Social Action and Community Media

Task 1 - Existing Product Research

Patrick Gouldsbrough

Case Study: Greenpeace

Purpose:•To bring about local, national and global change - some countries are more interested in making the world more greener but on a whole, it’s a global issue that needs to be tackled by everyone.•To change attitudes – Many people have a very laid back approach when it comes to the environment and this, along with others, aim to make people think about the consequences should we fail to tackle the currently over-polluted world. •To raise awareness – Before companies like Greenpeace and others were established, people believed that there wasn’t such thing as global warming and polluting the earth would not cause mass devastation. These posters help to spread the awareness, while showing people that pollution is not made up, even if it means Greenpeace have to shows images depicting mass devastation and the dying out of animals.•To challenge dominant representations and agendas – While in this day and age, keeping the planet green is more urgent and important as it used to be but some people still need to be convinced and isn’t at the top of people and politicians agendas alike. Greenpeace still have to do some work to convince people that this issue must be tackled or there will be mass consequence.•To create or strengthen community ties – This will not apply to all communities but this and other posters may help to persuade communities to take up an environmental initiative and therefore, the purpose of this advert will have been fulfilled by communities. •To provide information – The Greenpeace posters usually contain lots of information, due to the amount of messages they want to convey to the consumers. Most campaigns won't just features the aesthetic features, they will tend to feature copy that will in some way try and sway the consumer to either be better or more aware. •To campaign - As a campaign suggests, another purpose of a campaign is to campaign for change and to bring about what the creator of that campaign wants, whether it’s a law or a piece of legislation, there is usually some form of motive/initiative behind the campaign •To infiltrate mainstream media – the work of companies like Greenpeace is non-stop and extensive and is well received by the public but mainstream media coverage of the issue isn’t really evident, it’s given the ‘brush it into the carpet and if we don’t report on it, it doesn't exist’ treatment. By Greenpeace keeping the topic of a greener society relevant, it’s got more of a chance f becoming mainstream media and therefore, it may get covered by a bigger media spectrum and this problem might have a bigger and better chance of been tackled. •To build relationship with subjects - As I’ve mentioned in previous purpose points, consumers are aware of the problem but further persuasion and evidence of a crisis is needed and this is what Greenpeace do. They aim to bring about a better understanding of the global issue and help the consumer build a relationship with it.

AimThe aim of this campaign or mass of campaign aims to make the consumer more aware about global warming and pollution. This particular advert (pictured above) tries to tell the consumer about how it’s everyone's problem, not just a select few, we must all be a part of this if we want to tackle global warming as an issue. They do this by linking a clear message with a striking image that depicts a city on top of water which suggests the icecaps have meted and it will soon be submerged under the water, unless we act.

Techniques:Green font – This shows the green initiative is in place and an active task, not an out-dated one. Green connotes the Greenpeace company as well as having a connotation of positive and therefore something consumers should listen to and take note of. If this initiative is to succeed, we will have to be greener and due to green been known as a clean colour, it has a connotation of a cleaner and a reduced carbon footprint.

The outline of the animals nearer the bottom, where none of the distinct features can be seen suggests they are more endangered and will continue to dissipate in number if global warming progresses, either because they can’t adapt to the water environment or maybe because it will have a lot more predators if the world evolves into a more water based surrounding.

The blue colouring suggests the potential consequences that could face earth, should we fail in our green initiative. Unlike other Greenpeace posters, which help to show how we can do more to help the environment, this poster employs borderline scaremonger tactics fort his poster. They may have decided that the restrained posters were not getting through so had to send out a clear message with clear consequences should we do nothing about our carbon footprint as a whole.

Bold fonts help to emphasise a particular phrase or word that will either make the consumer think, make the consumer emotive or make the consumer want to do something about it. Greenpeace, on this particular poster, has decided to add a bold effect to ‘inter-connected’ due to the fact that they are trying to suggest that we are all in this process together and must ALL fix this issue together.

