Social Action and Community Media

Existing Product Research

Daniel Edwards

Case Study: Ministry of Health Anti-smoking

Purpose: The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness about the risks of smoking and the damage it can do to your body. The cigarette shaped into a noose is done to change the readers attitude on smoking, by immediately associating smoking with death. To the younger generations smoking may be seen as cool and this poster goes to lengths to challenge these dominant representations. This poster may allow the Ministry of Health to build an understanding with the average smoker which allows the smokers to fully understand the risks being taken.

Aims: The primary aim here is to startle the average smoker with a poster that has death at its forefront.

Techniques:The two largest words on the screen are ‘smoking’ and ‘suicidal’. Immediately the smoker associates the word ‘smoking’ with death, and this may help negate such widespread use.They have tried to influence smokers by placing a noose as the most standout thing on the poster. Nooses are used to commit suicide and by the noose being designed with the aesthetics of a cigarette the reader cannot avoid the meaning behind the poster. The colour scheme is simplistic, yet effective. Primarily it is just red, white, and black. The red is used as a pointer towards health, as you can see with ‘Ministry of Health’ being used in red in the bottom right of the poster. Red is a great colour to use because when coupled with the word ‘health’ is makes you think about things like blood and your heart.There is a very dark tone to the poster, which is needed for such a serious subject. Without this dark tone the poster would not hit as hard, and most likely would not leave you with any lingering thoughts after reading it.The font used is very bold and mature, which works side by side with the dark tone as anything other than bold and mature would mean the reader might not take the poster as seriously as it is intended.

Case Study: Ministry of Health Anti-smoking

Impact:In Britain in 1948, 65% of men were cigarette smokers. Since then, with the help of advertisement campaigns and higher prices, these statistics have dropped rapidly. By 1970, just over half of the men in England still smoked, at 55%. Since then, the amount has fallen dramatically to 22%. As smoking rates have dropped, lung cancer has also taken a dramatic fall.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/types/lung/smoking/lung-cancer-and-smoking-statistics

This is a great website to look at for smoking statistics and even offers graphics that provide evidence of change since advertising campaigns for anti-smoking began being shown to the mainstream.

Slowly, cigarettes are becoming more frowned upon and less used in Britain, and with the recent climb in purchases of e-cigarettes it is clear to see that many smokers are actively trying to quit.

Case Study: Ministry of Health Anti-smoking

Case Study: NHS against new health reforms

Purpose: One of the primary purposes of this campaign is to bring about national change by targeting Prime Minister David Cameron directly in relation to his NHS plans. With the NHS being so important to the United Kingdom, this campaign instantly gained widespread recognition, and in turn rose awareness throughout. With this heightened awareness, the likelihood of additional campaigns and further targeting of David Cameron rises, as does the chance of change. There is a good chance this campaign could effect voting behaviour in upcoming elections, as bad press could be detrimental to Cameron’s public image, meaning more voters could turn their attention to the Labour government.

Aims: The aim of the campaign is to address David Cameron directly in hope that he may consider altering the new health reforms brought in by the at the time newly elected coalition government.

Techniques: The NHS have made themselves look very good here. The endearing, professional and polite tone will communicate with Cameron on a personal level, which is definitely needed if he is to feel any amount of guilt. With the main writing on the poster looking handwritten, as though it is a personal letter from Dr Sheppard to Cameron, you can see the NHS are attempting to come across as desperate, without looking desperate at all. Double use of the word ‘please’ only exaggerates this, and ‘listen to us’ separates the NHS from the government completely, as though to say to they to put a lot of effort in to get them back on their side.They have put key information about the fact that two thirds of NHS staff believe the reforms will make the NHS worse in orange, so it stands out further. Cameron cannot argue with this, as the statistical evidence is staring right at him.The palette is very subdued, which also helps convey their endearing tone. Other than for the statistics, there are not any bright colours on the poster at all. The main image is Dr Brigid Sheppard, so Cameron can actually see who is talking to him. Having the ability to see her makes the campaign more likely to stick in his mind after reading it.

Case Study: NHS against new health reforms

Impact: The campaign ended up having little effect as the bill was eventually pushed through. Cameron even said he “didn’t mind taking a hit on this one.”, showing it was unlikely he was ever fazed by the campaign. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has since even proposed further plans that the NHS are likely to oppose.Currently there are many NHS campaigns against government plans. The most coveted one currently being a petition to stop Jeremy Hunt’s new privatisation plan, which currently stands at over 369,000 signatures.There are more aimed at Jeremy Hunt too, this being a campaign for him to begin training health-care assistants, with 38 degrees wanting compulsory, consistent training for all.Another NHS campaign is one to see a change in out-of-hours services, which some believe are endangering lives.

Case Study: NHS against new health reforms

Purpose: The primary purpose of this campaign poster was to bring about national change. By placing George Bush Snr alongside some well known evil leaders of the past the poster wants you to see him as one of them. The poster wants you to believe he shares some of their beliefs.They may also have hoped that the poster would change voting behaviour. You cannot imagine the majority would turn on the president they elected because of one poster, but it is likely this could have changed the opinions of many when it came to the next national election US presidency.This poster may also challenge dominant representations and agenda’s. A lot of the US public may have believed the death penalty was needed, but after seeing who else shared their sentiments, it is easy to imagine many changed their mind.The poster may also have helped provide information to US citizens who may have not known some of these leaders also believed in the death penalty.

Aims: The aim of the poster was to try and make a push for the death penalty to be voted out in the USA, and also to oppose George Bush Snr.

