The use of animation in NGOs’ audio-visual communication about solidarity and migration

Abstract

One of the latest transformations of humanitarian communication in recent years has certainly been the growing adoption of the language of animation, especially in online media. Looking at the effects of this new trend, this article intends to reflect on how NGO communication has concretely changed on a visual and discursive level through the use of animation. The corpus analysed, selected from YouTube, consists of a series of examples of animated online videos of NGOs that deal with a recent and influential phenomenon: the refugee crisis. Since 2015, an increasing number of new NGOs have emerged in order to contribute to aid for migrants, as opposed to European policies: what kind of representation of migrants do NGOs convey in their communication campaigns that employ animation? What kind of solidarity discourse is adopted through this audiovisual language? The analysis of these examples will serve as a basis for introducing the theorisation of numerous characteristics specific to animation, which make it an effective medium for the promotion of humanitarian missions and for the transmission of the testimonies of migrants.