Case Study: Greenpeace

Impact:Due to the fact that it’s so difficult to measure the success of each country and scheme individually, it still remains to be seen that we are doing enough to stop the increased deterioration of the ice caps and global warming. While greener initiative are been put into place, such as the green bin which has the idea that our green waste can rot down and make compost for the earth, making it more greener than dumping it in the landfill sites round the globe.

Another impact that can been is the increased search for a replacement for all the coal and oil that powers our homes with electricity. Generators that survive on gas, waste and cars that run on electricity instead of fuel are just a few of the ways that we are trying to cut down our carbon footprint around the world.

While we have managed to improve over the past few years, where it was evident that many people didn’t know about the global warming issue and used fuel and other resources plentifully and did not think of the consequences of doing such a thing, we need to do more to cut down the world carbon emissions. Things like extensive research into fuel alternatives, a crack down in recycling and an increase on fines for countries who don’t meet these targets could be sanctioned as solutions to this crisis.

The work of Greenpeace continues and the posters help to back up the initiatives that they are coming up with, not only swaying the consumer though the use of emotive language and imagery, they also put good point together in their copy that accompanies this imagery.

As well as been one of the world leaders in a greener world, Greenpeace have inspired other groups to step up their initiatives and ideas, while enabling the UN to come up with the climate summit in New York in 20014, which involved many ideas as to how we can tackle the crisis, while also attracting a bit of star power in the form of Leonardo Dicaprio. By involving the film star, they are endorsing the campaign and making it more accessible and interesting for a younger and different demographic than they normally would attempt to target.

Case Study: Greenpeace

Case Study: NHS

Purpose:•To bring about national change – While smoking in other countries is a problem and needs tackling, this campaign is solely for the UK population, due to the producer of this poster been the NHS, who are a UK service. This campaign, which is still on going, uses a range of posters to try and get people who smoke to quit, which involves either showing them how to, giving them initiative and in certain cases, shows the effects of smoking over prolonged periods.•To change attitudes – In modern times, there have been proper scientific risks in smoking and the claim that smoking was good for you has been disproved, which sows how attitudes have changed over the past 30/40 years. However, not everyone's attitudes have changed and there are a select minority that haven’t changed their attitude and believe smoking isn’t bad for them and then there are those that smoke even after knowing the health risks. These posters will not cease until peoples attitudes are changed and smoking is almost eradicated or a safer equivalent is found (e-cigarettes haven’t been extensively tested as of yet so can’t be classed as a ‘safer equivalent’)•To raise awareness – Many people are aware of the risks of smoking but with more scientific research been done to find more extensively the correlation between smoking and cancer, there needs to be posters that can show this clearly, even if this involves showing distressing images of people's insides (lungs). If this is what it takes to communicate the message, that is what is necessary to raise the awareness needed for this campaign.•To provide information – Not only do these posters for the campaign provide health information and statistics, they also provide website addresses, social media links and phone numbers to allow consumers to get further help and advice on smoking, as well as a support line, which is common on campaign posters.•To campaign •To build relationships with subject – While much of the information over the past few years has stayed the same, due to smoking been linked to cancer and has continued to be linked with it. However, the intensity of the posters and the campaign must be kept up or the problem and issue of smoking may come back if we don’t remind the public about the risks they face when smoking.

AimThis campaign, that has been going on for some considerable time now, aims to highlight the risks of smoking and give smokers advice and help on how to quit. Each poster has a different technique of making the consumer think bout smoking; this one focuses on the actual quitting, some focus on the health implications and show a tar filled set of lungs, while others use people that have already quit, which makes the consumer believe that quitting smoking is a realistic an achievable goal.

Case Study: NHS

Techniques:The main draw of this poster and one that will sway the consumer to quit smoking isn’t an aesthetic feature and doesn’t draw the attention to the poster, instead, it’s the company logo emblazoned on the poster. The NHS have not only campaigned for stop smoking, they have also helped to find a correlation between smoking and cancer, therefore, the trust in the NHS has increased since these posters have been printed, which will give consumers an extra push to quit smoking. As one of the most trusted services and corporations in the country, the NHS has a sole duty to raise awareness and spread a clear message, even if this means showing distressing images of tar encrusted lungs

While this isn’t the most hard hitting or emotive poster the NHS have produced, it fulfills it’s purpose and adds to the other posters that the company have produced to aim to get consumers to stop smoking. The poster uses every day images to try and show how you can give up smoking, which suggests it’s simple to do this, while also suggesting how common giving up smoking is. However, unlike some of the posters, the purpose of this one is to inform and advertise to the consumer, unlike the use of scare techniques to persuade and sway the consumer like the techniques the NHS sometimes employ to get their messages across.

