I got the ad pictured in frame 2 today and it made me sad, so I made this meme. So many levels of sad:
- Sponsored ad for a charity, plausible but seems fishy.
- The needy children are positioned as "earning" the food and education they will get by your donation by writing back to you. Just way too overtly transactional.
- The advertising tactic seems to prey on the lonely.
To counter this, there is actually a dignity thing. In quite a lot of cultures, including some western ones, there is shame attached to accepting charity. If the person feels like they worked for it, it gives them a sense of accomplishment and dignity. There was an old anecdote of someone who had a neighbour who was constantly needing financial/material help and was in need, and that person's family was helping them. From time to time, they'd go and ask that neighbour for smaller things, such as some salt or stationery. They did this so their worse off neighbour felt more as equals than a lesser.