Ways to Help

www.stjude.org

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as all may know, is a hospital that helps treat cancer and catastrophic diseases as well as use resources to come up with cures. Most if not all of the children are in critical condition. Researchers are looking for ways to cure the different diseases the children in the hospital may have. The website wants you to be aware of how the children are affected and lend a helping hand by providing monetary aid to improve research. On the first page of the website, you are able to see various elements. We are able to see happy kids with doctors, patient of the month which includes caption about child, and a slideshow of pictures that refer to the hospital St. Jude. The background of the website is plain white in order to draw more attention to that of the pictures and different headings on the website. The pictures and words are placed there to create an emotional effect on an individual in hopes of them donating any amount of money they can. The pictures are of children of all race and age in order to alleviate any bias. The different race and ages are used make it easier for others to relate. You are able to see headings such as “about St. Jude”, “patient resources”, “clinical programs”, “research”, and “ways to help”. Above each heading shows a picture that relates to the specific topic. It is interesting to see that above the heading “Ways to Help” is a young child who seems to not be as happy and smiley which is contrary to all the other pictures. This was done in order to get the point across that they donations from others to cure the patients and make them happy like the rest of the children on the website. This tactic is used to play on the hearts of the people in order to benefit the children and solidify the argument. Another way a person’s emotions are played with is with a particular picture that comes up on a slideshow. It shows a young child in a doctor’s coat and a stethoscope. Next to the picture we are able to read that the child has a brain tumor but the tumor will not affect his career goals. Emotional appeal is being used throughout the whole website. So what exactly is at stake you ask? The two big bold blocks that state “refer a patient” and “donate now” sum up the analysis. These blocks are placed in two separate places in which they attract the viewer to want to do just that. Being that this is a serious matter; the appropriate way to make this message clear to the people is by attacking the emotions and hoping for a positive outcome.