectical relationship with social structures (Fairclough
1992).

2.1.3 Fairclough: discourse and social change

Discourse, power and ideology

If we take into account the rhetorical organisation of discourse, it is clear that
much discourse is involved in establishing one version of the world over
competing versions (Gill 2000). Besides, since discourse is so socially influential,
it gives rise to important power-related issues. Discursive practices may have
major ideological effects in that they can help produce and reproduce unequal
power relations between different groups through the ways in which they

xvii
represent the world. Racist discourse and sexist discourse, for instance, are two
such practices (Fairclough and Wodak 1997). Ideologies are understood as being
constructions of reality, which are build into various dimensions of the forms and
meanings of discursive practices, and which contribute to the production,
reproduction or transformation of relations of domination. The ideologies
integrated in discursive practices are more effective if they become naturalized as
a form of common sense. However, according to Fairclough (1992) this property
of ideologies should not be overstated

Furthermore, Fairclough (1992) makes three important claims about ideology.

First of all, it has a material existence in the practices of institutions and this opens
the way to investigate discursive practices as material forms of ideology.
Secondly, ideology „interrelates subjects‟ and this leads to the view that one of the
more significant „ideological effects‟ is the constitution of subjects. Finally,
„ideological state apparatuses‟ (institutions such as education or the media), are
both sites of and stakes in the class struggle, which points to struggle in and over
discourse as a focus for ideologically-oriented discourse analysis.

If we go back to the concept of struggles to reshape discursive practices,

Fairclough (1992) states that where contrasting discursive practices are in use in
an institution, it is probable that part of the contrast is ideological. This poses a
further question, namely: what features or levels of text and discourse may be
ideologically invested? A common claim is that word meanings are those which
are invested by ideology. Fairclough (1992) also states that word meanings are
important, but so too are other aspects such as presuppositions, metaphors and
coherence. Meanings of texts are closely related to the forms of texts, and formal
features of texts such as style aspects may be ideologically invested. Discursive
practices are to an extent ideologically invested as they incorporate significations
that contribute to sustain or restructure power relations. Nevertheless, this should
not be overemphasised. “The fact that all types of discourse are open in principle,
and no doubt to some extent in fact, in our society to ideological investment, does
not mean that all types of discourse are ideologically invested to the same degree”
(Fairclough, 1992: 91).

xviii
Neither should it be assumed that people are aware of the ideological dimensions
of their discourse. This is given the fact that ideologies may be more or less
naturalized, depending on the social conditions and power relations involved. It is
important to also adopt the dialectical position on this, because apart from being
ideologically positioned, subjects are also capable of acting creatively and
restructuring discursive practices (Fairclough 1992).

To summarise then, we could see ideology as the key means through which social
relations of power and domination are sustained or restructured; the „common-
sense normalcy‟ of ordinary practices used as the basis for the continuity and
reproduction of power relations (Fairclough 1993).

Having dealt with the relationship between discourse and ideology, we now move
on to a potential effect of ideologically invested discourse and its role in power
relations: discursive change. Fairclough (1992) argues that producers and
interpreters of discourse combine elements in new ways in innovatory discursive
events - they cumulatively produce structural changes in orders of discourse.
These structural changes may affect either the „local‟ order of discourse of an
institution, or they may transcend institutions and affect a wider societal order of
discourse.

The origins of change in a discursive event lie in the problematisation of

conventions which have their bases in contradictions. When problematisations
arise, people are faced with „dilemmas‟. Producers and interpreters of discourse
often try to solve these dilemmas by being innovative and creative, adapting
existing conventions in new ways, thereby contributing to discursive change.
However, the way the contradictions aroused are reflected is determined by the
relationship of these with the struggles around them. Change in discourse involves
forms of going beyond the limits –such as putting together existing conventions in
new combinations, or drawing upon conventions in situations which usually
preclude them (Fairclough 1992).

xix
Fairclough (1992, 1993, 2003) identifies certain broad tendencies in discursive
change that affect the social order of discourse, and relate these tendencies to
more general directions of social and cultural change. The tendencies highlighted
by Fairclough of relevance to this dissertation are the democratisation and the
commodification (marketisation) of discourse.

Democratisation of discourse
Democratisation of discourse is “the removal of inequalities and asymmetries in
the discursive and linguistic rights, obligations and prestige of groups of people”
(Fairclough 1992: 201). Democratisation in discourse, like democratisation in
general, has been an important factor of change in recent decades, but in both
cases the process has been very uneven, changes have not been very constant or
equal, and there are questions about the extent to which changes have been real or
somewhat cosmetic.

Fairclough (1992) distinguishes five areas of discursive democratisation i)

relations between languages and social dialects, related to the extent to what
languages other than standard English have become more accepted; ii) access to
prestigious discourse types and prestigious and powerful subject positions within
them; iii) elimination of overt power markers in institutional discourse types with
unequal power relations; iv) a tendency towards informality of language; v) and
changes in gender-related practices in language – the most publicly salient case of
struggle over discursive practices in recent years. In the present study areas iii)
and iv) of discursive democratisation will be drawn upon.

The elimination of overt power markers of power asymmetry and hierarchy is the
first area of discursive democratisation we will deal with. Among the types of
markers which tend to be eliminated are asymmetrical terms of address,
imperative directives (in favour of more indirect and sensitive forms),
asymmetries in rights to make certain contribution (to introduce topics in the
conversation, or ask questions, for example) and the use of specialized vocabulary
that is inaccessible to others (jargon, scientific terms etc).

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Furthermore, it is also arguable that at the same time that overt markers have been
eliminated, or are becoming less evident, the covert markers of power have
become stronger. Hence, power asymmetries do not disappear but instead become
more subtle. This means that the elimination of power markers in discourse may
be only cosmetic, and that the power-holders are simply substituting overt power
markers with covert ones. Even so, where it can be a cosmetic change in some
cases, it can be a substantive change in others.

Moving on to the second area of discursive democratisation i.e. the tendency

towards informality of language. While power asymmetries are sharpest in the
more formal types of situation, informality gives a sense of a more equal
relationship. A very strong manifestation of the increasing informality in
discourse is the way in which conversational discourse has been brought from the
private sphere into the public domain, in other words, conversationalisation is the
tendency towards a simulation of conversation in public interactions and texts. For
example, a conversational style is being increasingly used in media, professional
or educational discourse, amongst others.

Another dimension of this informalisation is the shift in the division between

spoken and written discourse, this division is blurring, because there is a shift
towards forms in writing that are very similar to speech. In addition, „synthetic
personalisation’ (the simulation of private, face-to-face discourse in public
discourse) is one more dimension of the informalisation of discourse. The
informalisation of discourse poses a question about the extent to which
informality is simulated for strategic reasons (Fairclough 1992, 2003). Just as the
tendency is to democratise, it is not clear yet the extent to which these changes in
discourse are cosmetic or real.

xxi
Commodification and marketisation of discourse

At the present time language has become more important in a range of social
processes which has also lead to an increase in the economic importance of
language. Economic life has shifted from production to consumption and from
manufacturing industries to service, culture and leisure industries. In these service
industries, there is special attention given to the „design‟ of spoken and written
language, because the nature of the language used in the delivery of the service
has become a key factor (Fairclough 1993).

Commodification is not a new process, but its domain is becoming wider. It “is
the process whereby social domains and institutions, whose concern is not
producing commodities in the narrower economic sense of goods for sale, come
nevertheless to be organized and conceptualized in terms of commodity
production, distribution and consumption” (Fairclough, 1992: 207).
Commodification of discourse is the colonisation of orders of discourse by
discourse types associated with commodity production. It is no longer surprising
that sectors such as the culture and education industry are being referred to as
„industries‟ concerned with producing, marketing and selling commodities to their
„clients‟ or „consumers‟. A feature of the commodification of discourse is that
concepts are worded as commodities or products which are to be marketed to
„customers‟.

The process of marketisation follows the same line as the commodification

process. Marketisation of discourse is the restructuring of the order of discourse
on the model of more central market organizations. According to Fairclough
(1993) the marketisation and commodification of discourse in institutions such as
the education industry, is a reflection of the marketisation of public services and
of the way they are required to operate on a market basis.

Present day living conditions require that numbers of organisations market quite
similar products or services. Consequently, in order to establish one product or
service as being different, its identity has to be constructed, together with the

xxii
producers‟ identity and that has to harmonise with the image of the product or
service. At the same time the identities of potential buyers also have to be
constructed in the discourse. “Producer, product and consumer are brought
together as co-participants in a life style, a community of consumption, which the
advertisement constructs and simulates” (Faiclough 1993 : 14 ). And for NPOs the
situation is similar, there are several NPOs that are trying to convince the Irish
public to make donations. Thus the organisations‟ identities have to be
constructed and advertising could be an important factor in this construction.

According to Fairclough (1992), orders of discourse are being colonised by the

advertising genre. The use of language associated with a particular social activity
is what is called genre, and the advertising genre is the use of language associated
with promoting a product, service or organisation. In some orders of discourse,
there is no longer a clear division between information and promotion. He states
that there is nothing new about strategic calculation in information. Even so, the
real novelty is that information can be evidently strategic and persuasive without
that being regarded as an issue. Under the influence of advertising as a prestigious
model, the blending of information and persuasion is becoming naturalised. A
consequence of this is that the nature of what is regarded as information is being
radically changed.

We now move on to Fairclough‟s (1993) next concept - promotional culture. It

can be understood in discursive terms as the generalization of promotion as a
communicative function across orders of discourse, that is, discourse as a way of
selling or promoting products, services, organisations, ideas or people.
Promotional culture is “a view of contemporary cultural phenomena as virtually
always serving promotional functions in addition to whatever other functions they
may have, as simultaneously representing, advocating and anticipating whatever is
referred to” (Fairclough, 2003: 221).

xxiii
There are three major consequences to the widespread of promotional culture. The
first is that as a result of promotional culture, there is an extensive restructuring of
boundaries between orders of discourse and between discursive practices.
Secondly “there is a widespread instrumentalization of discursive practices,
involving the subordination of meaning to, and the manipulation of meaning for,
instrumental effect” (Fairclough, 1993: 141). And thirdly there is a change in the
„mode of signification‟ i.e.the relationship between signifier, signified and
referent. One aspect of this is, for instance, the shift from signification-with-
reference to signification-without-reference. The question thus arises: Does
meaning have primacy, or is it subordinated to effect?

As so often in contemporary society, the giving of information takes place in a

context where there is an intention to convince people to see things in a particular
way. The influence of promotional culture in discourse besides the major ethical
implications may have negative effects amongst members of society. Due to the
fact that members of society are constantly exposed to promotional discourse,
there is now a serious problem of trust. The division between information and
promotion is blurring in many orders of discourse.