Case Study: Amnesty International anti-death penalty

Case Study: Amnesty International anti-death penalty

Techniques: They have tried to influence the US public by placing then US president George Bush Snr alongside Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and Idi Imin, who some might say are not the friendliest of people.The colour scheme is solely black and white, which may point towards the fact that Amnesty International believe George Bush Snr’s views are old-fashioned and outdated.There is a dark tone throughout the poster, but with the text reading ‘All those in favour of the death penalty, raise your hand.’, I believe there is also an element of sarcasm.The text is easy to read as it in bold and in block capitals, though your eyes are drawn to the images before you read what it says underneath.

Case Study: Amnesty International anti-death penalty

Impact: The campaign didn’t alter the USA’s views on the death penalty. They remain one of the top 5 executers in the world along with China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.Currently, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, the latest being Latvia. 4 countries though, have decided to bring it back. These being Pakistan, India, Gambia and Japan.In 2012, 1,722 people were sentenced to death in 56 countries. This is down from 2011 when there were 1,923 death sentences in 63 countries. The amount of countries to have performed executions in 2003 was 28, that figure has now dropped to 21 in 2012.

Case Study: Petition for Verizon to help against Domestic Violence

Purpose: The purpose of this campaign was to raise awareness about Verizon’s $500 fee to end your phone subscription, which under certain circumstances was endangering lives. To campaign, a petition was started on change.org needing 150,000 signatures for it to be taken to Verizon.To many, the $500 fee may have been a shock and in turn the key members of the campaign were able to provide information that about subscription fees under these types of circumstances which could have been dangerous to some people in the future. They also attempted to infiltrate mainstream media by advertising their petition on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Aims: The aim was to get Verizon to completely abolish their $500 fee, in hope that circumstances like the one shown in the petition, where a woman with no money who’s life was in danger was unable to cancel her subscription, thus was able to be tracked by her abusive partner who had access to all of her records.

Case Study: Petition for Verizon to help against Domestic Violence

Techniques: They decided rather than campaign via posters they would create an online petition on 38degrees.com and promote it via social media. This is a great technique as if the campaign begins to get some support from the public, Verizon are instantly put in a position where they are the bad guys unless they make a change immediately. This is one of the most effective ways of achieving change in the current social climate.On the petition page, there are people in the comments section threatening to boycott Verizon if they do not get rid of their $500 subscription cancellation fee. A boycott of large proportions would harm Verizon considerably, and it would be hard to come back from.

Case Study: Petition for Verizon to help against Domestic Violence

Impact: The campaign was a huge success. They needed 150,000 signatures and they attained over 186,000 within a small amount of time.Verizon have completely gotten rid of a subscription cancellation fee, and have actually come out of the campaign quite well by giving themselves a lot of the credit for strongly opposing domestic violence.Their website has many pages supporting those who have struggled with domestic violence, and they are now doing multiple things to help out.They are now funding programs in New York State to help domestic violence survivors start small businesses.They have also developed an idea called Verizon HopeLine where they collect no longer used wireless phones and donate them to those who cannot afford them. Currently they have collected over 10million mobile phones for domestic violence survivors. You can find these statistics and read up on the work they do here: http://aboutus.verizonwireless.com/commitment/community_programs/hopeline/

Case Study: Able Radio

Purpose: They tried to create access to media production for non-traditional groups by creating a radio station hosted only by those with disabilities.They also strengthened community ties with fellow disabled people who may want to listen to a radio station hosted by people who fully understand the position they’re in, and can relate to on a personal level.They have attempted to challenge dominant representations and agenda’s by proving just because they have disabilities it does not mean they are any less skilled when it comes media work.They have built relationships with subjects, by developing an understanding with their proposed viewer base about what their show entails.

Aims: Their aim is to create a community that the disabled are comfortable with being a part of, and can feel as though they can talk about topics they may be too anxious to talk about with those that are not disabled.

Case Study: Able Radio

Techniques: Able Radio have created a community feel by attempting to draw in people of all disabilities. One of their motto’s is ‘Your station at the heart of your community.’Their community feel is proven to be true when you look on their website, where they provide high quality training programmes for those wishing to learn how to work in the media.Many of their workers are volunteers which shows how much they care about their radio station as they are willing to do their job for no pay, just the satisfaction it brings them.Because of the lack of any radio stations similar to Able Radio, it is not overly difficult for them to gain exposure via social media, and those they use that as a tool to promote themselves to great effect.There is a very light-hearted and happy tone throughout their work.

Impact: They have been deemed important enough to receive funding from The Big Lottery which in turn has seen that they are able to afford to employ a professional management team to ensure the station is used to it’s full potential, and can expand.While broadcasting from Wales, they have now begun to pick up listeners all across the United Kingdom.They are now in a position where they are able to support charities and other organisations at conferences.Their website has been shared 3,974 times on Facebook, and 1,151 comments have been made on those shared links.

Case Study: Able Radio

Case Study: Kick It Out, anti-racism campaign

Purposes: There are many intended purposes for the Kick It Out campaign. One of the primary ones is to change attitudes on racism within football, and in general. Racism has plagued football for as long as the game has been played.They are also attempting to raise awareness about the severity of racism in football, as some may not fully understand the scale. They also trying to strengthen community ties by bringing groups together to talk about the issue of racism and how it can be eradicated.They are able to infiltrate mainstream media by getting footballers to wear anti-racism shirts prior to football matches whilst getting television coverage.

Aims: The aim is to eradicate racism from football completely, whether it’s fan chanting, managerial choices, or unfair prejudices in relation to skill based on skin colour.