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.

public advocacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWQgktBR6-w

The main point of public advocacy is to make the public aware of an issue or your opinion on something, and to try to convince them to be on your side. This video is a perfect example of this. It is not a civic engagement because it is not actively trying to make people stop smoking, but it is trying to make people aware that smoking is bad. They decide to use star wars as a method of delivery because star wars is a very memorable thing that everyone knows about. I actually think this would have a better influence on the public if it were showed today because of the quality of the commercial. Back when it was made it was normal, but today the quality is so poor and the acting is so stupidly funny that people would really remember this commercial.

The rhetoric in this commercial, although not the most convincing in nature, is actually very effective. This is clearly targeted at kids, and they do a good job at making an argument directed towards them, for example they point out that smoking is not something that makes you grown up, eliminating the urge to smoke cigarettes because kids think it makes them look cool and older. Although the tone is not very persuasive, as it is a robot talking, the fact that it is starwars makes every word ten times more effective towards the designated audience.

Rally to Restore Sanity

One of the best examples I can think of for public advocacy and civic engagement is the Rally to Restore Sanity that was held in DC in October 2010. The goal of the rally, led by Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, was to bring everyone together so that they could be heard and stop everyone from fighting with each other over controversial topics such as what political party they identified with. They had a very effective delivery, getting the audiences attention with their jokes and skits. They also provided the crowd with other entertainment such as music collaborations singing for the most part about togetherness. Everyone was completely engaged in what they were saying and seemed to take it to heart. They mentioned things that everyone could relate too which also brought the audience in. It was a topic that was really important in this country because so many people were polarizing themselves causing friction between the people who didn't agree with each other. The topic of this was clearly identified and both Colbert and Stewart tried to create a solution by bringing everyone together. It's a good thing to look at if you want to go at something in a kind of funny satire way to addressing a problem that provides so many people with stress and anger. Even if you don't want to come across in that way in the end Stewart provided an emotional speech that captivated the audience without much noise to get in the way of the message he was trying to convey.

Public Advocacy for Acid Attacks on Women

Although it is focused primarily in India, a new form of violence is becoming popular globally. In this form of savagery, the attacker purchases highly volatile types of acids with the intent to disfigure his victim. The public advocacy for this issue will cause enforcement for not only placing restrictions on the use of these acids, but also it will cause activism in support of the sufferers.

In this clip, a rare case of acid disfigurement is portrayed. A former British model speaks out on her experience of rape and mutilation. What was first thought to be someone throwing a drink on her soon turned out to be melting away her features. Now, women have the fear of acid attacks to join their other terrors of rape, domestic violence, and discrimination. Keeping their guards up is no longer enough; in an instant these women can be transformed into monsters, a fate worse than death. I strongly empathize with this topic, and so I hope to raise awareness through competent speech.

Public Advocacy in Family Guy

One big issue that has been debated for quite a while is the legalization of marijuana. It can become a heated argument and this has caused little progress in the actual process of legalizing it. But one important thing about effective public advocacy is interaction with the public and the ability to make a serious issue seem light. An example of this comes from a Family Guy episode, where Brian pushes for the legalization of marijuana. He uses an articulate argument, but is very austere and does not get his audience's attention. To fix this, Stewie comes in with a full band and a creative song where everyone gets involved. This is an effective example of public advocacy because he is able to interact with his audience and get his message across in a creative way. This is an important part of effective advocacy, and that is why I selected this example.

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.

Assignment Three

When you mention trafficking, the first thing that mainly comes to peoples minds is the movie, "Taken" with Liam Neison. But this is not something exaggerated from Hollywood; sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by
force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the
age of 18 years. Not For Sale is a nonprofit international organization that equips and mobilizes Smart Activists to deploy innovative solutions to re-abolish slavery in their own backyards and across the globe. Their mission statement is, "Together, we can end slavery in our lifetime."

The main problem with sex trafficking is not that it needs more awareness but that there is a stereotype that is incorrect with most sex crimes. Most people believe that when they see young girls selling themselves for sex, it is their choice to be a prostitute; when in reality girls 12-18 years of age are forced into sex slavery and automatically receive this bad reputation. Also most people think the classic picture of international sex trafficking involves a woman who was recruited in her home country, deceived or forced into the sex industry in the United States, and transported across borders by small or large-scale trafficking networks or gangs. Surprisingly the United States has its own sex trade that operates solely in the U.S. using citizens for slaves. For most, this is a pathos issue. The thought of women being forced against their will to perform sexual acts is heart breaking. If I were to do my speech on this I would talk about the urgency of the problem, and how customers of this trade are growing rapidly and the practice is becoming more volatile; and also that only 13 hours away from Penn State lies Atlanta, Georgia the number one sex trafficking city in the U.S. This is closer than we think and it requires our attention.