Having dealt with democratisation and commodification of discourse separately,

now we move on to linking them together and to wider instances of social change.
Even though democratisation and commodification may appear to be opposites,
their relationship is more complex. On the one hand commodification implies
democratisation - commodified texts very often are democratised texts as they
tend to be informal, conversational, eliminate overt power markers etc. On the
other hand, democratisation can occur without commodification. What is more,
democratisation and commodification in broader terms are properties of the
contemporary social order of discourse. Their impact in different local or
institutional orders of discourse is variable as some orders of discourse are
becoming very democratised and/or commodified while others less so (Fairclough
1992).

xxiv
The marketisation of public discourse: an example

Fairclough (1993) in his study Critical Discourse Analysis and the Marketization
of Public Discourse: the Universities argued that education in Britain is one of a
number of domains whose orders of discourse are being colonised by the
advertising genre. As a result there is a proliferation of text types which combine
features of advertising with features of other genres. Fairclough argues that the
marketisation of the discursive practice of universities is one dimension of the
marketisation of higher education in a more general sense. This, he argues, is a
good example of the processes of marketisation and commodification in the more
general public sector.

Fairclough (1993) suggests that the discursive practices of higher education are in
the process of being transformed through the increasing importance of promotion
as a communicative function in higher education. In the texts analysed, he found
that students‟ are constructed as „customers‟, and the universities‟ prospectuses
are „designed‟ in such a way that they „sell‟ the educational programmes.

There are many ways in which universities are unlike real businesses.
Nevertheless, institutions are making major organisational changes in accord with
a market mode of operation, such as using managerial approaches in staff
appraisal and training, introducing institutional planning, and giving much more
attention to marketing. All of these changes are reflected in the universities‟
discursive practices.

For this paper Fairclough‟s study was taken as a starting point from which the
concept of public discourse marketisation could be understood.

xxv
 2.2 MEDIA AND DEVELOPMENT

2.2.1 Media influence

Does the media influence the public? If so, to what extent? These are questions
that several theorists and approaches have tried to answer. Some of the most
current approaches which focus on the audience include agenda setting, uses and
gratifications, the cultivation process and reception analysis. The issue of whether
the media influences people is a complex one that does not have a single
straightforward answer. Therefore in this dissertation I will work under the
assumptions made by each of these four approaches.

Agenda setting works under the assumption that the emphasis the mass media
apply to certain topics influences how people think. The mass media, as well as
other institutions, participate in the setting of the agenda of public discussion
topics that citizens eventually make their own to different degrees (Rendón 1997).

Uses and gratifications theory states that the audiences choose the media they
consume according to the use they are going to make of it and the extent to which
these messages satisfy their needs.

Cultivation process theories argue that the audience is not a homogeneous group
that just receives and accepts every message delivered by the mass media but is
formed of different groups of individuals with different characteristics that can be
influenced in the long run, in different ways, and to different extents by the media.
Despite the fact that audiences are active subjects, the media can plausibly have
some influence indirectly and over time on their socialization process and culture.

Reception analysis: this approach insists on an empirical compared analysis of

media discourses and audiences, interpreting these on the grounds of the socio-
cultural system surrounding them (Rendón 1997).

xxvi
This dissertation will also be based on Devereux‟s (2003) suggestion of balance
being needed between the view of the power of the audience to deconstruct and
resist media content, and the power of media content to shape public perceptions
about the world.

2.2.2 Media Representations

“In most countries television is the most important source of information on the
Third World and development issues. There is almost no doubt, however, that
television in particular and the media in general are doing an inadequate job of
consciousness-raising. That the media concentrate on disaster and bad news is not
news” (Smillie, 1995: 133).

Media coverage of Third World countries is questionable because it tends to

present a negative image. „Disasters, Relief and the Media‟ (Benthall 1993) is a
study of the construction of texts about Third World disasters and relief in the
media, and about the use of children as sources of imagery (Devereux 2003).
Benthall proposes that the image of the Third World is exaggerated and
misunderstood, while fundamental factors of poverty such as colonialism and
capitalism are absent (Devereux 2003). Furthermore, Smillie (1995) argues that
studies of Third World coverage found the same kinds of results, which were that
the Third World countries in the media were mainly
“portrayed as a largely abstract and almost singular society, prone to war, famine,
disease and natural disaster. The most common stories, derived almost
exclusively from Northern observers, dealt with „the incompetence of [the
South‟s] governments, the misery and submission of its peoples, the assistance
needed by its children, the corruption of its administration” (Smillie, 1995: 133).

Another example is Sorenson‟s Mass Media Discourse on Famine in the Horn of

Africa (quoted in Devereux 2003). Sorenson states that media discourse presents
famine as a crisis, and a result of natural causes or the fault of the inhabitants.
This type of discourse can be seen as ideologically motivated given the fact that it
does not challenge or question power relationships. According to Devereux
(2003), it is not surprising to find stories about poverty narrated in an individual
manner, rather than explaining the issue in structural terms because individual
stories do not threaten the status quo.

xxvii
2.2.3 ‘Charity Appeals’ and the Debate around Them

“The ever-increasing number of NGOs has made fundraising more difficult”

(Smillie, 1995: 129). Non Profit Organisations have several different methods to
approach potential donators and make themselves and their projects known. Even
though their strongest method is fundraising, the organisations also use
campaigning, development education, and public relations (PR). In the media,
stories about NPOs can be generated as documentaries, magazine stories,
television and newspaper news. Nevertheless, fundraising is the greatest
investment in public communication (Smillie 1995) and fundraising strategies
have been through a process of change that has sometimes had questionable
outcomes.

Images communicate messages that have responses and messages can leave
lasting impressions. Images are very powerful not to mention damaging. Rough
images can be successful in raising funds, but they reinforce stereotypes and
distort people‟s perceptions (Oxfam, in Benthall 1993). In his study Benthall
states that “the incidence of disasters, fund-raising pressures and the growing
influence of advertising experts produced in 1981 perhaps the most blatant of
images, the helpless hand of a dying African child clasped by a fat and healthy
adult white hand” (Benthall, 1993: 179). The imagery used for fundraising appeals
is the topic of much debate, a topic which has become known as „the pornography
of poverty‟. This topic is used to debate questions about and criticism of the
images used in charity appeals. It is also used to debate the use of images of
starving babies, for example, and other emotive images to persuade people to
donate out of guilt and pity, rather than as a result of an understanding of the
issues. The argument is that this kind of imagery, when it is repeated several
times, creates a stereotype of horror and helplessness that outbalances reality. And
most of the NGOs acknowledge that using these images has negative effects,
instead of doing what they should be, such as creating an understanding and
awareness of the need for longer-term development assistance (Benthall 1993,
Smillie 1995). Smillie (1995) exemplifies this argument with an Oxfam study
which showed that negative images “had contributed to a stereotype of a doomed

xxviii
and helpless continent, whose own people were unable to help themselves”
(Smillie, 1995: 136). Furthermore, some anti-racists claim that charity appeals
representing starving Africans represent a racist and colonialist motivation to save
the „unfortunate in distant lands‟. A very illustrative example of this debate is a
photograph by Wendy Wallace of news photographers lining up to photograph the
same starving child (Benthall, 1993).

As a result of the debate, some organisations have developed codes of ethics

regarding images used in their appeals, the main points being that human and
material needs should not be in minimized or overstated, that images should
challenge rather than reinforce prejudices and that communications should respect
the dignity and culture of the communities (Benthall 1993, Smillie 1995). To
follow these guidelines however is not an easy task and the choice of images
remains a difficult issue for the organisations.

Another issue surrounding fundraising is the different responses of the audience to

emergency appeals or to long-term development appeals. “Donors to international
NGOs (and NGOs themselves) are being drawn more and more towards
emergencies. Hence the obvious and sometimes remarkable growth of
organisations with emergency appeals. This may well lead to a decline for those
working only in longer-term development” (Smillie, 1995: 129). Emergencies are
more likely to appear in the media news and to appeal wider audiences than
development. People in general have an extremely low knowledge of development
issues, and prefer to support emergencies rather than long-term development
(Smillie, 1995).

“The greatest tension for the thoughtful Northern NGO today lies in the attempt
to balance fundraising messages for a public most easily moved by short-term
disaster appeals with the recognition that longer-term development depends on
the willingness of that same public to support difficult and costly structural
change. This is a tension between the „appeal‟ of helplessness and antipathy
towards empowerment; between the concern for children and indifference
towards parents; between the provision of food and the creation of jobs; between
aid and trade; between charity, as some NGOs say quite clearly, and justice”
(Smillie, 1995: 137).

xxix
Smillie (1995) goes to the core of the issue, to the more structural causes, which
are not always apparent in NPOs‟ messages, but should be, in order to
communicate the complexity of the situation. Here is where development
education becomes very important. Because NPOs not only relate to the public
through fundraising, they also relate to the public through campaigning and
development education which although being very different from each other are
really just „two sides of the same coin‟ (Smillie 1995).

Development education began in many countries in the 1950s and 1960s initially
as basic information about the South and about development assistance; and has
been going through various transitions since. In the 1970s and 1980s it started
encouraging a more critical analysis of the kind of information that was being
provided and some organisations moved ahead to campaigning and advocacy
activities (Smillie 1995).

The balance however continues to be almost always in favour of fundraising.

Some agencies have concentrated their efforts on their educational activities in
order to challenge stereotypes, “but the merchandizing of a brand image depends
precisely on maximizing their diffusion, with the help of bold and self-standing
graphics which impart a mystique and encourage brand loyalty” (Benthall, 1993:
177).

xxx
 3. METHODOLOGY

3.1 METHODOLOGY

The methodological approach of this dissertation is mainly qualitative which is

used in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of advertising in NPOs
and their representations of overseas development aid. Under the qualitative
paradigm in this study I researched the NPOs‟ accounts and representations of
reality, rather than reality itself. This dissertation is thus mainly interpretative, due
to the nature of the methodology which is used. The two methods used to try and
answer the research questions are, as mentioned in the introduction, discourse
analysis and semi-structured interviews with the first being the main methodology
and the latter used to enhance reliability and to understand the context of the
discourse analysed.

According to Devereux (2003), it is important to analyse media content because it

is a powerful source of meaning about the social world; and because although
media content is not the same as social reality, it is necessary to examine how
media content represent the reality.

Discourse analysis cannot be used to address the same sorts of questions as

traditional approaches. Instead it suggests new questions or ways of reformulating
old ones. “A discourse analysis is a careful, close reading that moves between text
and context to examine the content, organization and functions of discourse…a
discourse analysis is an interpretation, warranted by detailed argument and
attention to the material being studied” (Gill, R. 2000: 188). Discourse analysis is
a multidisciplinary activity (Fairclough 1992, van Dijk 1997). It has many
variants and the type of discourse analysis used in this dissertation is that
suggested by critical discourse analysts such as Fairclough, van Dijk and Gill.
Critical approaches to discourse analysis make the assumption that signs are

xxxi
socially motivated (Fairclough 1992). Critical discourse analysis might contribute
to more broadly conceived social research into processes of social and cultural
change affecting contemporary organizations. “Discourse analysis is, I believe, an
important though hitherto relatively neglected resource for such research”
(Fraiclough, 1993: 158).

3.2 RESEARCH PROCESS

3.2.1 Dissertation Proposal and Literature Review

This study has been a learning experience since the beginning and will be even
after it is finished. I first started working on the dissertation proposal. After
brainstorming, reading and consulting; I chose the topic, the research questions,
and the methodological approach. The dissertation proposal was redesigned
several times, in order to refine it as much as possible. The next step was then the
gathering and reading of the relevant literature about NPOs and discourse.