The use of various textual features is also evident in this poster design and add together to make this campaign a successful one. Firstly, there is the use of contrasting colours; with the blue of the background and the white of the font, these aesthetic features link together to make the text more understandable and readable. As well as the textual features, the NHS have employed the visual hierarchy theory to this poster. They have included the tag-line, which is bigger than the contact information and the extra information, due to it been more important than these features.

Impact:There has been a mass decline of smoking in the UK over the past few decades. From 65% of the adult population in 1950 to just 20% in 2010; a massive leap over the years. While there isn’t a direct correlation between the posters and the decline, the extensive campaign, along with the scientific links between smoking and cancer have had a monumental impact on those statistics.

It’s been 7 years since the smoking ban came into effect in England and while the NHS weren’t directly responsible for getting rid of smoking in public places, it was because of their campaign and other campaigns that they got this law pushed through. Since this change, many people have quit smoking and as the diagram shows on the left, the income of pubs and taverns has gone up because non-smokers can now enjoy bars that are not filled with smoke. While the diagram depicts the US, the same effect can be seen in the UK, with a lot f bars and pubs increasing in profits from 2007 (the start of the smoking ban, 2005 in the US) and present day.

Case Study: NHS

Case Study: University of KentPurpose:•To bring national change – This particular example is solely a national change, due to the fact that racism in other countries is still evident, with many people from ethnic groups aren’t allowed to be notable people, let alone in the media. However, before this scheme became about, the UK’s media was run by a majority of white producer, news readers and reporters, with a member of an ethnic group been tough to find in any media team. This scheme aims to change the way we employ people in other fields but mainly media and the arts. •To change attitudes – Going back as recent as 1980, there was still a mass apartheid between people of different ethnicity and white workers for jobs, with the white worker getting the job. However, campaigns like this, as well as ones for racial equality have helped to change attitudes of the public over the past 30 years. •To raise awareness – When watching television, it might not become apparent who reports the news or other media programmes, as long as they have skill and present the programme clearly, you don’t really notice what ethnicity the person is. For this reason, these campaigns help to raise awareness that this is an issue in the UK media system and something must be done to change attitudes about this issue, as well as making it apparent to people who watch TV; members of the public. •To create access to media production for non-traditional groups – This is the main point of producing the campaign and with very few groups doing this idea, it’s even more important that the university of Kent and other universities are using this initiative to try and get more of their ethnic minority students into media positions. •Challenges dominant representations and agendas – Coming back to the idea of discrimination and racism in the past, the UK is still not a racism free country (look at football and other sports, as well as the videos you see on the news that depict social inequality toward ethnic groups. This campaign targets the foundation of employment, while teaching people from non ethnic minorities about the importance of employment for these groups and the benefits to society. •To provide information•To campaign •To infiltrate mainstream media – Not only are jobs low in the media for ethnic minorities, the media coverage of the issue is not highly covered in the media either. This campaign aims to get more individuals from these groups into work and therefore, they may bring about a bit of diversity into the news and media rooms around the country, which will then make the UK a more social and racially equal society, unlike the way it is now and certainly how it was in the past. •To build relationships with subjects – While we are educated about other cultures and ethic minorities in this country, inequality is sometimes a taboo word and is a subject that many don’t want to talk about. This and other campaigns aim to tackle this stigma surrounding employment for these groups and helps to educate people about employment figures, equal opportunities and these groups. It’s not only for members of the public to learn, it’s for employees to look at and hopefully, with any luck, employ people from these groups.

