above the influence

Civic engagement; "individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern"

One prime example of civic engagement is the Above the Influence campaigns. These ads are targeted towards teenagers and the younger generation. They send the message to stay above the influence and to not fall into the pressures put upon them. Teens shouldn't drink nor smoke, and they should stay responsible. They are more important things in life than falling into whatever your friends want you to. These campaigns display civic engagement because they are addressing the issue of underage drinking and trying to put a stop to it. The commercials target teens with their humor and over exaggerated, sometimes realistic circumstances. The civic engagement that put out these ads and campaigns are only one of the ways society is coming together to address a social issue.

D.A.R.E

D.A.R.E is short for drug abuse resistance education. The advocates, senders of the message, are officers who enlighten kids with the correct knowledge to help them avoid negative influences and concentrate on their potential for future success. The goal of this program, which is the message, is to provide middle school children with the information and skills they need to live drug and violence free lives. They understand their audience is young and find ways to get the message across that they will understand. The advocates also make learning the information fun for them, such as having a dance and graduation ceremony. The receiver’s will give their feedback through answering questions and giving opinions to different topics.

This campaign helps establish positive relationships between students and law enforcement. Everyone should have the chance to grow-up healthy, safe and secure. This gives them the opportunity to have the knowledge to walk away from making bad choices. Society today however, is flourishing with challenges that could keep children from a positive life path, which is why this public advocacy is needed.

FREE HUGS!

There are many obvious issues that come to mind when one thinks of public advocacy. I wanted to write about something not many people have heard of, so I choose the Free Hugs Campaign. The campaign is a unique one in which individuals go out and hold signs or wear shirts to give free hugs. It is an attempt to reach out to our negative society and just simply give a hug. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. The campaign is a social movement to brighten up the world. The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness- selfless acts performed just to make others feel better. Juann Mann was the compelling man who started the campaign in 2004 because he wanted to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

Unfortunately, the Free Hugs Campaign was banned because of public liability fear and red tape. There are different local laws throughout the world, which allow the campaign to follow on in certain areas.

Even though, there is not speaking involved in this advocacy, the action is what does all the talking. This relates to our class because advocates need to be aware of their audience and in a sense use the communication process. Since many people have a strong sense of personal privacy, they need to be careful of who they approach. They need to encode the public’s symbols such as body language. Those who are interested will most likely be smiling and walking towards the free hugs, while those who aren’t will be avoiding the signs. Thus those who participate in the campaign need to be aware of the public and not cross certain lines.

The campaign also has a video which furthers their cause. It uses a strong sense of pathos to attract viewers and capture their hearts. You are able to see how a simple hug can brighten ones day, and that there is hope in this world. The campaign is truly inspiring.

Free Rice

       Obviously, world hunger can be recognized as an inarguable global issue, but luckily, many ways of possible civic engagement have been developed, which allow individuals to help ease this exigence. Freerice.com, acts as a great way for human beings to quickly, and conveniently join the cause to stop world hunger. If your unfamiliar with the website, what happens is...

A category is chosen, and questions within that category are displayed in a multiple-choice lay out. The person at home, online, is expected to select what they believe to be the correct answer, and if they choose correctly, 10 grams of rice is donated to the World Food Programme, an organization dedicated to solving and combatting global hunger. Free Rice allows humans to educate themselves, and feed the undernourished at the same time, for free.

      What I find to be interesting about Free Rice, is it's ability to establish such a strong pathos with the audience, without actually advocating the World Food Programme. Visitors to the site simply find the entire concept so interesting, and fresh, that they motivate themselves to dig deeper into the exigence. In turn, the self-established pathos within the audience, causes the public advocates who've designed and sponsored the site to form an incredible, ethos, as well. It's as if these advocates are introducing the world to a cause, without shoving the facts down their throat, and that technique has worked as a great way to open up the cause to a vast, eclectic group of people.

      It's likely that I could choose to perform a speech that discusses the issue of world hunger, and that proposes a possible solution to the problem. I will definitely use Free Rice as an example of how to establish pathos within an audience, and how to establish ethos within myself. I believe that the best way to advocate a cause is to invite others into the proposed solution, rather than guilting them or forcing them into it, and Free Rice acts as a great example of this strategy. I also believe that ethos should be established silently, which Free Rice also accomplishes. Lastly, a goal for any speech I will ever perform, will be to build interest among the audience, and Free Rice undoubtably builds interest within it's large, global audience.
 