3.2.2 Discourse Analysis

The stages of analysis were those suggested by Gill (2000): gathering of the
material, classification, reading and re-reading, coding, analysing (searching for
patterns, variability, consistency, what is not said, context) and then the taking
into account of issues such as reliability and validity. Therefore, the discourse
analysis started with the gathering of the data for analysis. The main corpus of
discourse was made of the organisations‟ websites but I also included some
samples of direct mail, posters, radio ad, and television advertisements to enhance
the main corpus (as suggested by van Dijk 1997). Transcripts were made when
required of, for example, radio and television advertisements 2. Then after reading

2
During the time I was conducting the analysis, the website of Trócaire were redesigned. It was
changed only as regards the layout of the main menu which had more pictures added to the upper
frame. The content was not changed at all. Consequently, I did not change the analysis I had
already done before that website was redesigned.

xxxii
and re-reading the data collected in order to acquire a deeper understanding and
familiarity with it, I continued to the coding stage.

Here, an exhaustive analysis was done. I used as a basis Fairclough‟s (1992, 1993,
2003) three-dimensional framework for discourse analysis, where the discourse is
analysised as a text, as a discursive practice and as a social practice.

FIGURE 3.1: Three-dimensional framework for discourse analysis

Using this three-dimensional framework, and the literature review, the final
coding scheme was done (see Figure 3.2).The codification of the texts was done,
and then checked again, every time looking for patterns and differences, rather
than for individual accounts.

xxxiii
 FIGURE 3.2: Coding scheme

3.2.3 Interviews

Interviews were carried out in order to illuminate certain issues that emerged from
the discourse analysis and as a means of collecting data from the organisations
themselves. The two organisations analysed were contacted to invite them to
participate in the study by contributing via interview. The Public
Communications Centre (a national non-profit communications agency) was also
contacted. From those three organisations, two - Trócaire and Bóthar - agreed to
participate in the study. Bóthar was the first to agree to participate and contacted
me via their advertising agency. I interviewed two people there who worked
closely with Bóthar in all of their campaigns. Trócaire then agreed to participate,
and I interviewed a person from the Fundraising and Marketing department.

xxxiv
Both interviews were recorded previsously been agreed in a consent form signed
by the participants before the interviews started. Some questions were added after
the first interview and some were taken out, for example, but given the semi-
structured nature of the interviews, this arguably improved the quality of the data
collected and the coding scheme.

Both interviews were transcribed. I read the transcripts several times until I gained
a more in-depth understanding of them and when I was completely familiar with
the transcripts I started the analysis proper. Some informal analysis, however, it
must be noted was done simultaneously with data collection and interview
transcription. The process of categorization was started by signposting the
following categories: marketing/advertising strategies, media used, differentiation,
discourse/images used, and development/emergency. These categories emerged
from the literature review, the issues found in the discourse analysis and from the
informal analysis done simultaneously during interviews and transcription. Then,
after filling each category, everything was re-read again to search for patterns and
differences, rather than individual accounts.

3.2.4 Presentation and Discussion of Findings

Findings of the discourse analysis and the interviews are presented separately due
to the fact that the former are the findings of my own analysis and the latter are
the spokesperson‟s interpretations of their own message. The discourse analysis
findings are presented in a thematic structure for each organisation while the
findings of both organisations‟ interviews are presented jointly to avoid any
identification of them taking place.

The discussion of findings links together the key concepts and issues found in the
existing literature, the main findings of the discourse analysis and the interviews.

xxxv
3.2.5 Ethical Issues

A few ethical issues emerged in the course of the study, namely the use of the
results and confidentiality. The first ethical issue, was the use of the results: the
research is intended to be for academic purposes only, and not to be used in any
other type of activity such as the benchmarking of other organisations, for
example.

From this the second ethical issue emerged: confidentiality of the interviews. The
participants were assured that all they said would be in the strictest of confidence
and I spoke openly about it to them before the interviews. I explained what the
study was about, how it was going to be reported and who was going to have
access to the findings. It was the participants‟ decision whether the information
was to be included in the final report or not, given the fact that other organisations
could potentially read the final report, and also given the fact that even though the
participants are not identified, the organisations are.

Consequently, transcripts of the interviews will not be included in the final report,
as requested by the organisations themselves. 3. The agreement was that they
would answer all the questions, but at the end of the interview they highlighted
the answers that they did not wanted to be quoted on („off-the-record‟ comments).
Then I was authorized by them to include the rest of the answers and the identity
of the organisation in the report. Whenever I was doubtful about including
something in the report, I contacted the participants directly and asked them about
it. At all times I made sure that I fulfilled the agreement to ensure confidentiality
throughout the entire study.

3
The interviews were about the organisations themselves and the answers are full of facts with
valuable information that could act as possible identifiers. Thus, the elimination of identifiers
would mean that the interviews would lack relevant data.

xxxvi
 3.3 REFLECTIONS ON THE RESEARCH PROCESS

3.3.1 The Researcher’s Role

Before starting the analysis I acknowledged my own biases and assumptions in

order to bracket them:

 The selection of the topic was the result of a long process of brainstorming
and decisions. I chose this topic because of the amount of advertising
material there is for many different NPOs in everyday Irish life – such as
television and radio advertisements, direct mail publicity, newspapers,
street signs, street fundraisers, the church, the bank, etc. And I also chose
this topic because I am interested in the role of the media in representing
these issues.

 I believe that organisations such as the ones studied in this dissertation

play a very important yet (to some extent) controversial role.

 I acknowledge that NPOs‟ work and the issues around it can be

problematic and subject to criticism and deeper analyses. Nonetheless, the
analysis of the existence of this kind of organisation is outside the scope of
the present dissertation. The objective of this dissertation is not to
evaluate the organisations‟ performance, nor to judge their work. It is
rather to analyse the role of advertising in NPOs and the overseas
development discourse it constructs.

Besides acknowledging my biases and assumptions around the unit of analysis, I

also acknowledge my limitations and the delimitations of the present study:

 The present dissertation was a learning process in many ways. I researched

literature around the specific methodology needed for this study and

xxxvii
 around its theoretical background, and a significant amount of time was
invested in this task.

 Only two of the three elements of the NPOs‟ discursive practice were
analysed. That is to say that only the production of the message and the
message itself were analysed - not the interpretation. In order to analyse
the interpretation of the message it would have been necessary to study the
responses of audiences to the NPOs‟ message. However, this study does
not include an analysis of the reception of the message because of the lack
of sufficient time. To analyse the audience‟s responses is an option for
further research.

3.3.2 Pitfalls of Discourse Analysis

In discourse analysis it is important not to assume that the context can be

described in a neutral and unproblematic way because of the fact that the analysts
are also producing their own version. Nevertheless, what discourse analysts do is
produce readings of texts and contexts that are warranted by careful attention to
detail and that lend coherence to the discourse being studied (Gill 2000).
Discourse analysis is basically interpretative; it works under the assumption that
all if language is constructive, discourse analysts‟ language is constructive and
their analyses are also constructions (Gill 2000) and should be taken as such.

3.3.3 Reliability and Validity

Having dealt with the acknowledgement of my own biases and the methodology‟s
pitfalls, it was essential to look for ways of enhancing the reliability and validity
of the study.

Regarding my biases and assumptions I bracketed as much as possible during the

research process. And regarding the method‟s pitfalls, I followed Gill‟s (2000)

xxxviii
suggestions that discourse analysts should pay careful attention to detail, examine
closely deviant cases, turn to the participants and take into account their
understandings, and finally be open to the reader‟s evaluation.

The discourse analysis was done as inclusively as possible, paying attention to

every detail, and searching for coherence between the analysis and the text. I then
turned to the participants and compared my analysis with their own
understandings as conveyed through the interview process. In addition, in order to
give the reader the chance to make their own evaluation of the discourse analysis,
transcripts of the texts analysed are included as appendices in the present report.

xxxix
 4. PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

4.1 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

The discourse analysis findings are presented separately according to

organisation. The overall features of the discourse are first to be analysed,
followed by the findings in each topic.

4.1.1 BÓTHAR

 The website layout is simple which makes it easy to navigate. Every

individual page is also linked to the home page and to the Donate page.
 The text on almost every page has an accompanying picture which mainly
shows smiling children or families with their animals (see table 4.1)
 Bóthar‟s discourse tends to be mainly conversational and informal. Using
simple and clear language, the writers address the readers using a
conversational style: “The list is endless! You may well have some novel
idea yourself, in which case please share it with us”, “the Government
refunds us the tax on your donation!” or “You will be happy to know
that…”
 Moreover, the authors use adjectives that enhance the representations
made:
- “the most important gift catalogue in the world”,
- “integral and essential part of all Bóthar projects”
- “an important milestone in Irish history”
- “three months of very hard work”
- “excellent working relationship”
- “many generous supporters”
- “a brilliant achievement”
- “we will be happy”

xl
 - “we will be delighted”
- “press coverage is invaluable”
- “a legacy is also an amazing way”
- “long-lasting and beneficial gifts”
- “very straightforward and not as expensive as many people think”
- “the fantastic work that Bóthar does”
- “experience of a lifetime and a real eye opener”
- “to have such successful projects”
 It is possible however that adjectives are used so frequently due to the
writing style of the authors and not to any strategic plan.
 The author‟s voice is sometimes in the third person (it) and sometimes in
the first person plural (we).

grown
children ups babies animals smiling Irish
HOME 2 x x
HOME 2 1 1 x yes
HOME 3 1 x x
HOME 4 2 x x
HOME 5 2 x
About us 1 1
About us 2 2 1 x
About us 3 1 x yes
Short History 10 x founders
Short History 2 2 one
Administration costs 2 x
Bóthar Team team x team
Super Supporters family x
super Supporters 2 1 x yes
Super Supporters 3 group
Super Supporters 4 1 x
Super Supporters 5 2 x one
Super Supporters 6 1 x
Schools Primary 2 x x yes
Schools Primary 2 5 x
Schools Primary 3 1 x x yes
Schools Secondary x
Contact Us 1
Get Involved 3 x yes
Legacies 3 x
TABLE 4.1: Images in Bóthar‟s website

xli
  Marketisation and commodification are visible tendencies in Bóthar‟s
discourse. They are most apparent in the description of „Tax-efficient
giving‟. The organisation is clearly trying to persuade the public to donate
in this way by stating the advantages, and reinforcing them with the idea
that to doing so is simple and costless: “Is a way of maximising your
donation… at no extra cost for yourself”, “greatly increasing their value”.
 The text is also discernibly persuasive in the section entitled Legacies. The
writers explain the importance of legacies in general, then move on to state
the importance of leaving a legacy to them “A legacy gift is one of the
most long-lasting and beneficial gifts that many people will ever be able to
give. Leaving a legacy gives us the power to help those who need it most”.
They then state that even though it is so important, few people actually do
it, and then they ask the public to consider leaving a legacy to Bóthar in
their will. The approach to legacies is thus somewhat overemotional.

