PSA

I felt that the PSA was a meaningful and enjoyable learning experience. It is not that common that students get to share a meaningful message with society and even more rare that they get to use the video medium to do so. I thought that the whole process was kind of fun and went fairly smoothly. It was nice to just focus on one simple message and try to get it across effectively. I thought we came up with a straightforward storyline and gave the audience one clear persuasive message. It’s always difficult to coordinate group efforts, but once we got together, the filming and editing sessions were pretty fun. I think our educational message may have been very simple, but I think that one easy message is the best objective for a one minute PSA. We tell the audience something important and back it up with facts. In this sense, our message is also very clear, with the focus on the goal objective of unplugging. We worked hard to get the best scenes with regard to props, setting, lighting, and actions within the shot. For example, we tried multiple camera angles, adjusted lighting to change the mood, and allowed Pete to utilize his natural acting abilities. We also made sure that the text was simple, readable, and factual. The music was also added to contribute to the mood and better draw the audience’s attention. We created this video so that the audience would be interested and come away with an important message. In fact, we hope that they will act upon this message by being aware of how plugged in they are and perhaps strive to become a bit less connected. Overall, I would say it was a very thoroughly done project, perhaps even professional. I think video PSA’s are certainly an effective form of activism, especially in an age where YouTube videos are all the rage. One minute sometimes is all it takes to raise the level of awareness. This new experience with video makes me much more comfortable using it in the future and it is something that I am inspired to experiment with further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejk0lMISleQ

Advertisement, Grist, PSA

"Green Ad"
http://www.facebook.com/futurefriendly?utm_source=NA&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=futurefriendly

I found a very interesting advertisement by Tide which simply had a picture of a bottle of Tide with green letters saying “Join the Future Friendly Challenge”. The link went to a Facebook fan page for Future Friendly (social media=marketing). To me, this was a very thinly veiled attempt to drum up some positive publicity for Tide. The main propaganda techniques were “diversion” and “warm fuzzies”. The campaign has nothing to do with the product and its impacts and instead focuses on Proctor and Gamble’s “feel good” clean water campaign. In essence, Future Friendly is just a way to draw people in to all the ‘good work” that P & G is doing in the world and thus slyly convince people to use their products. They are trying to portray themselves to consumers as do-gooders who value helping others, not raking in big profits for themselves. Most people would admire an effort to help those in the developing world get fresh water and Tide is using this philanthropic image as their marketing tool. My question: what are P & G's corporate impacts on water quality. “By signing up for the Future Friendly Challenge you will receive conservation tips, expert advice, exclusive offers and Challenge updates. You’ll also learn more about the lives touched by fresh water in the developing world through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water.” What stuck out to me in this quotes is “exclusive offers”. Not only will get some info on water conservation and some nice news updates on P & G’s corporate social responsibility, you will receive advertising!

Grist
I chose to analyze the website, Grist. Grist fulfills its mission for change by providing news on environmental issues with a humorous, often sarcastic tone. They make light of the many problems we face, which perhaps help us handle them, rather than become too depressed to deal with them (which has undoubtedly happened to every environmentalist at times). Despite the silliness of the site, the news covers important national and international issues and addresses and analyzes many points of conflict/debate in the environmental field. It does a good job of providing meaningful journalism by probing for root causes of problems, different impacts, and analyzing different potential and chosen actions. I would say it plays an important role in informing the public and promoting environmental activism, while also serving to entertainment and lighten the mood. I think online activism can make a difference, though I have doubts about whether it can create change on its own. As far as informing people, it can definitely go a long way in filling that niche. The site is not especially interactive, though comments can be left by readers and they can join the discussion this way. They also welcome reader contributions to their content. Grist’s mission statement says that they make “lemonade out of the current climate apocalypse”, as well as use their “Clarity-o-Meter to draw out the real meaning behind green stories, and to connect big issues like climate change to daily life”. As far as this mission goes, I feel that they are doing an exceptional job.

PSA
Progress has somewhat stalled due to communication breakdown. Plans to film on Friday fell through, but that will have to be done this week. We should have all of our text completed by next class and hopefully will do the filming then or afterward so we can get to editing.