AimNot only does this campaign inform consumers about employment opportunities and information about ethnic groups in media, it also educated non-ethnic group members to learn about the inequality that the groups face in media and other industries. While targeting solely ethnic minorities would be good in itself, tackling the stigma about such inequality should be tackled too, which this campaign aims to break down and make it very much equal in the media industry. Another aim of this campaign is to get this information and campaign into mainstream media outlets which would then get their message out, as well as allowing individuals from ethnic minorities getting hired through this publicity. This may then lead to an increase in the coverage, due to there been added variety to the media producer work because of the various cultures that would then exist in these media companies news and media rooms.

Techniques:The first thing you notice on the page when you click on the campaign website is the big bold text that ‘Careers help for ethnic minority students’ is written in. This is the most important piece of information on the screen and the media producer knew this too, due to the fact that it’s high up on the textual features and it’s one of the most striking aesthetic features on the page. Also, with an aim as clear and serious as getting ethnic minority individuals better opportunities, you want to have a clear aim and a clear message early on to inform people of what they are going to read and research

As well as the textual features, you notice the colour scheme next. With a pale and restrained blue, you would guess that this layout isn’t going to stand out and isn't going to be very successful or effective. However, due to the fact that this campaign is not trying to gain profits, the colour schemes does not have to bright and it doesn’t have to grab the consumers attention like a product on a specific market would. The blue is a very calming and cooling colour which suggests the media producer wants to clam the consumers of this page and make them feel relaxed about something like finding a job, which can be stressful, especially if it’s proving difficult (which it was for ethnic minority groups in the media in the past).

Instead of been aesthetically strong, the purpose of this web page is to try and divulge as much information as possible to the consumer of the page. This campaign aims to help, support, advise, while educating all audiences about the lack of ethnic minorities in work and I particular, in media. For this reason, the layout can be busy, it doesn’t have to concentrate on looking clutter free and sharp, it can have various page links and social media addresses because it is trying to inform, not persuade or sell.

Case Study: University of Kent

Case Study: Deaffest

Purpose:•To bring national change – This particular campaign helps to make people who are deaf and have other disabilities a more integral and included part of society. It also proves that by bringing this event to the UK, a real change and step in the right has been made to include these minorities into our society. •To change attitudes – Along with the previous example where people’s perceptions were that an apartheid should exist when hiring people for jobs is concerned. In the same way, people with a disability were perceived to be different from other people and were made to feel outsiders of societies. However, with schemes like these, it’s showing how positivity can be found even when a disability has befallen an individual and that they shouldn’t feel any less a part of the community and society compared with other members of the public. •To raise awareness – While people known that deafness is a problem and needs to be combated, they don’t encounter these issues on a day to day basis, due to them themselves not been affected by this disability. However, due to campaigns like this one, it educates members of the public on the risks of deafness and how we can change perceptions of it in the wider society and communities. •To create access to media production for non-traditional groups – This is the main purpose of creating this initiative in the first place. By showing that this minority group is been covered, it could inspire similar groups to make campaigns and as a result, it will change people’s perceptions of deaf people and hopefully make their lives a little easier if people understand and know about this disability. Media has always been known as a universal market and open to all and now that minorities are getting involved, it shows how even a disability can’t stop some from enjoying media and other areas. •Challenges dominant representations and agendas – I think as a whole, our society aren’t discriminatory to those with disabilities, however, like many things, there is a select few that let down the masses and generate unnecessary friction and hatred towards these and similar groups. However, due to this positive event, these ideologies by a small group of society might be silenced, due to the overwhelming support fro events like Deaffest. •To provide information•To campaign •To build relationships with subjects – I think like any discrimination or hatred, it’s generated by a minority group in itself and as for speaking about disabilities and racism, it’s a conversational topic that is hard to speak about unless you have been involved in such things. However, with events such as these, it’s breaking down the perceptions and walls between members of the public and making it more acceptable to speak about these things, and instead of them speaking negatively and awkwardly about disabilities, people can speak of a positive things this organisation is doing to raise awareness of deafness, which may lead to conversations about similar disabilities and other conversational topics that many find ‘awkward’.