The organisation
 Bóthar is first described as a subject through use of the third person („it‟)
but gradually, and perhaps unwittingly, the organisation comes to be
described with first person plural („we‟).
 The organisation‟s description is clear, concise yet detailed, in that it
meticulously describes every stage in Bóthar‟s projects.
 The history of the organisation takes a narrative form, starting in the third
person („it‟) then changing to the first person plural („we‟). The narrative
uses informal language, names some names, but also acknowledges the
work of anonymous people who have participated in some way, no matter
how small. In order to recount the history of Bóthar, the authors also make
use of metaphor, which serves to make the text more emotive. For
example “the dark cloud of the BSE crisis had one small silver lining…”
and “we look to the future with hope and a confidence that what we are
enabled to do through our many generous supporters will make a
difference to the world”.

xlii
Recipient Countries
 The recipients are constructed either as groups of people or as countries
(see Table 4.2). The most commonly-used term used to describe them is
„families‟ (x23), which is sometimes qualified by adjectives such as
„recipient‟, „poor‟, „struggling‟ and „needy‟.
 Overusing phrases such as “they are taught the knowledge and skills to
manage the animals”, “they are given the gift”, “they are given training”,
“they receive veterinary back-up” can give the impression that the
communities are nothing but passive receivers.

families (23) project countries (9)

communities/villages (7) contries (7)
recipient families (3) developing countries/world (4)
poor families (3) third world (2)
pass-on families (3) african countries (2)
farmers (3) receiving countries (1)
those who need it most (2)
struggling families (2)
poor communities (1)
needy families (1)
TABLE 4.2: Representations of recipients in Bóthar‟s website

The donors
 The donors are described by phrases such as “generous supporters”,
“without your generosity” which depict them as generous supporters who
enable the organisation to do its work. Bóthar acknowledges the support it
receives from donors.
 Donors are also depicted as having the power to “help struggling families
with a chance to change their lives forever”.

Participation of the donors and donating

 Bóthar invites members of the public to participate on a voluntary basis in
its various sponsorship schemes. It encourages the public to donate
through comments such as: “all donations are important to us. Without
your generosity we could not do our work”, or “every donation, big or

xliii
 small, enables us to make the vital difference for poor communities in our
project countries”. All of these represent the act of donating as crucial.
 The authors also make use of the imperative mode to prompt people e.g.
“Donate”.
 They invite the general public to participate by going on field trips to visit
the families involved in the projects “to give you an idea of the level of
poverty in which they live”, “give you the chance to see what Bóthar does
on the ground… to really get a feel for the true meaning of the phrase „a
living gift‟…”

The work
 Bóthar‟s work is entitled the „Bóthar project‟ and the „micro-farming
project‟. This nominalization is also sometimes qualified -as for example
in the statement: “the beauty of Bothar‟s project is in its simplicity”.
 A typical project is clearly described on the website in order to explain the
process in a systematic way.
 The idea that the community has ownership of the programme is
reinforced several times throughout the website.
 We can also find evidence of interdiscursive mixing in, for example, the
use of the “old adage „give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but
teach a man how to fish and he will feed himself for the rest of his days” to
validate the discourse.

The result
 The impact of the implementation of the projects is overwhelmingly
constructed as being positive through the use of such phrases as “not only
improve a family‟s diet, but the surplus can be sold this giving the family
possibly their first opportunity to earn an income. This income allows
them to feed, clothe and educate their children”, and “the families have
control over their farms and futures, and, over time, can lift themselves up
to a position of relative comfort with dignity and pride”, or “Irish boys and

xliv
 girls are lifting thousands of people out of poverty and giving them a
secure future by taking part in it”.
 Interdiscourse is used when the writers compare current crisis situations
with the Irish famine in Ireland in a probable effort to make their work
more understandable and related to the Irish public.
 The power given to the donors is obvious in phrases such as “Make a
difference to the world” which, while clearly an exaggeration of the real
effect, is useful for convincement purposes.
 In other statements, „difference‟ (x7) is incorporated into phrases such as:
“the impact that one good quality farm animal has on an impoverished
family in the Developing World can mean the difference between
destitution and security”, or “it‟s an opportunity to make a lasting
difference to a live all over the world”.
 Likewise in this definition: “difference between a life of subsistence and
one of sustainable growth and self-help, between a continuation of bad
agricultural and animal husbandry practices that devastate the environment
and environmentally friendly ones that conserve and improve it, and lastly
the difference between a future without hope and one filled with prospects
of a better life, especially for children”. In this kind of statement, there are
implications to constructing a negative image of recipient communities
before they participate in the project. This can imply that they are talking
about the difference between bad practices and a negative situation and
how the organisation changes it for the better which can in turn lead to the
reinforcement of the negative stereotyping of recipient countries.
 A feature of Bóthar‟s project that is mentioned several times and in
different sections of the website is the fact that the gift „grows/continues/is
lasting‟ (x 6). The authors state that when the families „pass-on‟ the gift,
“the gift is multiplied and over time many families and even whole
communities benefit”.
 “The living gift will go on helping people to lift themselves out of poverty
for generations to come. The Bóthar projects are truly gifts that never stop
giving”.

xlv
Finances and administration

 The readers are assured that 100% of the funds raised go towards the
projects, and that the administrative costs and other expenses are financed
from other sources.

Relationship between the donors and the organisation

 Bóthar acknowledges all support it receives and provides further

information whenever possible.

Key issues around development

 Bóthar almost never addresses the core social causes of the problems. The
website only refers to natural causes such as soil erosion and refers to it
only once.
 The only other mention the organisation makes about these kind of issues
is the statement “poverty remains a serious and extensive problem”

Development education

 On the website there is an education section targeted mainly at students.

Consequently it has a simpler narrative and is much more informal than
the rest of the text.
 The section also adopts a much more conversational tone: “so far you have
sent almost 1,000 dairy goats to poor families in Africa –a brilliant
achievement, and one you can be very proud of”.

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4.1.2 TRÓCAIRE

Trócaire‟s website is used mainly to provide the readers with information about
the organisation, the way it works and ways in which the public can participate.
The information provided on the website is very extensive and there is the option
to read more in-depth information about the different themes and issues covered.
The text in the website is full of definitions and descriptions such as “poverty
means lack of choice, which, in turn means vulnerability” which aim to educate
the reader about Trócaire‟s perspective of world issues. But within these
descriptions there are evaluations and judgements if we take the following
definition included in the website as an example: “Trócaire envisages a just world
where people‟s dignity is ensured, rights are respected and basic needs are met;
where there is equity in the sharing of resources and people are free to be the
authors of their own development”.

In general, the website is very outspoken. The text includes extensive information
about the structural causes of the problems the organisation tackles, as well as the
organisation‟s stances and critiques. The criticism is explicit throughout the
website. Despite the fact that Trócaire‟s identity is sometimes constructed as
either „it‟ or the first person plural („we‟) when the authors state their critical point
of view, they always use the third person, for example: “Trócaire believes that this
initiative…”. The first person is never used when controversial stances are being
taken.

In some parts of the text, the authors employ the strategy of „interdiscourse‟,
articulating together a variety of other discourses to validate the stances they take.
Sometimes they use direct quotations that illustrate or add to an idea previously
made, and other times they paraphrase other discourses such as documents and
speeches.

The text in Trócaire‟s website seems to be intended to raise public awareness and
to educate, rather than convince the Irish public to donate. However, there is still a
„donation‟ page on the website that explicitly invites the public to donate.

xlvii
Marketisation is a very subtle tendency in Trócaire‟s website. Not only do the
authors play on the organisation‟s prestige - the result of 30 years work - it seems
that they intend to educate the public and make them agree with the organisation‟s
stances, rather than evidently and openly trying to persuade the public to donate.
This could be seen as prestige advertising. Marketisation is more evident in the
„Make a Donation‟ part of the website, where they do try to persuade and „sell‟
the idea of donating.

The imperative form is used by the authors repeatedly, but in a polite and subtle
way: “click here”, “donate now”, “return your box”, “send your donation”, “make
a difference today”, “take action now”, “join Trócaire‟s campaign”, “be part of”,
and more often in relation to campaigning, rather than donating.

Compared to Bóthar‟s website, the language used by Trócaire is more formal, and
the style of the author is not as evident, possibly because the texts were written by
different authors. In addition to these differences, Trócaire uses what could be
called more „objective‟ language due to the presence of fewer adjectives on its
web pages than on Bóthar‟s.

The organisation
 The organisation‟s identity is constructed using two grammatical persons:
„it‟, and the first person plural („we‟)
 In the text the religious aspect of the organisation is highlighted by making
it clear that Trócaire is “the official overseas development agency of the
Catholic Church in Ireland”, and that has its basis in the Gospel and the
social teaching of the Church.
 The authors define the organisation‟s role as “an advocate for the poor”,
which makes assumptions about the social identities of the actors involved
and relationships between them.
 Trócaire defines its rationale with phrases such as: “Trócaire is working
towards a just world where people‟s dignity is ensured, the rights of
individuals are respected, and where basic needs are met” or: “the mission

xlviii
 of Trócaire, and indeed all human striving after a just world, is more than
bandaging the wounds” The positive connotations of these statements
make it difficult for the reader to disagree.
 In addition, Trócaire constructs itself as an ideal workplace with self-
promotional statements such as: “Trócaire is the agency of choice among
development professionals who are attracted to us because of our approach
to development, the quality of our services in Ireland and overseas and our
commitment to the development of staff skills” or: “Trócaire has put
increased resources into enhancing the quality of our programmes and
ensuring that our work is of the highest standard”. Even phrases as:
“follow international standards of best practice” substantiate this claim.
Using managerial concepts such as quality, service, training, standards,
accountability, etc, the authors mix the informational genre with the genre
of prestige advertising.

Recipient Countries
 Recipient Countries (RCs) and donor‟s countries are named differently
from each other in Trócaire‟s discourse (see Table ). Antonyms such as
„developing/developed‟, „poor/rich‟, „third world/west‟, „south/north‟ are
also used to differentiate between the countries.
 The most commonly used term is „developing countries‟ (x26), followed
by „poor countries‟ (x24), „overseas‟ (x18) and „third world‟ (x10). (see
Table ).
 People living in RCs are nominalised as: „people‟ (x79), „communities‟
(x30), „children‟ (x29), „families‟ (x12), „our brothers and sisters‟ (x3),
and „beneficiaries‟ (x1).
o Here it is worth noting that the word „people‟ is the second most
used word in the website (just after „development‟, x82). Using
„people‟ to talk about the actors in development is an efficient way
of avoiding inequalities in discourse. Therefore we can see how the
text in the website has a strong tendency towards democratisation.

xlix
 o It is also worth noting that the terms „children‟ and „communities‟
are used the same number of times, while „families‟ is used less
often. „Children‟ is constantly used, just as images of children are
constantly used as well.
o On the other hand, the word „families‟ is used less frequently than
„children‟. Contrasting with Bóthar‟s website, which uses
„families‟ much more often.
 Whether the authors use „people‟, „communities‟, etc, there is an
overwhelming tendency to qualify these nouns with adjectives such as
„poor‟ (x16), „vulnerable‟ (x13), „struggling‟ (x5), „indigenous‟ (x4),
„hungry‟ (x3), „needy‟ (x3), „oppressed‟ (x3), „less fortunate‟ (x2),
„impoverished‟ (x1), „marginalised‟ (x1), and „malnourished‟ (x1).These
adjectives construct images about the RCs that have the potential to make
a stronger impact on the readers.
 Negative images are not the only ones constructed around the RCs.
Positive adjectives are also used to qualify them. Adjectives such as
„strength‟ (x2), „courage‟ (x3) and „dignity‟ (x5) as used in phrases such as
“some extraordinary people who displayed tremendous courage and
dignity” reflect a positive image of RCs and serve to construct them as
active actors, rather than passive subjects. However, positive qualifying
adjectives are used less often than negative, which reinforces negative
stereotypes.
 With regard to Trócaire‟s approach to development, the phrase “the
authors of their own development” is used five times together with other
synonymous phrases such as: “communities take part in the process of
decision making and devising strategies to improve their quality of life”.
This shows how the organisation characterises the role of communities in
the programmes.
 There are different sections on the website for each region where Trócaire
is involved (Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Europe). Each
section explains in general terms the situation of the region, the causes of
the problems: political, economic, social, etc., the issues Trócaire focuses
on, as well as the approach that is taken in each region. When appropriate,

l
 the organisation openly expresses criticism to authorities, governments,
the international community or specific figures. Although the analysis
presented is very general it also points to structural causes and gives
examples of these. The authors explain the issues in easy and accessible
but not overly simplistic ways. It is an effective strategy to get people to
gain a better understanding of key problems and to give the option of
reading more complete documents.

