The Image of the Global Poor

This chapter examines the way the aid industry represents the global poor, focusing on Radi-Aid, a social media campaign aimed at challenging the stereotypes produced within development NGO marketing. Since the 1980s, there have been recurring attempts within the aid industry to ensure that the beneficiaries of aid are presented in a dignified way, including cycles of reports and guidelines for the use of photographs. While much attention has been placed on whether images are “positive” or “negative,” this chapter turns attention to the way the aid industry asserts the authority to represent the impoverished. While Radi-Aid was celebrated for exposing stereotyping and challenging the white saviour attitude, the initiative both promoted and utilized racial ventriloquism. Rather than acknowledge and address the racial logic of humanitarian representation practices, the diversification of NGO marketing appeal approaches continues to emphasize Western notions of empathy defined by the white gaze.