AimBy informing the consumer about deafness in the UK and changing people’s

perceptions, these minorities are now more likely to be accepted in wider society and instead of been discriminated against, they will be supported, due to members of the public now been educated about issues surrounding deafness. However, even though

this campaign helps to raise awareness and shows how deaf people can still enjoy leisure time, there must be even more of these initiatives and hopefully, these groups can be further supported and hopefully get to a stage where there are an inundation of sites and campaigns offering deaf people and people with disabilities, due to it been

difficult for them to acquire these opportunities. This stigma about not giving them equal chances needs to be further broke down and even though this charity and others have made good progress, more mist be done to change attitudes and ideologies of society

even more.

Impact:During the past 30 years, it has become evident that the UK has become less discriminatory and has become more equal in terms of opportunities for ethnic minorities. Not only in media has the amount of ethnic group individuals been evident, it’s been seen in many industries and continues to grow, due to the immigration of people to the UK from other EU and non-EU countries.

For some, the campaign on the previous page helped, however, for others, university is not an option and work must be found by their own accord. While there are a large majority that these university and similar schemes help each year, it can’t be proved to have helped, due to no official figures or statistics been released as to how various ethnic minority individuals had acquired their job.

It must then be assumed that they had found the work by their own accord, with the university scheme only helping a select few, due to the fact that university isn’t for everyone and only those who can afford it go to it, others who have fled countries of poverty will not have the option of university and the help of finding employment through this campaign.

In terms of media, the amount of people who are becoming presenters, correspondents and editors also come from an ethnic minority background. People like Shiulie Ghosh, who worked with the BBC for 6 years, before moving on to Channel Four is just one example of how the university of Kent has helped Shiulie acquire a top job in the media, despite her getting a degree in law (this also shows that the scheme is working because people don’t have to go into their field that they graduated in).

Another example of where this campaign has worked is the one of Faisal Islam who graduated City of London University and has gone on to be Economics Correspondent for Channel Four News, Most universities have departments that help ethnic minority students specially but these two universities in particular have realised the importance to have individuals from these groups in the media and have acted on it. While these two have become successful, it can’t be proved that they went through that scheme but it does go to show that media is now becoming more culturally aware and diverse when picking the strong candidates for jobs in the industry.

Case Study: University of Kent

Case Study: Election campaigns

Purpose:•To bring about national change – Restricted to just this country, UK political posters can help bring about change in this country. While some political posters aim to make their own parties look positive, others aim to negatively portray rival parties and point out the flaws in their manifestos (see the Gordon brown examples on the left hand side which was created by the conservatives to try and show the negativity of Brown’s reign as Prime Minister. •Raises awareness – For those who aren’t interested in politics and only watch the live debates on television and view the posters created by the political parties, these posters are all that will help you decide who becomes the prime Minister of this country. This is why it is important for political parties to work on their posters, but also ensure that they have a promotional tool for every audience, which will involve making promotional tools for all mediums (television, print and more importantly in recent times, e-media)•Changes attitudes – Even when a political party looks odds on favourites to clinch a landslide victory, the media and posters can sway the consumer and make them alter their voting patterns. By outlining how much of a good job (or in some cases, how bad another party have been at a specific thing) these posters can alter a consumers mind and make them change their vote, which can be key to establishing the next Prime Minister. Famous political posters have been said to win elections for certain leaders which I will elaborate on in the impact section of this campaign analysis. •Challenges dominant representations and agendas – If a certain party are odds on favourite or they are seen to be the favourite to carry on ruling the country, these posters and campaigns can challenge these ideologies and dominant representations and can return the election campaign to an equal race for Prime Minister. However, if there is a clear favourite and they come up with equally successful promotional campaigns, it will mostly transpire that the party that were favourite, would still be favourite. It’s when one parties campaign is a lot stronger than the other when it’s tough to call the outcome of the election. •Creates and strengthens community ties – An election can divide a lot of people but it can also bring people together. Not always but occasionally, it can be assumed that people who live in the same area and are therefore of a similar social class have similar habits, which may include political backing. Through this idea, the backing of a certain political party can lead to improved ties in the community and if different people back different political groups, there will be a togetherness of a bunch of groups but not a complete communities togetherness. •Provides information – This is a loose term of providing information, these posters are mainly used to poke fun and have a cheap jibe at rival political parties. Useful information, apart from the statistic or tag-line the poster has included on it is minimal and the layout is usually restrained and clear, due to them traditionally been put on billboards, public transport and magazines. •To campaign•Change voting behaviour – Like I stated in the changes attitude section, a political campaign poster can make or break an election campaign and ha a monumental impact on the direct result of the publics voting behaviour. •Builds relationship with subjects – For people who understand politics and are up to date on current affairs, these campaign posters are nothing but propaganda but to people who do not, these posters inform consumers about political ideas and can change peoples beliefs and ideas and like media producers can, change peoples votes and increase consumers understanding on political matters.