Donors' Recipient Recipients Recipients

General Donors countries countries (nouns) (adjectives)
Irish public developed developing
world (34) (8) countries (22) coutries (26) people (79) poor (16)
rich countries poor countries communities vulnerability/
global (18) donors (4) (8) (24) (30) vulnerable (13)
worldwide (8) generous(4) west (3) third world (10) children (29) struggling (5)
the earth (2) north (5) south (7) families (12) indigenous (4)
our brothers
countries (64) overseas (18) and sisters (3) hungry (3)
least developed
nations (4) (2) beneficiaries (1) needy (3)
indebted
countries (1) oppressed (3)
low income
countries (1) less fortunate (2)
impoverished (1)
malnourished (1)
marginalised (1)

TABLE 4.3 : Social actors in development aid

The donors
 In some parts of the text, the readers are addressed under the assumption
that they are Catholic and Irish, highlighting the religious aspect “as
Christians we…” Sometimes the writers turn to biblical quotations, such
as, for example: “(Christ) taught us to love one another, to feed the
hungry, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick. He said: „As you did it to
one of the least of these brethren, you did it to me‟ (Matt 25:40)”.
 In Trócaire‟s discourse, donors are generally depicted as „generous‟,
„sharing‟ and „committed‟ through the use of such phrases as “solidarity
and generosity of the Irish public” or “thanks to the support of the Irish
public” and “you have been kind enough to support our Lenten
Campaign”.

li
  A conversational style is used in phrases such as “all of this work was
carried out thanks to the donations of people like yourself. People who
wanted to make a difference. People who wanted to bring about
extraordinary change”. Here the authors construct the donors‟ identities as
something very positive, and as playing an important role in others‟ lives.
The authors stress the „power‟ donors have and how easy it is to use it:
“You can make extraordinary change happen by becoming a regular
giver”.
 Some features of the democratisation of discourse are present in Trócaire‟s
representation of the donors and the relationship with them in phrases such
as: “you can sign up to give”, “you can download from this site”, and the
like. The discourse has connotations of equal relationship between both.

Participation of the donors and donating

 Participation by the public, in addition to it being constructed as a
personal responsibility, is also constructed as an easy, inexpensive and
worthwhile way to „change lives‟.
 The phrase “make a difference” is used 5 times on the website.
 To provide evidence of the facility of donating, the authors explain the
various sponsorship schemes in simple terms and very clearly, and use
phrases such as “It doesn‟t take much money to make a real and lasting
difference to a life” or “simple but vital ways that you can support
Trócaire‟s work: make a donation. Take up our campaign work”.
 The authors explain clearly the different ways of participating in such
projects run by Trócaire as Global Gift Plan, 24hr Fast, Emergencies, TAP
Card Scheme, and Legacies.
 In addition, they use tangible examples of how the donations are used, or
as they put it “What your money can do”. Examples that give facts and
palpable benefits, such as: “19.05 EUR will provide a basic health kit for a
community health worker in Mozambique”.
 In order to encourage readers to become donors, Trócaire employs several
methods of persuasion. It draws upon other discourses by using quotations

lii
 to add more impact to what is said such as when trying to persuade the
public to join their campaign, they quote “Even the smallest light cannot
be extinguished by all the darkness in the world” (Democracy leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma). Even though it is likely that readers don‟t
know who Aung San Suu Kyi is, the adjective „democracy leader‟ implies
that this person has moral authority. The use of quotations in this way
validates what Trócaire states and enhances its appeal.
 Another persuasive resource is the use of the imperative mode in phrases
such as “make a difference today”. It is possible that by reading the
website the reader becomes a potential donor because s/he likes the idea of
donating and is called on to support the organisation, but it is also possible
that they might leave it for other time and then forget all about it. Using
the words „today‟ and „now‟ (x6) however is an efficient way of
prompting readers to act as soon as they finish reading the text.
 Participation in Trócaire‟s campaigns and the making of donations to
Trócaire are depicted as a responsibility for the public –“not as a matter of
charity matter but of simple justice” (x3). Its fundraising messages are thus
worded with terms such as „our common task/mission/duty‟ (x24) which
require „commitment‟ (x25) from donors and the organisation.
Authoritative connotations can be found in this kind of sentences.
 The tendency towards marketisation and commodification in Trócaire‟s
discourse is seen in statements such as “Trócaire will maximise the value
of your donation by…”, “in order to increase the value of your donation”.
These kinds of statements remind us of the slogans (market discourse)
commonly used to sell products and services.
 Another feature of market discourse that can be found in the
representations of donation is the promise that if the donors help, they will
receive something in return.
 The Make a Donation section of the website is more evidently persuasive
than other parts of the website.
o The most persuasive is the Regular Giving section as here the
authors directly address the readers in order to persuade them. It

liii
 also has a more conversational style than any other text on the
website.
o The text structure in Become a Regular Giver is as follows. First
the reader is thanked for their interest in becoming a regular giver
and the benefits of doing so are stated. The authors then show the
good which can be done with the amount of money they are asking
for, they tell the reader how easy and important it is to donate, they
try to persuade and then finally they explain the process of
becoming a regular giver.
o A conversational style is more visible in this section of the website
than in others. Examples include: “all of these benefits will reach
the homes of some of the world‟s poorest people. The cost to you?
Just 7 euros or 5 pounds per month!” These sentences could be the
text of a television or radio advertisement for any service or
product, only with a slight change in the benefits to accord with the
product for sale.
 When the authors talk about legacies to Trócaire, they are much less
emotional than Bóthar, and use a more „objective‟ language to simply
explain the process of leaving a legacy to Trócaire.

The work
 Trócaire stresses the fact that they are a development agency throughout
their website. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the most utilized
word is „development‟ (x 82). Attributive adjectives such as „long-term‟
(x 13) and „sustainable‟‟ (x 8) are used to qualify the word „development‟.
Together the three words are used 103 times, contrasting with the 48 times
that the words „relief/emergency‟ are used. This usagee reflects the
organisation‟s priorities.
 The main areas of Trócaire‟s international work are: health, civil society,
HIV/AIDS, peace-building, security, land and farming, education, rights
(human, children‟s, women‟s, workers‟) and sustainable development.

liv
 These areas are mentioned and explained several times throughout the
website.
 The organisation defines their work in statements such as: “we work to
achieve our aims in two ways: By providing support to local, community-
based projects, which tackle the root causes of poverty and foster self-
reliant development and respect for human rights. By raising awareness in
Ireland and elsewhere of the scale, dimensions and causes of world
poverty and promoting action to overcome it. Trócaire also responds to the
immediate emergency needs of communities, seeking to renew local skills
and structures and to enable people to continue the work of development”.
 The terms „supporting‟ and „support‟ are used 61 times on the website,
together with „aid‟ (x24), „helping/help‟ (x12), „contribution/contribute‟
(x6), „collaboration/collaborate‟ (x 4) in order to describe what Trócaire
brings to the RCs. All these terms have positive connotations and are also
very democratic – except for „aid‟, which can imply a certain power
hierarchy.
 These terms reinforce Trócaire‟s image as an organisation working in
partnership with communities. Trócaire depicts itself as a democratic
organisation that works together with local partners in community-based
programmes. “We work with communities to identify their problems and
then devise solutions to those difficulties”.
 The word „partners‟ is used 48 times, and the term „partnership‟ is used 7
times. Phrases such as „working together/jointly‟ (x 16) and „helping to
help themselves‟ (x 2) also reinforce the image of a democratic and
unobtrusive organisation. It is unusual that they use this phrase twice,
because it is also Bóthar‟s slogan.
 Trócaire characterises its work as being democratic also when it makes
claims about working with communities, irrespective of race, gender,
religion or politics.
 Narratives are also used to explain Trócaire‟s work and to make it more
tangible for the reader. For example, the authors use the story of a family
who have benefitted from one of the projects and the impact it has had on
their lives. The changing potential of Trócaire‟s work is constructed

lv
 through the use of this kind of narrative which serves to make the texts
more persuasive.
 When the text details the things Trócaire has done, the first person in
plural is used, for example:
o We spent…
o We provided medical supplies for health clinics…
o We distributed food for families displaced…
o We worked with poor farmers to improve the yield of their land…
o We trained nurses to meet healthcare needs of their communities
o We set up income-generation programmes for…
o We were able to organise relief for …
 Or phrases such as: “we worked with poor farmers to improve the yield
from their land. We trained nurses to meet the healthcare needs of their
communities. We set up income-generation programmes for poor women.
Water wells were dug in remote areas and human rights workshops were
organised in conflict areas”. This personalises the organisation and the
work it does.
 The authors also talk about how much has been received in donations and
how this money has been spent.
 Besides supporting programmes in the RCs, Trócaire states that advocacy
and campaigning is also a very important part of their work. On the
website a significant part is dedicated to their campaigns, explaining them
and giving detailed information. Their current campaigns are: the Debt
Campaign, Millennium Development Goals, the Toy Campaign, Overseas
Aid and Child Soldiers. Their advocacy projects are EU Development
Policy, Trade and Institutional Reform at the WTO, Poverty Reduction
Strategy Process and Debt.
 They use the words „advocacy‟ and „advocate‟ 25 times. Trócaire sees
itself as an “advocate for the poor” and they state that “Trócaire recognises
that in the future, the most effective role for Northern-based NGOs will be
as partners in advocacy with Southern organisations”, “To be an effective
advocate for justice, at a national and international level.”

lvi
The result
 The result and „impact‟ (x 14) of the projects is always portrayed as
positive.
 It is also depicted in emotional ways: “Life saving projects”, and “The
beauty of this way of working is that local people drive the whole process.
Solutions are not imposed to them.”
 On the one hand, the results are presented as having a huge impact through
the use of such words as „change‟ (x 18), „improve/enhance‟ (x 8),
„success‟ (x 6) and by constructing the idea that a little can make a big
difference. But, on the other hand, the authors also clarify that it is not a
simple process: “by working together, Trócaire and its local partner
agencies can, at least, set people on the road to sustainable development”
and “our goal is to bring about measurable change to the most
marginalised people through effective interventions”.
 The authors also construct the image of what the donor‟s money will
achieve: “Your 7 euro a month will help people build wells for clean
water. It will provide seeds and tools for families to grow food. It will help
people to secure their homes and their land and give children an education
that could free them from a life of hunger and poverty”. This serves to
show the positive results that a small amount of money can cause. It also
depicts an image of easy aid. The authors thus transform the abstract
concept of a donation into a tangible outcome that will benefit other
people.

