Images in Humanitarianism: The UNHCR and Appeals Imagery
Social Sciences
Politics 190C: Humanitarian Action in World Politics
This paper examines the rationale behind certain advertising strategies used by humanitarian organizations. In the competitive humanitarian sector, organizations must employ visual marketing strategies that allow them to compete for valuable resources and funds. Unfortunately at times the images that organizations use can work at the expense of the dignity of aid recipient populations. Using the UNHCR and its work in the Syrian refugee crisis as a case study, this study analyzes how humanitarian organizations portray aid recipient populations strategically in order to gain attention and support. This research determines that the images that are used in appeals for donations paint a different picture of Syrian aid recipient populations than non-appeals imagery, though ultimately the UNHCR and the humanitarian sector has implemented restrictions that discourage the use of overtly negative images that perpetuate neo-colonial power dynamics between aid recipients and donor populations.
