Amnesty International

Amnesty International is a charitable organisation. It is well known

of its respectfulness and reputation. Amnesty International

contributes in concluding the offences done against human rights

around the world. They produce leaflets to make the readers aware

of the tortures and cruelties that are happening mainly in

developing countries such as South Korea. The main objective of the

leaflet was to persuade the audience to join and support the

organisation by donating money to conclude the tortures that are

happening all over the world.

The main targeted audience for this leaflet are parents, the reasons

for this is that parents have experienced love for their children. The

leaflet states that children aged around eleven were the main

victim of torture and murder. The parents will feel the effect of

how it is to lose a child to this crime. This leaflet would not be

suitable for children under the age of thirteen because the content

of the leaflet is too horrific as it describes violence that was

experienced by other children. Another reason might be that the

children might not recognise what the intention of the leaflet is as

they do not have enough mature understanding of life. Adults are

also the target audience because they can emphasise with the old

aged people and the adults also have the money to donate to the

Amnesty charity.
There are three purposes to this leaflet. The first purpose is to

inform the reader about brutality and tortures that are happening

around the world. The first example of this is shown at the front

page to shock the audience that attracts them to continue reading

the leaflet. The second purpose is to persuade the reader to donate

money to the charity which will be used to prevent future violence

and tortures. The leaflet persuades the audience to donate money

by using directives such as the phrase “GO ON”. The third purpose

is to make the reader to join the Amnesty International

Organisation by making them aware of the injustices that are

happening all over the world.

The presentation of the colour photo makes reader feel dreadful.

The bloodstain around the leaflet makes the audience be terrified. It

makes the audience think about the terrible moments they had. The

image is a device designed to attract the audience by highlighting

the revolting words. This image would make the reader (and me)

feel furious about the brutality being done to a young eleven year

old boy. Its effect on the audience would be making them feel very

keen to help. The word “Torture” makes everyone including me feel

depressed. The pen was given as a free gift along with the leaflet to

attract the audience to read the leaflet. Meanwhile the pen is also

described in the leaflet as a device an “instrument of torture”

because it is used to “gouge out” the eyes of an eleven year old

child. It is all the more shocking as you hold one pen in your hand

and, this appeals to the senses of the reader and makes the device

even more persuasive.

The white text on the black background makes the text stand out

even more. The black background reminds and represents the

reader about death, darkness and evil. However the bold white

coloured texts represent hope to end this cruelty age by joining and

donating to the Amnesty International.

The presentation on the leaflet is very clever because it uses short

paragraphs to awaken the reader. The reader might be lazy to read

long paragraphs and they can be bored. The text is presented in

columns to make it easier for the audience to read. On the page the

leaflet again has short paragraphs. The paragraph describes that

the pen is a powerful instrument of change if it goes to the right

hands as it can get justice.

On the second page the colours are different from the first page. It

has white as a background colour and the text is black. The white

background is explaining about the good things we can do by

donating to the organisation. In the second page the leaflet uses a

bit of repetitions. “Use it” is a phrase and an example of a

repetition. The phrase persuades the reader by giving them

instructions. It makes the audience do as the leaflet says them to

do. Another example of a repetition is the phrase, “in the right

hands.” This persuades the audience to act by joining their

organisation and by helping them by donating money to the

Amnesty International charity. In this page there’s also a story

about what the letter you send can do. The story tells us that

letters sent are really important to the people who are imprisoned
for suspected theft or crime. The people weren’t even proven guilty

of the theft or crime.

On the third page, it is a form for joining and to make donation to

the Amnesty International. They have broken down the text into

smaller words. The purpose for this is to make it easier for the

reader to follow the text. They broke down the text by including

sentence structures such as numbers, bullet points, tick boxes and

different font types. They have included numbers to make it easier

to fill it step by step. They have included bullet points to show the

main facts. They also have tick boxes to make it easier to fill in. All

of these structures are all persuasive devices. In the fourth page

there is a rhetorical question, “Do you believe in standing up for

what is right?” The purpose of this rhetorical question is to

persuade the audience that the leaflet is correct. In this page they

also have fare details. The fair details describe what you could do if

you send the given amount of money. In the fourth page there is

also a story about the Jews. The story is trying to tell an important

point. The point is to tell you to speak out if you want to say

something or it’ll be too late. In the story they also included

repetition of the phrase “I did not speak out”. This phrase makes it

feel like there’s something mysterious going on.

The logo of the Amnesty International has two sides. The candle

represents the fact that freedom still awaits. However, the barbed

wire around the candle suggests that there are still obstacles and
prisoners all over the world needing Amnesty International to help

them.

The language used by the leaflet is a mixture of both formal and

informal languages. The word “GO ON” on the first page is a

directive and persuasive. It is also written in big bold text which

makes it stands out of the page the word also persuades us by

giving a command. The word also makes the reader feel the phrase.

“What you hold in your hand is an instrument of torture” is a

statement which engages you into the word. The phrase makes you

attract and persuasive. The word “gouged out” makes you feel sick.

It is also powerful word. It makes the audience feel sad because they

use emotive language.

The phrase ‘child getting tortured’ makes you feel horrific. The

phrases ‘tear it off the page; hold it in your hands’ gives

instructions and commands. It also persuades and engages the

readers. In Korea, a “sixty years old man” gets tortured; it is more

sickening because at this age a person would not want to get

tortured. Another incident was in Indonesia a bus conductor has

been accused “suspected of theft.” Even though he is not been

proven guilty but his fingers were “smashed with a hammer.”

The word ‘gouge out’ makes a horrible nasty image in the readers

mind. It also makes the reader feel sad and furious. The word

makes the reader feel guilty because they are not helping them by

donating or joining the organisation. The word also makes the

reader be persuaded to hold and fill in the form with the given free

pen.

In conclusion this leaflet makes me feel very scared because I

thought of the tortures that a child nearly my age had. It tries to

makes the reader feel sorry for the people who are getting

tortured. I think it would be effective at making the reader give

money because the text is very persuasive.

By Saabeer Basheer