Finances and administration

 In the section „Finances at a glance’ the organisation states its income and
expenses in a well-defined way and through the use of pie-charts and
percentages, with the option to download a fully detailed report. This
implies that the organisation is open to public audits.
 The authors also state how much money was received, from whom, how
much was spent in long term development projects, how much in
emergency rehabilitation and in how many countries. They also highlight

lvii
 the fact that 91% is direct charitable expenditure, 2.6% management and
administration and 4.7% publicity and fundraising, which ensures readers
that their money will go almost in its entirety to the projects.
 Some parts of the website text are very self-promotional. The authors use
„managerial‟ vocabulary such as „quality‟ (x 9), they talk about standards
and efficiency. For example: “The commitment to training and
development for all staff is supported by a well-designed performance
management system that facilitates two-way feedback between managers
and their staff”, or “close monitoring and evaluation of ongoing and
completed projects”.
 They stress the fact that they do things correctly and follow quality
standards regarding finances: “Prepare fully audited accounts which are
available to you for inspection”.
 Besides the information value of this, the illumination of these features can
be seen as a form of prestige advertising.
 Trócaire also represents itself as an ideal and democratic workplace,
formed by professionals, “Trócaire is an equal opportunities employer and
strives to foster a flexible and familiy friendly work environment”. They
self-promote themselves as any other company would “new positions
created to meet the demands on our growing organisation”.

Relationship beteween donors and the organisation

 The relationship between Trócaire and its donors is characterised with
positive concepts and as a democratic relationship. For example in “a
choice whether you wish to receive further information from Trócaire in
the future”, “You are entitled to…”
 Trócaire promises to correspond the support provided by donors in phrases
such as: “our commitment to you”, or “organisations like Trócaire depend
on people like you. As well as helping those in need in the Developing
World, we have important obligations to out supporters here in Ireland”,
and “In return for your commitment to our work we make this
commitment to you”.

lviii
Key issues around development
 In the website, Trócaire gives extensive information about the projects and
the countries where they are implemented. They give facts and numbers:
“As many as 500 million farmers live on land which is classified as poor.
One in eight people in the world lives on less than US$1 a day”.
 They also try to explain the complexities of the issues, “there are no quick-
fix solutions to poverty and injustice”.
 In order to provide more valuable information, they state that Trócaire
analyses the causes of poverty and then mobilises the public “Trócaire‟s
perspective is based on a development rights analysis, interpreting human
rights in its broadest sense to cover political, civil, economic, social,
cultural and collective rights”, “depending upon the specific need of the
country or the region Trócaire has identified in consultation with our
partners and other national and international organisations key causes of
poverty and vulnerability”.
 The problems mentionied by Trócaire in RCs are:

debt (46)
poverty (42)
trade (36)
need (30)
conflict (27)
war (16)
disasters (10)
injustice (10)
inequalities (9)
refugees/displaced (7)
crisis (5)
famine/starvation (5)
hunger (4)
genocide (3)
explotation (3)
food-shortage (3)
reppressive regime (2)
corruption (1)
misery (1)
malnutrition (1)
TABLE 4.4: Problems in RCs and times mentioned in Trócaire‟s website

lix
 When addressing these problems, Trócaire provides a general overview of
the issues, as well as examples of the situation and specific information of
the causes of the problems.
 Trócaire makes its own stances about the causes of these problems:
“inequalities underline all of these crises”
 In its website Trócaire shows open criticism, being outspoken, clear and
seemingly objective. For example: “we are a rich nation to some extent
because others are poor. Part of our prosperity is due to the fact that people
in the developing countries are not getting a fair deal”, or “we may not like
to acknowledge that our actions may have such adverse consequences for
other people but…”
 Trócaire takes a stance in controversial topics, such as the war on Iraq, the
writers state Trócaire‟s point of view of the war, of the regime, of the
actions of the US and British governments, stating their criticism and
disagreement with all of them.
 Another example is the criticism made about the WTO and of developed
countries‟ protectionism: “Trócaire believes the gap between these values
and practice are attributable largely to the nontransparent and
undemocratic decision-making processes in the WTO which are controlled
by a minority number of developed countries”.
 They also express their stand regarding the EU presidency and some
criticism about it.

right/s (60)
government/authorities (43)
just/justice (30)
root/structural causes of poverty
(9)
fair (8)
democracy (7)
equity (4)
power (4)
struggle (3)
evil (1)
TABLE 4.5: Issues around development

lx
Development Education
 Development education is characterised as a very important aspect of
Trócaire‟s work “education and campaigns are at the very heart of
Trócaire‟s work”, “to educate for action and change on the issues and
challenges that face the world we all share”.
 In the Current campaigns section of the website, the writers explain each
issue –giving some facts and examples-, criticise the structural causes and
then explain how Trócaire works in each campaign. Giving the option to
find out more about each issue and join the campaigns.
 They suggest: “join the campaign network and be kept up to date on
Trócaire‟s campaigns and how you can be involved”.
 The website has a whole part dedicated to Education, providing resources
for teachers and educators, parish resources and links to other development
education websites.

4.2 INTERVIEWS

4.2.9 The Strategies Used

 According to the point of view of the participants, the objective of
fundraising in both organisations is to appeal as many people as possible,
and make it easy for them to donate. “You‟re just trying to get as wide a
reach as possible within your set target audience, over a specified period of
time”.
 The strategies are selected on the basis of trying to appeal as many people
as possible, using different medium to appeal to different audiences. The
selection of strategies and media to implement them is based on the age
group the organisation is targeting. The selection also depends on the
specific campaigns, on what you are trying to communicate.
 The process that both organisations follow to design and implement their
fundraising strategies is very similar: first the organisation gives the bases,
selects the campaign issue and the theme, and then the communications

lxi
 agency does the creative and strategic work in constant consultation with
the organisation. Taking into account that NPOs do not have excessive
amounts of money that could be invested in advertising, what they do to
take advantage of their investment is to check everything, if it works, they
use it again; test new media in order to find new ways of conveying the
message.
 One participant summarised: “I don‟t think that I could pick something
and then just say: yeah, this is the best strategy. With every campaign that
you are running, you‟re trying to achieve several objectives and no one
strategy is going to deliver all of these objectives”. Each objective decides
which strategy is to be implemented.
 One of the most important things is to have a cohesive campaign. Keep the
same main image in every medium; keep a main theme, to try to get the
maximum of what was invested.
 An integrative approach is what participants in both organisations claimed
was the most important aspect. A participant said “I suppose the best
strategy is to get the balance right, you know, with that combination” to
explain that the right balance of media used is the best decision.
 One agency explained that their strategy to get transmit their message is to
communicate a “simple story, constantly told all the time” and all of their
literature would include a short version of what they do exactly, step by
step. While the other agency stated that they aim to explain the
complexities of the issues where the organisation works. But
“communicating that message (complexities) is not always the simplest
thing because that takes time, and anything that takes time in the world
that we live in today is, you know, more difficult”. Here is the main
difference found in the organisations approach to their advertising, and it
coincides with what was found in the discourse analysis. That one agency
constructs the overseas help discourse in a simple way, whereas the other
tries to cover more in-depth issues around development.
 Then, depending on the message, the response received will vary. The
participant from Trócaire said that certain themes are more popular and
there are themes that the public does not like –for example HIV/AIDS, it

lxii
 has much stigma attached to it and people‟s openness and understanding
of the issue is low.
 Conversely, Global Gift campaign is very well received, because “we (the
organisation) say: buy a gift of seed for a family in Malawi, and they (the
audience) understand: seeds and tools mean food, food will mean, you
know, getting to eat, nutrition, and it will mean being able to sell food, so
they have an income, and then income will mean education, and so on and
so forth. So, something that has, something that‟s quite useful, „cause it
has a simple and obvious solution”. The things that people understand the
best are those that tend to work; “the less complex the issue, the stronger
the appeal”.
 For example, organisations that do child sponsorship have a very strong
appeal to the public. This as a proposition works but it is not something
that Trócaire would do.
 Besides the use of the typical media, Trócaire has a Communications unit
which is in charge of Trócaire‟s Public Relations. For example: getting
articles in the newspapers, working through third party arrangements, etc.

4.2.10 The Media Used

 Both organisations stated that different media appeal to different people.
Certain media are more successful than others. And for both organisations
direct mail is generally the most successful way to raise funds. “Using
direct mail for our donors works very well: they understand the issue,
they‟re interested and this is the way that we know they will respond to
our appeal”. While only direct mail can „stand alone‟ as a media strategy,
other media have to be integrated.
 Media such as radio and TV are useful to communicate short fundraising
messages to a mass audience. It could be said that these media are more
appropriate for emergency appeals than for development.
 A participant said that “it‟s not necessarily fair to say it‟s the effect of the
medium, because it‟s really the effect of the message”.

lxiii
4.2.11 Discourse and Imagery
 When asked about the guidelines of the organisation as regards the
imagery and the wording used in their advertising, both organisations
stated that the guidelines are not written down, but everybody working in
the organisation knows them and agrees with them.
 Both emphasised the fact that they are against the use of negative images
that do not respect people‟s dignity. Both organisations are firmly
convinced of using positive and respectful images. They said, for example:
“We have some very definite criteria about the kind of message we want to
give. And to be brief those are that we do not use images of very sick or
very thin, or very starving children. We don‟t like to use very harsh images
of starving people”.
 The participants mentioned with some degree of criticism that in other
organisations “very, very desperate stark imagery would be used in order
to elicit money from people, and we are very clear in NOT wanting to use
that; the people should be giving because they understand an issue and
they want to give, not because they‟ve seen a starving child. So that‟s
something we would all be very strong on, and I that a unanimous
agreement within the organisation that that is the way we want to
proceed”. This statement shows that people from the organisations are
more interested in raising funds out of people‟s understanding of
development, rather than just interested in raising funds to have money.
They want the audience to be conscious and aware of the struggles that
people in other countries are facing.
 “We like to use positive images and to tell positive stories of development,
and we like to show the benefits of what the organisation‟s work has
done”. Or: “Our policy is to use positive imagery of people in the
developing world, in order to respect the dignity of people”.
 When they were asked about the vocabulary they use in their advertising,
they stated they have the same approach that they have for the images. “In
the same way as in the imagery, you want your language to be positive,
you‟re not going to refer to people in a way that is… sort of…
undignified”. “You would talk about people‟s vulnerability, but you

lxiv
 wouldn‟t talk about people being defenceless, or meek, or weak. You
would use terminology that does justice to people‟s dignity, and that‟s
really a parallel to this type of imagery that we would shoe”. And the other
organisation stated that they try to “steer away from bleak”.
 Besides the statement that they use positive and respectful language, they
also stated that they prefer to use simple language accessible to all the
audience. “What we always try to do is use terminology that will appeal,
you know, to the general public, and not to get lost in the sort of
development speak (…) in an organisation of this nature, where people do
come froma very development academic background, and there‟s very
complex terminology for what they do, so, we will always try to simplify
that and make it understandable. So we try to choose the most clear,
simple, straightforward way of explaining the complex issues that exist”.
Here the tendency to the democratisation of discourse is very evident, by
removing terminology and jargon they make the discourse much more
accessible.
 The authors add that sometimes they use different languages depending on
the audience. For example in schools they avoid the term „genocide‟.
 One organisation stated that they focus mainly in children: “Smiley,
happy, healthy children. Yeah, it‟s children that we focus on, because we
like to focus on the younger generation”.

