CHCF

Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida is dedicated to serving homeless people through transitional housing, providing food, offering children services, etc. They stay connected to those interested in helping by having pages on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. Last year they released a video on their Youtube page that highlighted the lives of either currently or previously homeless people. The video has an emotional appeal, and was able to garner some media attention in Winter Park. However, the video only has a little over 800 views, meaning they did not broadcast it enough. It is tough for activist groups to get the attention of large communities, because it is tough to make people care, period. People are all fully capable of caring about seriously important issues, it just has to be presented in an attractive way, such as this video. Activist groups are great, but it is hard for them to have a global impact, especially an eradication of sorts. I think the best thing activist groups can do, though, is to stay connected through media outlets and be open to the ideas of their online communities.

Quiz 4

After the deep-water oil spill caused by British Petroleum (BP) in April of 2010, the image of the oil business (especially that of BP) was deeply tarnished. Starting in September of 2010, British Petroleum began releasing public service announcements about locals effected by the oil spill, and how BP "made things right". While one of the purposes of this campaign was to show people that it was safe to go back to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, its main agenda was revamping BP's public image.
These advertisements, while effective because they target the individual are very illegitimate because they don't tell the whole truth. There are still thousands of workers who are now jobless, and poor due to the oil spill. Below are a few examples of these advertisements made by BP. Anyone can make their own judgment on these videos, however I find it pretty hard to see right through the phoniness of it all. While this strategy may be the best idea for British Petroleum, it will never be forgotten that this is the same company that harmed the gulf. This makes these advertisements somewhat of a waste of time. A better idea for British Petroleum would be to financially back a more local conservation group working to protect those effected by the oil spill.

Coalition of Immokale Workers

From the "CIW" website: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a membership-led farmworker organization of mostly Latino, Haitian and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida. We have been organizing in the town of Immokalee since 1993 and have a base of nearly 4,000 members.

The CIW has two primary campaigns. Our Campaign for Fair Food seeks to improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers by calling on major buyers of tomatoes to pay a premium of one penny more per pound for their tomatoes, ensure that this penny is passed down directly to farmworkers, and work together with the CIW to establish and implement a code of conduct in their supply chains.

Our Anti-Slavery campaign is an effort to put an end to the continued existence of modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry. To date, we have worked together with the Department of Justice and the FBI to uncover, investigate and federally prosecute seven cases of modern-day slavery in Florida’s fields. We are founding members of the national network to end modern-day slavery, the Freedom Network USA, and through the Freedom Network Training Institute (FNTI), we also train law enforcement and NGOs on how to eliminate forced labor in their communities."

The CIW's Campaign For Fair Food has resulted in changes within McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, grocery marts and the food service industry for the betterment of not only better quality food, but better treatment for farmers. By protesting and raising awareness of the negative corporate influence on farms and subsequently the treatment of the farmers, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are actively changing how large companies raise food and treat workers. Increasing workers wages and fighting for Code of Conduct policies for agricultural suppliers are both benefits that would never have been achieved if the CIW and their Campaign for Fair Food didn't reach out to thousands of people via the blogosphere. The internet has enable the group to be mobilized in numerous cities, placing pressure on companies at not only their headquarters but at various events all over the country. Without the internet, this campaign would never have reached the amount of people it currently attracts.

FWAF

The Farmworker Association of Florida’s long-standing mission is to build power among farmworker and rural low-income communities to respond to and gain control over the social, political, workplace, economic, health, and environmental justice issues that impact their lives.

The Farmworker Association of Florida was founded in 1983 in response to devastating freezes decimating the citrus crop in Central Florida and impacting farmworkers’ livelihoods. The organization incorporated in 1986 and expanded statewide in 1992. FWAF now has five offices in diverse agricultural communities in Florida and organizes and outreaches to farmworkers in 15 different counties in the state. FWAF’s policy change efforts over the years have improved living and working conditions for Florida’s estimated 300,000 farmworkers, and include passage of the historic Florida Right to Know Act, among other successes.

FWAF media use of blog posts, audio podcasts and videos the organization is able to share multiple trainings and programs that compliment their hard work and all that they have achieved to become successful. Below is a list of different programs and trainings FWAF has done to be obtain their ultimate goal in order to be a successful organization.