AimThe main aim for political posters is to try and change voting behaviour amongst the general public, either by putting your manifesto into a positive tag-line or to make your opponent parties look negative to the consumers. While it can’t be proved, political posters and other promotional materials can directly impact the voters, they are a big part of each parties election campaign and can certainly cause a lot of talk and sway people’s ideologies and opinions.

Techniques:Every single successful poster for political parties have one thing in common; they all use bold fonts as one of their textual techniques. The bold fonts help to draw attention to the main part of the poster, the tag-line/manifesto promise from the leaders of those parties. While other things like colour are relevant and do draw attention to the poster, it’s the actual slogan that will sway the consumer more, due to the traditionally controversial messages they sometimes convey.

The high contrast colours are another feature of political posters that stand out. In particular, the Gordon Brown poster that features the black font on the white background really uses the contrast colours as a main feature of the poster. This is not only to make the slogan stand out, it’s also to show that the tag-line is the main textual feature on the layout in terms of visual hierarchy (the other textual feature on the page is a lot smaller and is in a blue colouring which doesn’t stand out as much as the black font face.

Along with these textual features, there must be a strong piece of imagery accompanying it. Whether it’s a piece of serious imagery, like in the David Cameron example, due to it been about reforms and cuts, instead of another political party trying to mock another, like the Gordon Brown example, which features the Labour leader with an equally humorous face.

The last common feature of the political posters is the amount of content on the initial layouts for the promotional tools. The use of a slogan for the political party means that the consumer will read it, due to it been a short piece, not a paragraph, as well as the fact that it also means that the layout of the overall poster will be clear, concise an therefore look professional. As the classic Conservative poster shows, all you need is a clear message and a few words to succeed in an election campaign; Winston Churchill triumphed against Clement Atlee of labour in 1951. 13

Case Study: Election campaigns

Impact:While posters are promotional tools and help to communicate a clear ideology or message to the consumer, they can also sway people's views too, which therefore can sway an election campaign and mean victory for the party who creates the best promotional products and gets slated least in the media.

However, the success of a campaign can’ be solely pinned down to the posters, there are a range of promotional features available for the political parties to use, though the posters that bombard people’s lives on a daily basis have a huge impact on the result.

There is no way to measure the actual effectiveness and success of the posters in separate election campaigns but usually, the political party who has failed to make a series of posters and instead, has gone for a singular poster, is the one that doesn't effectively communicate to the consumer and instead fails in the bid to become Prime Minister (while this doesn't have a direct correlation, the evidence suggests this).

For example, the poster on the right that was created by the Conservative Party, managed to sway the voters and change voting patterns among members of the public. Before the election, Labour and Harold Wilson ha power at no.10 but this poster, along with a powerful manifesto, led Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives to victory over James Callaghan of the Labour party. Many said this poster was the reason the Conservative party won, while labour claimed that the Conservatives had altered the photograph and enhanced the crowd to make it look bigger than it actually was.

Another example is the most recent 2010 general election campaign. Before the election, current UK leader Gordon Brown wasn't favourite to carry on at number 10 and was instead ousted by Conservative leader David Cameron. While Brown and Labour went with a positive message about themselves, Cameron and the Conservatives created a series of posters that would alienate the current system of governance by the Labour party, which would add together with the people’s views about who should have power and resulted in a victory for Cameron. However, the campaign took a worse turn for Brown when he was also beaten to send spot by the Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg; the man who would form a coalition with David Cameron.

Case Study: Election campaigns