4.2.12 Development Issues

 The participants of both organisations made clear repeatedly during both
interviews that they are development agencies, rather than emergency.
Even though Trócaire also works in emergencies, the interviewee stated
that Trócaire‟s specialty is long-term development.
 The participant from Trócaire said that what they “repeat throughout all
their communications is „moving people from dependence to self-
reliance‟, and that‟s what long-term development is all about, it‟s aiding
people so that they can be the authors of their own development”.

lxv
  In contrast with development appeals, emergency appeals usually need to
be showing horrific images because donations need to come in more
promptly. And that is something that the participants disapproved.
 The difference between development and emergency work is in the
solutions, as one participant puts it, in emergency appeals: “if I can say
quit straightforward, in that it‟s either famine, or it‟s war, or it‟s a national
disaster, floodings, earthquakes; people need shelter, food, sanitation,
medicines; they‟re very key tangible strong solutions. Whereas in long-
term development there is a whole different level of complexities which
come into play: there‟s governments, there‟s corruption, it‟s just a much
broader issue”. Through direct mail the organisation is able to explain that,
while in a radio or TV ad it would be very difficult. “We can go in radio
about Sudan and we can say we need this, this and this, because x, y and z
is happening, and get about a high response. If we try to go on the radio
about HIV/AIDS, it‟s just far too complex an issue, and there is also a
stigma attached to that, so it‟s going to have an influence in terms of what
respond you get”. To do fundraising for development projects is seen by
the participants as a more complex task than fundraising for emergencies,
but the participants seem to be more in favour of development
organisations, and they depict it with more positive connotations than the
organisations specialised in emergencies.

4.2.13 The Organisation

 As regards fundraising a participant said: “(we) don‟t see ourselves as
annoying people, but as presenting the opportunity to donate to those who
want to”.
 The participants of both organisations think they distinguish themselves
from other NPOs because of the fact they are development agencies, rather
than emergency. “We‟d be a crutch at an initial stage to get people onto
their own feet, so that they can then look after themselves, and their
families, and introduce education into their family units, and communities,
and so on and so forth, so that it‟s never in isolation, it‟s about helping one

lxvi
 who can, you know, who can extend that and have a greater effect across
all community”.
 One organisation also stated that they think they distinguish themselves
because of the images they use “The images we use are quite different, are
quite distinctive, I mean, you don‟t see any other charities using healthy
images of children”. Nevertheless, many organisations use positive images
of children as well.
 The interviewees from Bóthar stated that the fact they use pictures of
children with the animals is very distinctive, as well as the voice used in
their radio and TV adverts. And they stated that the donors like these two
features of Bóthar‟s material.
 The participant from Trócaire said that they distinguish themselves from
other organisations because they are the agency of the Catholic Church.
And because they work through local partners since 30 years ago. “We
believe in working through the people that are on the ground, and allow
them to decide what is best for them and their communities as opposed to
this belief „that the west knows how they should be doing things‟. That‟s
absolutely contradictory to what Trócaire would believe in and the system
that we would work through. That distinguishes us quite strongly”.
 What participants of both Bóthar and Trócaire stated about what they think
distinguishes them from others, is what was found to differentiate them in
the discourse analysis as well.

4.2.14 The Audience

 “A lot of people like the idea that they‟re not just giving money, they‟re
giving people a chance to build up a life, you know, for themselves, and
they like to see the success‟. People who understand the way the
organisation works are loyal to it, and respect its way of working.
 The typical donor is very similar for both agencies: middle age, over 55,
with grown up children, sub-urban houselhold. And the most effective way
to reach them is through direct mail.

lxvii
  Both organisations agreed that the majority of people receive well the
organisations‟ advertising and that the majority of people understand that a
charity needs to spend some money in order to raise money, although there
are a few people who complain about it. Complains are made such as the
donors being asked too much and too often, or about the amount of funds
spent in advertising, and some criticism exists around the NPOs
investment in advertising, but it is not the majority of the general public,
and according to the participants in the study the benefits are worth it. One
of the participants even stated that without advertising many people
wouldn‟t know about some organisations.
 The participants of both organisations stated that “we (NPOs) are all trying
to find the answer”.
 The organisations use market research to analyse what are the preferences
of the public and to analyse how advertising is performing.

4.2.15 The Role of Advertising

 The use of advertising in NPOs is changing and becoming more important,
“it‟s definitely growing”.
 Advertising is very important for NPOs to get themselves noticed. As one
of the participants stated: “because there‟s a lot of charities out there now,
and to become known you have to explain people what you do. To receive
donations you have to tell people what the charity does and where they are
and what it‟s doing. And the only way to do that is to use the media”.
 With the competition in terms of other NPOs advertising has changed for
all the organisations. “We, once upon a time, would advertise for less in
order to raise our income, but with the competition that we all need to be
out there trying to encourage people to give to us, so it is meant that we
increase the use of advertising dramatically”.
 According to the one of the participants‟ perceptions, the fundraising
sector is very different when it is compared in different places, for
example, the USA is the most developed, followed by the UK. In the
perspective of the participant, Ireland is slower in this sense, but it is

lxviii
 “getting there”, because some organisations with a large profile are only
starting to consider the importance of advertising.
 Some people complain to the organisations telling them that they spend
too much money in fundraising and advertising, and the organisations‟
explanation is that the money is spent in campaigns that have proven to
give results and that will serve to raise even more funds, therefore it is
worthwhile investing money in advertising and fundraising.
 Both organisations stated that they try to use highly cost-effective
advertising. Testing new strategies, and maintaining a balance in the
expenses.
 In brief, advertising was said to be very important for the two
organisations. Nonetheless, it was also acknowledged that there are other
aspects of fundraising that compliment advertising, such as „word-of-
mouth‟ and the „good will‟ or prestige that both organisations have built
through years of work. Advertising reinforces the positive image that the
public already has about these organisations.
 “That‟s really where the role of fundraising is, in making the messages
clear”.
 It was also stated by one of the participants, that the role of advertising is
extremely enhanced through media coverage of the issues as news, for
example: direct mail in isolation will achieve a certain response, but if it is
added the coverage of the issue in the news, it will have a higher response.
“In isolation you will have x success, but coupled with media attention (as
news, for example) you will have more success”. The participant gives the
example of Sudan, stating that if donors haven‟t heard about the problem,
they wouldn‟t be able to understand it or believe it when the NPOs ask for
their support. But if donors see the problem on the news, the campaign has
a much more serious impact.

4.2.16 The Website

 According to the participants, Bóthar‟s website is working because they
made it more user-friendly, and because they did more obvious what they

lxix
 wanted the readers to do. “One of our big objectives, to make it as easy
and as clear as possible for people to donate, you know, give them as
many different methods as possible and make it as easier for them to
donate”.
 And according to the participant from Trócaire, the website is used to talk
about their work, to give people the opportunity to donate and give
suggestions to people who would like to do fundraising for them.
 For Trócaire, its website is being increasingly helpful. It allows up-to-date
information about the latest issues to be posted everyday. It allows having
links to other campaigns and fundraising websites. Therefore the
participant considers that the website is an amazing tool which they are
just beginning to understand the importance since the past 2 years. The
website also has an “extremely good impact” on donations, specifically in
Christmas for the purchase of Global Gifts. The website is not only very
simple, but also highly cost-effective. And it is often used as a support in
conjunction with other campaigns.

lxx
 5. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

5.1 OVERSEAS HELP DISCOURSE

5.1.4 NPOs Representation of the Organisations, the Donors, Donating and

the Projects

The discourse analysed in this study was full of positive connotations. A website
is a way of presenting information about an organisation, but it is also a way of
promoting it and its activities, and for NPOs it is not an exception. Trócaire‟s and
Bóthar‟s websites are what Fairclough (1992) calls a blend between information
and promotion. There is information about the organisations, how they started
working, how they work now, the different projects they implement, and the like.
But this information is clearly designed with the strategic purpose of promoting
the organisation and its activities, and therefore of persuading the public to
donate. The website is used also to build and reinforce the prestige of the
organisations. Using „managerial‟ vocabulary, they talk about quality standards
and efficient results among their organisations.

Both Trócaire and Bóthar are constructed as organisations that work in

development projects with a partnership approach to the communities,
highlighting the positive results it brings. And in their discourse the NPOs
analysed state repeatedly the importance of the participation of the public through
donating and campaigning. They construct the donor‟s identity as generous and
capable of making big changes in other peoples lives. Thus the fact of being a
donor and donating to these organisations is constructed as an appealing identity.
In their discourse, the NPOs constantly stress the fact that the projects they
implement have positive results and „make a difference‟.

lxxi
5.1.5 NPOs Representation of Recipient Countries (RCs)

While NPOs representations of the organisations, their work and their potential
donors might not be problematic, the representation of RCs could be; hence
making the „design‟ of texts about them a more complex task. There is a debate
(Benthall, 1993), (Smillie, 1995) around the messages the NPOs circulate and the
images they construct about RCs and the potential damage they can cause if they
are not chosen thoughtfully. An issue in this debate is the use of images, because
of the fact that images are very powerful and can have damaging effects. The use
of rough images of children in poverty is criticised by many, yet it has not
disappeared. Consequently, codes of conduct regarding the images are
implemented in the fundraising sector (Smillie, 1995). These codes of conduct
point to a use of imagery where human and material needs are not minimized or
overstated, that images should challenge rather than reinforce prejudices and that
communications should respect the dignity and culture of the communities.
Images used by Bóthar and Trócaire in their websites and direct mail are in the
same line that this codes of conduct, because they present images that are
respectful and positive. In the interviews, the participants stressed the fact that
they are in favour of the use of imagery which is positive and respects people and
their culture, and imagery that shows the situation but without magnifying it and
without being harsh or rough.