Bono Gathers Celebs for AIDS Campaign

Bono demonstrates civic engagement by getting involved in his community, as well as the vast world around him. He has gathered many celebrities such as Ludacris, Gwen Stefani, and Hugh Jackman to actively make a change in a problem, that problem being the widepsread of AIDS. Their exigence of this rhetorical situation is to raise awareness of this problem, and to get people to help be a part of the solution. By having numerous celebrities in the commerical, their credibiility greatly increases. They establish ethos because they are successful and seemingly sincere people, who appear to genuinely care about the problem. Some of them are actors, however, so that could be why their delivery seems so sincere. They also take into account their audience. Many different kinds of people watch television and go online, so it is very likely that some people watching the campaign video will not be very rich like the celebrities themselves. By emphasising the fact that it only costs you 40 cents, it makes the viewer feel like even they can afford it.

Possibly the most effective tactic in this campaign is the use of hunor. The celebrities give examples of objects that only cost about 40 cents or so, which is the same amount to pay for pills to help people with AIDS. However, some of these purchased items can be found humorous to the audience, such as buying "half a song", which appeals to technology users, or even a man wearing lipstick, because it is unexpected. It holds the audience's attention and makes a point that it only takes a little big to make a big difference.

Advocates for Cyber-Bullying

Public advocates against cyber-bullying and digital harassment are inspired to take a stand against such forms of abuse, because they understand the harmful effects that it can cause to the victim. Their exigence is to raise awareness about this growing problem in society. Because it is such a new issue, advocates must go out and speak about the topic to raise awareness and provide information for those who may be unaware of the signs or severity. Their purpose for speaking out is to inform people about the dangers of digital harassment, to convince them that it is a serious problem that demands immediate call to action, and to motivate people to do something to help to alleviate the problem.

They must be aware of their audience’s prior knowledge on the issue as well as their predispositions and adjust their speech tactics accordingly. If the audience already has a lot of information on cyber-bullying, then they should adjust their style to include words that the audience is likely aware of, such as digital drama. Patterns that they should consider for their arrangement include cause/effect, compare/contrast, and topical format.

Another key tactic for delivering an effective speech on anti-bullying would be appeal to the pathos of the audience. If the audience is made to understand the harmful and deadly effects of the issue, then they are likely to be swayed to the advocate’s side based on their emotions. The advocate could do this by sharing personal stories, showing video or pictures, or playing a song that has powerful lyrics that relate to the issue at hand such as this song by Emily Osment.

Advocating Public Advocacy

When I was deciding what to blog about, I used a search engine to see what kind of celebrity civic engagement and public advocacy was recently in the news. I found an interesting article on the Washington State University website that fits very well with the topics of public advocacy and civic engagement. The title of the article is "WSU Researchers Find That Celebrity Endorsements Motivate Younger Voters." As I'm sure you can guess, it focuses on the impact celebrities have on many areas of young adults lives, even into the realm of voting. History has shown that voters, ages 18-24, have very little interest in voting and have the lowest turnout on election day of any age group. Between 1990 and 2000, attendance of voters this age hit an all time low, but in 2004 the statistics rose drastically. Research suggests that this is due to the celebrity GOTV (get-out-the-vote) campaign. One of the researchers makes this claim, "The results suggest that celebrity involvement in the promotion of civic engagement can have potentially positive effects that have both short-term and long-term benefits for the larger community"

As American citizens voting is a part of our civic engagement responsibilities, which is why this article was a "hit" in my search engine. At first I didn't think this would work because voting is not the type of civic engagement we are dealing with in public speech. As I read deeper into the article, though, I was able to draw out some facts that I found really exciting. Part of the GOTV campaign is a non-profit organization called "Declare Yourself." This organization toured college campuses promoting civic engagement (mainly voting but also community volunteering and personal political involvement) with famous speakers and singers. In affiliation, Christina Aguilera even launched "Declare Yourself Yahoo" which is an online voting registration drive. What is so interesting about all this is that in promoting civic engagement, the celebrities themselves were demonstrating that exact practice. Their exigence was the lack of civic engagement in young adults. This concerning fact caused them to speak out about this issue in appropriate environments. They traveled to colleges and universities so they could reach the audience that needed to hear that particular message. They would then publicly speak about the issue and influence the students to make a change. It worked, and in 2004 (when this campaign began) 44% of new voters were of the 18-24 age group and 43% reported that they expected to stay involved in the political process.

I love this example of celebrity public advocacy and civic engagement in promoting those very concepts. It just goes to show how truly surrounded by these ideas and also by the need for public speech we are. It helped me to realize just how important the skills we are currently learning will be for the rest of our lives.