Toxic Sludge, Outside vs. TV, PSA

Toxic Sludge
I think the opening quote really shows how significant corporate power has become and how big of a role propaganda plays in allowing this to happen. It shows that without these billions of dollars being thrown into public relations, corporate power would not even resemble the monstrosity that it is today. Democracy to me means the active involvement of citizens in their government. For most people, this means voting. For true democratic citizens, this means fighting for a cause, whether that’s helping a candidate win election or fighting the creation of a landfill in your town. Democracy is about people working for the improvement of society by influencing the government’s actions from a local to international level. Without this pressure, the government has no reason to do anything besides follow the interests of corporate power and influence, which they have a tendency to do currently. As the article stated, citizens must keep a “constant vigilance”. The unchecked power of the public relations industry to secretly influence public opinion is certainly a barrier to true democracy. Currently, we are a nation excepting propaganda for news, while what we need is objective reporting that shows the issues and facts, allowing people to draw their own conclusions. I believe that the solution for true democracy may lie in the repossession of the media by the citizens. I think citizens should exercise their democratic rights by simply getting involved. I think the best way is to pick a fight and latch onto it. A citizen who is passionate, focused, and informed can be a powerful force. In a truly democratic country, everyone is involved with the government’s actions. The news informs us of the possible problems in our society and the politicians are directed by the citizens to act on these issues or their jobs will be at stake. The government, corporations and the media are controlled by the people. The hope is that people everywhere are making change for the better. Everyday, someone is out there working to fix a problem in society and sometimes the good guys win. My role is acting as an informed, involved citizen. My goal is to work to gradually become more and more involved in issues that I care about. I have been doing well at informing myself on these issues. I have signed a few petitions and even occasionally written to the press or elected officials. Now, I plan to step up my efforts to the next level by either getting more involved with many issues or committing to work on one problem (or both). It may be tough and depressing work, but I think that taking part in the fight is really what matters and any victory will be a great reward and lead to the encouragement of others to join the battle which will make it all worthwhile.

Select Observations:
TV
-a bit tenser than outside
-angry at commercials- lack content, blatant manipulations attempts, propaganda techniques, wonder if there's actually a show on this channel or if it's just commercials
-feel controlled and alone
-feel sluggish, eyes glaze,
-look at watch and out window
-consider stupidity of the actual show's content

Outside
-feel good, noticeable mood improvement
-calm, peaceful, free
-optimistic- it's hard to feel down when you're sitting in the sun
-consider that some people rarely experience this in any way
-notice the wind, sun, clouds, trees swaying, etc.- appreciation for nature's beauty
-see people having fun, family and friends interacting
-time to think deep thoughts

PSA
In my PSA group, we have decided on our topic and worked out a storyboard that seems like it will be very effective in portraying our message of "unplug". Our group seems to be working well together and the project has been progressing smoothly. Next time, we plan to begin filming and perhaps then we should divide some responsibilities such as editing, adding music, research for text, etc. So next class, I plan to do some filming and determine the exact text of the video.

"Toxic Sludge is Good for You"

My PSA ideas:
Group: Ben, Pete, Paul

My concept idea is to make a PSA to remind people how plugged in they are and to occasionally separate themselves from it all or cut down on their screen time. My goal is to portray this in a humorous way and end with some strong facts regarding the amounts of time that people are plugged in. I envision a bunch of people gradually coming over sitting on a bench and being totally plugged in and isolated, on Facebook, ipods, websurfing, texting, etc. This would be alternating with scenes of people interacting and having fun or perhaps the people on the bench leaving to live in the real world. From what I saw in the past PSA’s, I think a focus on timing and a good background song will also be important.

Chapter 8

I raced yesterday at Tufts U., where the river is highly polluted due to raw sewage entering it...

1. The work of the PR groups in communities really bothers me. They are so sly that they think they can just infiltrate into neighborhoods and manipulate people’s opinions, and even attempt to “buy out” a community with a few donations.
2. I think the entanglement of the businesses/interest groups and the government agencies was very clear in this article, such as with the reclassification of the sludge from hazardous to Class A fertilizer.
3. I was reminded of how this misleading PR really impacts people when the article described the “casualties” of this pro-sludge policy. It’s not fun to think about, but it’s important to remember that in these political battles that the quality of many human lives are often at stake.
4. I think the thoroughness of the evidence against the use of toxic sludge was made very clear throughout the chapter. Despite the clear evidence of toxins and pathogens, the PR people continue to push their product.
5. Lastly, I was very disturbed that all this PR work has started to convince large scale food buyers that sludge-grown is safe. For me, this just represented how much PR can erode the facts if left unchecked.

My question is…if we can’t even trust the EPA to be putting out reliable information, who can we trust?

Chapter 9
1.It was very creepy to hear that “best PR goes by unnoticed”. I think there is a definite problem in that we no longer know what is news and what is propaganda, and that unfortunately it’s often the latter.
2.I was intrigued by the good cop, bad cop approach of corporations towards environmental organizations. This made their relationship much more clear to me, and how they always seem to have links to environmental organizations, but still be fighting to protect themselves from penalty for their many methods of destroying the environment. The corporations get to cloak themselves in green, while still polluting, and it works!
3.I liked the AMP formula for action. It reminded me that change can not be made by one group of people, but rather it needs many groups to play roles in activism, media, and politics to achieve a common goal.
4.I was given a new perspective by the line about companies trying to say the opposite of what is perceived of them (we think “they don’t care = they say “we care”). This served as a good reminder to analyze the PR efforts of any corporation more thoroughly.
5.I had heard of the Keep America Beautiful campaign and I was disturbed to realize it was just a bunch of corporations trying to make us focus on ourselves as the source of environmental damage, rather than the polluting corporations.

My question is… how do we get these big “corporate” environmental organizations back on track with supporting activism?