The choice of words for their advertising is also an issue for the NPOs studied in
this dissertation. However, here it is important to take into account what
Fairclough (1992, 1993) states about ideology: that it should not be assumed that
people are aware of the ideological dimensions of their discourse. Accordingly, it
is possible that the choice of one word over an alternative word is ideologically
invested, but not necessarily. In other words, it is possible that the authors of the
websites were not fully aware of the ideological implications the discourse may
have.

lxxii
Having stated that, we can continue with the discussion of the language used to
represent the RCs. Recipient countries and communities are always grammatically
constructed with the third person (they), as „the other‟. Often, they are
accompanied by an adjective that qualifies them, on certain occasions with
positive connotations and sometimes with negative connotations. The concept of
„developing countries‟ is used more than other concepts. But also „third world‟ or
„poor countries‟ are used. The communities are mainly represented as active
agents in the implementation of the organisations‟ projects, rather than passive
recipients of help. This helps to reinforce the key approach of the organisations to
development, namely a partnership approach. And also helps to challenge
stereotypes around these countries. Communities are represented as having a say
in decisions about the projects, which shows the tendency to democratisation of
discourse that will be discussed later on in this chapter.

5.1.6 Overseas Development Discourse

Development was represented in the organisations‟ accounts as a very important

and essential approach to tackle poverty and other issues. In the interviews, the
participants explicitly contrasted emergency relief with development work. They
also showed a tendency to favour development work, although it was not stated
explicitly. Smillie (1995) states that people‟s knowledge of development issues is
extremely low, and that people prefer to provide assistance for emergencies rather
than for long-term development programmes. And the participants of both
Trócaire and Bóthar argued the same: that emergencies are more appealing to the
public because it is easier to understand it, whereas development is more complex
an issue.
“The greatest tension for the thoughtful Northern NGO today lies in the attempt
to balance fundraising messages for a public most easily moved by short-term
disaster appeals, with the recognition that longer-term development depends on
the willingness of that same public to support difficult and costly structural
change. This is a tension between the „appeal‟ of helplessness and antipathy
towards empowerment; between the concern for children and indifference
towards parents; between the provision of food and the creation of jobs; between
aid and trade; between charity, as some NGOs say quite clearly, and justice”
(Smillie, 1995: 137).

lxxiii
Regarding the explanation around development issues and the inclusion of a
discussion of the structural causes of poverty, Bóthar‟s and Trócaire‟s websites
are different. While Bóthar takes a simple approach and simply explains in clear
and easy terms their project, Trócaire explains more in depth the important issues
that lie around development and around the situations in which each region lives.
Trócaire aims to raise awareness among the public and to mobilise them. Trócaire
also promotes much more campaigning than Bóthar.

5. 2 THE ROLE OF ADVERTISING

5.2.1 The Role of Advertising in NPOs

As Smillie (1995: 129) argued “the ever-increasing number of NGOs has made
fundraising more difficult”. The participants of both organisations agreed in this
argument and stated that advertising contributes to make known the organisation
and attract potential donors. They stated that the use of advertising is growing in
importance. Advertising used as a tool that reinforces the positive image that the
public already have of NPOs. Advertising campaigns which are coherent are the
best strategy to promote the NPOs.

5.2.2 Tendencies of Discursive Change

Democratisation of NPOs Discourse
Democratisation of discourse (Fairclough, 1992) is clearly seen in NPOs
advertising. The removal of power asymmetries and inequalities is apparent in the
NPOs websites, and according to the participants, it is expected. Overt power
markers are not present in the overseas help discourse. Specialised, scientific
terminology is not present either. The other feature of democratization (namely
informalisation of discourse) is also clear in both websites. The text takes a
conversational form throughout the NPOs discourse, in some sections more
evidently than in others. This way the organisations eliminate power asymmetries
and imply an equal relationship.

lxxiv
It is clear that there is a tendency towards democratisation of overseas help
discourse, the extent to which this is cosmetic or real (Fairclough, 1992) is not as
clear. It can be argued that the change is due to strategic reasons, with the aim of
convincing potential donors. Even so, it can be argued that the change is also real
and NPOs are active promoters of democratisation in society, and as a result in the
social order of discourse as well.

Marketisation and Commodification of NPOs Discourse

In the discourse analysis it was found that websites tend to be highly self-
promotional in the construction of their organisational identities. It was discussed
above that the text of NPOs‟s websites are a blend of information and promotion
(Fairclough, 1992 and 1993), which is a feature of the tendency towards a
commodification of discourse.

Another feature of commodification and marketisation of discourse is that

concepts are worded as products or services which are to be marketed to
„customers‟. In his analysis of higher education discourse, Fairclough (1993)
found that students are constructed as „clients‟ and education is the concept to be
„sold‟. In this dissertation it was found that potential and actual donors are
constructed as the „clients‟ and the fact of donating and the organisations‟
development projects are the concepts to be „sold‟ in their advertising discourse.

The marketisation of NPOs discourse can be seen as a manifestation of the

marketisation of NPOs themselves. As Faircloguh (1992, 1993) argued, there is a
colonisation of public services by the market model, where organisations are
required to operate on a market basis. And for NPOs it seems to be the case.

lxxv
 CONCLUSION

Discourse is socially constructed at the same time than socially constructive.

Every word and every image has connotations, and how the organisation
constructs their message can help to shape people‟s perceptions of the recipient
countries at some extent. Therefore it is crucial to be extremely careful with the
terms used, think about the implications –ideological, stereotypical- that certain
words and images can have, and the message it communicates to the public,
taking into account the different knowledge levels about development that the
public has. Besides thinking of the discourse strategically to persuade the public
to donate, it is necessary to think of discourse strategically to inform and explain
the rather complex issues around development to the public, so that they can gain
a best understanding about the issues and therefore, if they agree, donate. The
message should be strategically designed to avoid the construction of stereotypes
and to promote a better understanding of development.

At present, there are several NPOs who are trying to raise funds. Each
organisation implements its own advertising and fundraising strategies and the
result is that the Irish public is targeted for very similar messages from different
organisations. This could have counterproductive effects. A possible strategy to
avoid the excess of fundraising messages, is the use of joint fundraising for many
NPOs. For example, in Britain the Disasters Emergency Committee 4 coordinates
the UK‟s National Appeal in response to disasters and launches joint fundraising
campaigns. They are several member agencies working in disaster relief. When
necessary, they coordinate and launch joint appeals with the objective of raising
awareness and understanding of the disaster and they provide the public with a
way to donate money. They work in partnership with broadcasters and other
organisations. In this way they maximise the use of advertising. Irish NPOs could
join together to do certain kind of appeals together, and to provide each other
support in activities such advocacy, campaigning and training.

4
http://www.dec.org.uk Accessed: August 11th, 2004.

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In addition, Irish NPOs can take advantage of the resources available and of
networking with other organisations, in Ireland and elsewhere. For example, The
Resource Alliance5 is an international network that provides training, knowledge
sharing and networking to NPOs worldwide. Another example is the Association
of Fundraising Professionals6, that works in advocacy, research, education and
certification programs for fundraisers.

Further Research
In this dissertation the role of advertising in Irish NPOs the message and the
producer of the message were studied. The reception of the message is an open
question for further research. How is the overseas help discourse received by the
public? How does the audience respond to NPOs advertising? Not only how many
people donate, but also how much understanding around development issues do
they gain. These questions are significant to promote development education.

(wordcount: 19,860)

5
http://www.resource-alliance.org/index.php Accessed August 11th, 2004.
6
http://www.afpnet.org/index.cfm Accessed August 11th, 2004.

lxxvii
 APPENDIX I

Wording in Bóthar’s website

Times
WORD used
families 23
animal 18
gift 16
project countries 9
difference 7
countries 7
communities/villages 7
continues,grows,lasting 6
poverty 4
developing countries/world 4
recipient families 3
poor families 3
pass-on families 3
partners 3
living gift 3
farmers 3
change 3
those who need it most 2
third world 2
struggling families 2
relative comfort 2
partnership 2
african countries 2
sustainable growth 1
sustainable development 1
receiving countries 1
pride 1
poor communities 1
needy families 1
indigenous 1
impoverished families 1
generous supporters 1
digity 1

lxxviii
 Wording in Trócaire’s website
development 82 gift 7
people 79 contribution/contribute 6
country 64 success 6
support/supporting 61 today/now 6
rights 60 struggling 5
partners 48 own authors 5
relief/emergency 48 dignity 5
debt 46 crisis 5
governments/authorities 43 famine/starvation 5
poverty 42 make a difference 5
trade 36 seeds and tools 5
world 34 nations 4
communities 30 hunger 4
need 30 equity 4
just/justice 30 collaboration/collaborate 4
children 29 generous/generosity 4
conflict 27 donors 4
developing countries 26 prosperous/prosperity 4
committment/committed 25 indigenous 4
advocacy/advocate 25 west/western nations 3
poor countries 24 our brothers and sisters 3
our duty/task/mission 24 needy 3
aid 24 oppressed 3
developed countries 22 hungry 3
education/educate 21 wealth 3
overseas 18 courage 3
change 18 struggle 3
global 18 explotation 3
poor 16 genocide 3
war 16 food shortage 3
work together 16 solidarity 3
long-term 16 not charity 3
impact 14 least developed countries 2
vulnerability/vulnerable 13 less fortunate 2
long-term development 13 the earth 2
families 12 strength 2
help/helping 12 reppressive regime 2
third world 10 households 2
disasters 10 mobilise 2
injustice 10 cooperate 2
fund 10 helping to help themselves 2
public awareness 10 sharing 2
inequalities 9 compassion 2
rehabilitation 9 indebted countries 1
root/structural causes 9 low income countries 1
improve/enhance lives 8 marginalised 1
rich countries 8 misery 1
worldwide 8 corruption 1
challenge 8 beneficiaries 1
fair 8 evil 1
irish public 8 impoverished 1
sustainable development 8 malnourished 1
north/south 7 malnutrition 1
partnership 7 idealism 1
democracy 7 development education 1
refugee/displaced/flee 7 under-development 1
action 7 enable 1

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 APPENDIX II

Images in Bóthar’s website

grown
children ups babies animals smiling Irish
HOME 2 x x
HOME 2 1 1 x yes
HOME 3 1 x x
HOME 4 2 x x
HOME 5 2 x
About us 1 1
About us 2 2 1 x
About us 3 1 x yes
Short History 10 x founders
Short History 2 2 one
Administration costs 2 x
Bóthar Team team x team
Super Supporters family x
super Supporters 2 1 x yes
Super Supporters 3 group
Super Supporters 4 1 x
Super Supporters 5 2 x one
Super Supporters 6 1 x
Schools Primary 2 x x yes
Schools Primary 2 5 x
Schools Primary 3 1 x x yes
Schools Secondary x
Contact Us 1
Get Involved 3 x yes
Legacies 3 x

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 Images in Trócaire’s website

children grown ups smiling Irish other

3 x
1 x
1 chairman
1 director
group (in line)
group 2 teenagers
group some
1 headmaster
students and
group teachers
group talk
guest speaker
1 of them, and
2 guest speaker
logos (best companies to work for,
excellence through people, people in
aid)
logos (best companies to work for,
excellence through people)
1
1 x
world map
1 x
1 x
1 x
1 x
1 x
1
group
2
1 x
family
2
2
1
baby 1
irish harp
1
image of the report
1
1
1 x
1 x
1 x
images of the ed resources
1
group manifestation
1
logos of each campaign
worker
2
hand
group
1

lxxxi