Public Advocacy and Civic Engagement in Communication

Public advocacy is people getting involved in their community, local government and more, and calling for change with issues they believe exist. Civic engagement is the act of getting involved in the community and actively trying to make a change where they believe there is a problem. It is the process of taking public advocacy one step further. They are both closely related and are both important. They are also both closely related to communication.

It is a rhetorical situation. The problem that inspires people to publicly advocate or get involved in their community is the exigence. The public advocators need to speak to other people who do not yet believe in their cause and inform them about the issue and then convince them that the problem is urgent and needs more help. For people who want to get others involved and actively trying to make a change, the goals of their speech need to be to inform and convince but also to motivate. They need to establish a strong pathos, and emotionally connect with their audience. In both cases, they need to understand who their audience is. If the audience is already aware of the issue they will be speaking about, they need to take more time convincing them to possibly change their views or if they already believe in it, convince them to continue supporting the cause. They also need to be aware of their constraints, maybe their audience has limited information about the topic or they are very stubborn in their beliefs to disagree. Speaking out to the rest of the community is the main way to get others involved in the community whether it be advocating the issues with the local government or actually acting to make a change.

It Gets Better

The video that the creator of the "It Gets Better" project made is a good example of public advocacy. He is trying to get the viewers of this video to be inspired, and become a part of this project. He uses a motivational video to start it out, hoping to capture the hearts of viewers. He also uses interviews with a few people that, in their teens, were bullied or made fun of. Using these personal interviews can help teens relate to their lives, and what they might have gone through. It also shows that the teens who are going through hard times are not alone.
The video also shows how to get to the website via Youtube and Google. The video portrays an exciting atmosphere among the people that are a part of it (shown in the large, screaming crowd scene). It also shows how the number of people that are part of the project has grown increasingly. This helps the project by telling people that it’s popular and everyone is joining.
Another thing the video utilizes is the influence of celebrities. It shows clips of different celebrities saying things along the line of, “It gets better,” which is the name of the project. This is a very clever way to implement popular people into a video meant to get other people to join the project. This is because celebrities, in our society, are looked up to and thought of as popular. Using celebrities to seem like they’re supporting your cause makes it look like everyone else should be doing that too.
Using all these elements, the creator of the video draws you in and makes you inspired. What kind of teen wouldn’t want to know that people are going through the same things they are? The video at one point even shows a line that somebody had said after joining, “I have hope,” which in turn would give other people the idea that they will have hope if they join this project. The creator did a good job of using all these elements to show public support for a cause.

"Friends for Change"

The goal of Disney Channel's "Friends for Change" slogan is to get younger generations involved in helping to take care of our planet. Stars from all of the Disney Channel shows are advocates and role models for making a change. They work together in commercials cleaning up parks, planting gardens, and doing other things that help out the Earth.

The song Send it On sung by the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Miley Cyrus sends a good message to kids. With songs like Send it On and Make a Wave, sung by Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, the message reaches out to kids and the public. It tells everyone that it's easy to get involved. Anything, no matter how small or easy, can help change the world. If one person gets involved, others will follow and create a chain reaction that will never stop.

To me, the delivery of this song really makes the message significant. Miley, Demi, Selena, and the Jonas Brothers all sing like they truly care about keeping our Earth clean. It felt like they believed in what they were singing. The video captures the attention of the audience even though it's nothing elaborate. It's just six teens singing on a stage and running in a field. The messages in the songs are memorable, and they make me want to get involved.

Public Advocacy to the Abuse of Prescription Drugs

In this segment of Eye to Eye with Katie Couric, she interviews Steve Pasierb who has teamed up with the Partnership for a Drug-Free American to raise awareness of this recent ongoing problem throughout the country. Through the medium of television, most of America can be reached especially during this primetime spot on the nightly news. The target audience of this message is directed toward parents whose teenagers may or may not be affected by this issue. The purpose of this message is to acknowledge that the abuse of prescription drugs is a problem that needs to be addressed and enforced.

According to Steve Pasierb, “abusing prescription drugs are as dangerous and addictive as the street drugs.” He uses the art of persuasion in order to dissuade the misuse of both prescription drugs and street drugs. Likewise, he uses surveys to show the increasing numbers of teens who admitted to exploiting these prescription drugs. He compares these figures to that of inhalant drugs, which he notes are abused less frequently that prescription drugs. Parents are unaware of this issue because it was not of their day and age. This is an issue whose demographics span all age groups, genders, race, and regions.

