Amnesty's Arsenal

There is a distinctly militant feel to Amnesty International's use of rapid fire persuasion on their death penalty page. Short, simple sentences with the urgency of a drill sergeant geared towards shocking you into action. Talking back is not allowed, all arguments are suffocated by the deluge of tiny, silver bullets.

The technique of shooting off specific, urgent facts is one particularly suited to the topic of the death penalty. Where more profuse imagery might seem overdone or grotesque and inappropriate to the subject matter, the very simplicity and urgency of persuasion by rapid fire is appropriate to the life and death material being covered. At the same time, even the use of "facts" remains a form of persuasion. Organizing them simply creates a feeling, one designed to create ethos without the audience even being aware: the audience is subconsciously being persuaded to believe that what they are being presented is accurate and all encompassing.

With the first click to the Death Penalty section of Amnesty International's website, the audience enters unknown territory (it is assumed that the site is directed at those uninvolved), the designers of the site know that they have only moments to persuade the audience that they have not entered enemy territory. The best way to do this is to persuade the person to agree with you -- in this case to agree: the Death Penalty should be abolished.

The first page is tiny. This is effective because it prevents the audience from feeling overwhelmed. It includes words such as "human rights", "premeditated and cold-blooded", "cruel", "inhuman" and "justice". These are words that seem most pointed at US citizens as they have particular resonance the founding documents of America as well as process of law. The United States would also be a direct target of the site as America has the 5th highest execution rate and the highest out of the free nations of the world (the other four being China and mid-Eastern countries), a fact you are made aware of by a scrolling list of the number of executions by different countries in 2009.

The words "premeditated" and "cold-blooded" connect the horror of the condemned murderer to the action of his executioner, establishing the idea that they are the same without actually having to say so. Amnesty International uses a quick strike to establish ethos or credibility with a reference to "the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and finishes with a very clear statement of their stance. The stance is absolute: no death penalty regardless of the crime.

This is an advantage to the writer of the page as it allows him to be much more brief; compare this to the LDS church's stance on abortion which recognizes abortion as justified in some instances, a stance which leaves much more room for interpretation and therefore confusion.

The most eye catching part of the page is the visual in the upper right hand side, a clip of a globe spinning with yellow points lighting up as the number of executions for that country role up the side. This goes right back to the idea that persuasion can be just as powerful when presented as simple yet overwhelming. Farther right on the page are the action links, here too it is simple. There are three options: donate, join and take action. No opposing view is offered or encouraged. It would not fit the purpose of the site: passion before information.

The dominate colors of the entire site catch the eye of the viewer many times as they navigate. The the American Amnesty site has a much more subdued color scheme, Amnesty International picked yellow and black. The emotion power of colors is no science but that doesn't change the impact they have. Such bright yellows and strong blacks seems like a strange pick for an Amnesty site but color analysis sheds some light. Generally speaking yellow is a pleasant “sunny” color but at a high saturation is just becomes brighter and brighter and more aggravating to the audience, this is why the choice may seem strange.

The simplest way to discover what sort of an impact color might have on an audience is to look at how it is used in nature, as this is how most of the audience will be familiar with the color. For instance, fruits and vegetables are rarely blue so blue tends to decrease appetite while the more common color of orange increases it. Bright yellow in nature, especially in animals, means danger. It signifies poison. The pairing of yellow and black is reminiscent of the yellow jacket or wasp.

The audience then will associate the threatening feeling with the threats to human rights, once again the goal is an immediate, sharp feeling to what is being presented. Yellow and black are the hardest colors to ignore, they draw the eye and hold it, so Amnesty International wishes to draw and hold the eye of the world. (yellow jacket face from: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/345009210/ this], taken by Opo Terser)

The simplicity of the site is a signal of the talent of the creator of the page but it gives clues to the audience as well, it signals how they are being viewed by the makers of the site. The site is directed at persuading the uninitiated to become initiated., or the initiated to gain a stronger conviction. This should give an indication of how every aspect on the page is intended, first and foremost, to persuade. The simplicity adds to the impression that there is nothing to hide but it is also practical, the best way to slow down the build of passion is to confuse the audience. The simpler it is the stronger an emotional impact it can have.

The death penalty hardly seems a topic appropriate for children, especially when presented in such a straightforward fashion as it is here, so the page is most likely directed at adults -- though open to younger involvement. They would remain open to those who are younger because youth have the passion to really become moved by the injustices that Amnesty International opposes; in addition, Amnesty International must be working to raise up a more tolerant and just generation. Nevertheless, it is an organization of adults for adults. A gender bias seems unlikely, even following gender stereotypes with women as more compassionate and men as more involved in the government, this is a topic to appeal to both.

The presentation of information is educated and yet does not close itself off from the uneducated. The site would value outrage over intelligence and would be willing to cater to it. One click onto the feature article for the day is an excellent example (the persecution of human rights activists in China), the page contains a brief article on the individual activists but the heading of each contains a brief statement that emphasizes the persecution that is being faced; this emotional machine gun is given added force with the use of pictures. If one didn't want to read one could simply scroll down and still be left with a feeling (the goal) and a vague idea of the facts.

The word choice of the death penalty page are used to a similar effect: they sound educated but they are really emotional hand grenades. Patriotism, another emotional persuasion, is defined by the emotional reaction it creates to words and images; many of the words used in the site stir similar pools. The site provides information but the end goal is involvement.

The use of simple statements in persuasion leaves the impression of education: the audience feels smart, well-informed and passionate. And yet, the real goal of the site is the final one.

Something that feels information dense to the audience may really be only emotionally dense. The emotional response to factual rapid fire is conversion. It is not a technique used without intelligence or by accident. It also does not necessarily give credit to the intelligence of the audience; it is a technique directed just as much at the heart as at the head, if not more towards the former, after all the heart is the bigger target. Both vital targets will finish feeling stimulated without the mental or emotional exhaustion that a full, accurate explanation would produce. The emotional response is strong enough that the feeling of being exposed to the full horror is achieved, and yet, the full horror is the sort to get stuck in the throat, rather than ignite a fire in the stomach.

Keeping it simple and authoritative maximizes the energy ignited and wards off possible despondence of a depressing topic. It's as effective as a firebrand with a cause. As with all forms of rhetoric, what is really important is the truth that lies beneath, impervious to the rhetoric layered above.