"You talk of sacrifice" poster
The pattern
This still is filed under Donor guilt appeal.
Define
The donor is asked to feel the cost of not giving, then given a precise act that relieves it.
Mechanism
Obligation then release. Close kin to problem-agitate-solve, aimed at a gift rather than a purchase. Handle with care.
Verdict
The need is real, the ask is specific, and the donor can act today.
Why it works
It uses raw guilt and jarring contrast. By comparing civilian 'sacrifice' (inconvenience) to the ultimate sacrifice of a soldier's life, it shames the viewer into silence and harder work.
The big idea
One word used twice shrinks a complaint: civilians talk of sacrifice, while the soldier hanging dead on the barbed wire knew what it means.
Lines from the ad
You TALK OF SACRIFICE..HE KNEW THE MEANING OF SACRIFICE!WINCHESTERSteal this when
You need to completely reframe your audience's complaints by introducing a much harsher reality to create perspective and guilt.
The emotion
Written to Guilt. It makes the Avoid mistake.
Setting the civilian's 'TALK OF SACRIFICE' against a soldier dead on the barbed wire, it shrinks the reader's complaint with heavy guilt and offers no act that could repair it.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
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