NÄR DJUREN TYSTNAR OCH WWF TALAR. En kritisk retorikanalys av WWF:s digitala välgörenhetskommunikation

Sammanfattning

Animals are a communicatively vulnerable group whose interests are represented by, among others, charitable organizations. Research has shown that the representation of animals is crucial for people's attitude and interest in animal welfare, along with their willingness to donate to animal-related causes. The organizations also have the power to decide which perspectives are prioritized in terms of visibility, which subsequently could benefit or harm the support for specific animals. These circumstances put organizations in a unique position where their efforts to provide support for animals coincide with a need to effectively secure donations. The growing requirement of effectively gathering funds among charitable organizations may be a result of the marketization of the non-profit sector, where charitable organizations adapt the strategies of market logic and competition increases. Simultaneously, charitable organizations have a democratic purpose in civil society, which opposes the values and principles of marketization. Världsnaturfonden WWF is one of the largest organizations within nature and wildlife conservation in Sweden. This makes WWF of particular interest to this study, which aims to describe how the organization communicates in order to persuade donors, as well as how the organization's communication directs the attention of donors. The intention of this study is therefore to distinguish how rhetorical strategies are used in both written and visual content on WWF’s website in order to convey the organization's message, and to analyze which perspectives are constructed as prioritized. To examine this, a critical rhetorical analysis combined with a semiotic analysis was conducted. A theoretical framework, consisting of rhetoric, visual rhetoric, semiotics and marketization, was used to analyze the results of this study. The results of this study show how WWF uses the rhetorical strategies logos, ethos and pathos, both in written and visual content. By using logos, the organization supports arguments with facts, statistics and visual content, in order to convince donors and legitimize the problems and threats that WWF aims to address and counteract. By describing and visually showcasing how they take responsibility and actively work to reach their goals, the organization uses ethos to build credibility and demonstrate organizational legitimacy and moral character. Additionally, WWF features experts who legitimize the organization’s work which further strengthens ethos by reinforcing trustworthiness. The usage of emotions, pathos, to convince donors is most apparent throughout the contents of the website, especially in reference to the donor’s role. By establishing a relationship and closeness between the donor and animals, as well as describing the donor’s responsibility for the animals, WWF uses emotions to convince donors. Furthermore, the organization highlights the personal benefits of donating, and includes visual content that complements the text and evokes emotional responses, thereby reinforcing the emotional message. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of using emotions to convince donors, which supports the prominent use of pathos as a rhetoric strategy. In addition, the results demonstrate how WWF’s representation of reality is either more positive or more negative. The perspectives alternate throughout the website and are reinforced by visual content. Moreover, the results demonstrated how specific animal species, which connote distinct meanings and emotions, are more prominently featured and act as symbols for the organization’s work. These findings indicate that content priorities on WWF’s website can be interpreted as aligning with the principles of marketization. The findings of this study highlight the importance of being aware of how rhetorical strategies shape charity websites within a marketized non-profit sector.