Most parent fear of their sons and daughters getting caught up in drugs and alcohol, but have they thought of what is in their medicine cabinets at home? As abuse of drugs and alcohol has decreased, the abuse of prescription drugs has increased nationwide. This is because teens feel as if it is safer to abuse drugs that come from a doctor. When it comes to public advocacy, it is important to remember that time is key. Through the art of speaking, people will support this effort of prescription drug abuse. This is an issue that will only be exacerbated in the future, and prescription drugs may become the drugs of choice to take advantage of.

Dear 16-Year-Old Me

The David Cornfield Melanoma Fund put together this short film to raise awareness of melanoma. The fund was created in memory of David Cornfield, whose goal was to reduce the number of cases of the disease.

This awareness video does an excellent job of putting the five canons of rhetoric to use. While inventing this message, the speakers clearly choose an appropriate topic, and they do a thorough job analyzing their audience. They aim this video towards adolescents in order to make them aware of the risks of their everyday activities that may lead to melanoma.

Their arrangement of the speech is effective as well. The people in the film, all of different ages and backgrounds, are introduced by saying, "dear 16-year-old me". This is a great attention getter because, clearly, the speakers are not sixteen years old, so the audience immediately wonders why the speaker is addressing someone who is long gone. They go on to tell their 16-year-old self what has happened to them once they got older. They explain that there are things that they wish they knew before it was too late, and they give them advice of what to do instead. The body of the speech spends a lot of time sharing individual stories of victims of the disease. This establishes a positive ethos because the listener can tell that the speakers really do know what they are talking about. In the conclusion, the speakers address the audience, explaining that they know that it's too late to help their 16-year-old self, but it's not too late for the audience to do something to help themselves stay healthy.

The style of the speech is casual and the speakers are very informative.

You can tell the speakers spent a lot of time on the memory aspect of the five canons. They have obviously practiced numerous times because each speaker is fluent and they sound so comfortable and everything they say comes natural. It does not seemed forced, and no one stumbles over any words.

Finally, the delivery of the message does an efficient job of getting their message across. They do not use any form of an outline and they do not have note cards with them so the audience really feels like they are listening to knowledgeable people. Also, the speakers show the audience their scars which gives the audience a sense that what they are speaking about is real, and the they show emotion over this issue, some even shedding tears. The delivery of this message is very effective and most listeners walk away with a new feeling about melanoma.

NFL lockout

The NFL lockout that is going on right now is a good example of Public Advocacy in action. The NFL is currently in a labor dispute with the players association. The owners want a larger portion of the revenue from the league. The players want better health care for when they play and also after they retire. The players association also want a revision to the rookie wages. Top draft picks are payed extremely large amounts of money without ever playing a pro game. The veteran players want this to be lessened and the wages be determined by how the players preform on the field. This dispute has resulted in the league locking out the players and preventing them from playing football until a deal is reached.

The disputed issues make up the exigence in this situation. It requires the two sides to get together and communicate/negotiate to solve the issue. The players feel that they deserve better health care, better wage division, and to keep their share of the revenue. They feel that since they put their lives on the line to play a very violent game, that they are entitled to these things. They have spoken out in an attempt to gain support in their argument. Their audience includes the people of the football community(fans). The players have even reached out to the court system by filing lawsuits against the NFL for locking them out. This displays a key idea of public advocacy. It is not often an easy process, but the players believe in their cause and continue to fight for it, even if they do not succeed immediately. The players hope that if they continue to fight for their cause that they can eventually convince the public and the NFL to see their point of view and, as a result, a fair deal can be reached.

Writer's Strike

In 2007, over 12,000 TV, film, and radio writers across America were on strike. The east and west sides of the Writers Guild of America joined forces from November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008. The writers believed that they were not being payed fairly in comparison to the large cut that the big corporations kept for themselves, and wanted to double the residual income of DVD sales. When the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers refused their request, they picketed and held rally after rally to prove that they meant business. After months of negotiation between the WGA and the AMPTP, the WGA decided to negotiate with each studio individually and came to several agreements with them, showing how persevering is an essential part of public advocacy.

In this rhetorical situation, the exigence would be the WGA's need for a larger cut of the profits. They try to convey this to their audience, who is not only limited to AMPTP with intention to persuade them to see it their way and give them that cut, but includes all of America itself, persuading them to see the situation from their eyes and sympathize. The constraints would include their large audience. It would be almost impossible for them to talk to each person directly, so they must make a statement towards the group and hope that their message is decoded properly. The audience of the AMPTP, as well, may not be willing to listen to the WGA's problems, and so they must word their arguments in a way that can make the AMPTP sympathize as well.