1. Pesticide Health and Safety Trainings for Farmworkers Pesticide Exposure Recognition

2. Diagnosis and Treatment Trainings for Health Care Providers at Migrant Clinics

3. Advocacy for Policy Change to Improve Farmworkers Living and Working Conditions

4. Community-based, participatory research projects on farmworker health

5. Immigrants’ and Workers’ Rights Advocacy

6. Vocational Rehabilitation for Farmworkers

7. Education and Peer Support for Pregnant and Post-partum low-income, minority women

8. Disaster Preparedness and Relief

9. YEP- Youth Empowerment Program - HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention for Hispanic and Haitian Youth

10. Education and Empowerment for Latino Small Farmers Leadership Development

11. Outreach to and Collaboration with Student and Youth groups to raise awareness about farmworker issues.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a group that operates in Antarctica. Their purpose is to stop Japan's whaling operations. For quite a while, Japan has been killing whales "for scientific purposes." Recently, the Japanese government has suspended their whaling operations as a result of the efforts of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society successfully used an unusual media campaign strategy to spread word of their cause. Unlike traditional activist group who attempt to gain media exposure through protests or rallies, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was featured in a running series on Animal Planet called Whale Wars.

FOE- Friends of Earth

Friends of Earth is a community activist group that was formed in an effort to defend the planet and strives for more awareness towards a more just and healthy world. It seems like one of their more significant media campaigns as of recent was that they were seeking to put an end to the approval of genetically engineered salmon that is used for human consumption. They brought in a man named Eric Hoffman, a bio-tech policy campaigner, who spoke in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. The fact that they were protesting in front of the White House would lead me to believe that it was a successful campaign. Some of the limitations this campaign might have, as well as most if not all other campaigns, is that halting this approval will wind up costing money to some organization, and sadly, whenever money is involved, it tends to blind people from doing what is right.

CBE

CBE, Communities for a Better Environment, is a non-profit organization founded to improve public health and achieve environmental justice. It is active in Northern and Southern California, where the pollution seems to be the worst in all of the country. This organization brings people on toxic tours (just as is stated in our book) and uses these to try and make people better understand the problem (of our polluted environment).

Through CBE’s media use of blog posts, audio podcasts, and videos the organization sheds light on the activists and grassroots organizations that are working to transform this challenge – “increasing access to housing, food, and water; supporting indigenous communities; building a green collar economy; and, with optimism and creativity, striving vigorously and resolutely for environmental justice for all.”

Executive Director, Bill Gallegos states that “the majority of these people living in these bad environments are people of color, or low income” and furthermore “every effort to rid these vulnerable communities of toxins literally saves lives.” Hence CBE has been highly successful in using the law as an instrument of social change. Additionally Gallegos details the struggle to instill a “crude cap” on Chevron’s oil refining process and the ways we can all participate in environmental activism is linked to an audio podcast on his website.

Of what I have read, there were no specific stats/facts that proved any ‘success’ in helping ‘these’ people but their blogs, audio podcasts and videos are certainly gaining recognition ‘at least’! In that sense it is successful but limitations do exist as they seem to exist in every activist environmental organization is truly making ‘that’ difference. As discussed in class something like this needs to reach, touch, affect somebody who has money and/or a great will to truly fight ‘against’ these companies that are releasing all of these toxins.

See their website at:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegoodfight/About

Trix are for Kids

This here is an advertisement for Abercrombie and Fitch, which Klein specifically mentions as one of the companies to immerse themselves in the P.C. Marketing craze. This is a commercial about wrestling. What is interesting about this commercial is that it not only appeals to the homosexual community (even though I do not agree completely, wrestling has been labeled a somewhat homosexual sport), but on the flip side, wrestling can also be seen by some as being very masculine and macho. This not only appeals to the gay community, but it is not limited to just that specific identity.


The second video is the famous, "Trix are for Kids" video that has been around since the 80's, but not so much today. Regardless, this message is clearly targeting the kids market. This is significant because, as Klein states on page 119: "The message is clear: get the kids and you've got the whole family and future market." (Klein 119). In addition, reading a little further down the page, Elissa Moses, who is the senior VP of the advertising agency, said that the arrival of the global teen demographic was "one of the greatest marketing opportunities of all time." (Klein 119). Although there are many advertisement strategies geared toward adults, the fact of the matter is that kids are so easily influenced and so susceptible to advertising tricks that it would be crazy for these companies NOT to gear their advertising brands toward such a vulnerable population.

The similarities between these two constructions of identity is that they both target groups of the population that are very vulnerable, in a sense. Kids are vulnerable in that they simply do not know any better; they do not yet have the ability to look at an advertisement and afterward, say to themselves "this is a load of crap, this commercial is trying to trick me into buying their product." They simply see the advertisement and because "Trix are for kids," they feel they can identify with that, (because after all they are kids) and go out and convince their parents to buy the product. The gay community is vulnerable as well in the sense that they are still a "minority" in this population in terms of how many gay people there really are, and seeing tanned, sweaty, muscular men gives them not only an identity but something to aspire to as well. The differences between these two advertisements is that the Trix commercial is targeted more towards a specific demographic (kids), whereas the Abercrombie ad is targeted more towards a "lifestyle." Also, the Abercrombie ad could be geared towards not only gay men but masculine men who are very comfortable with their sexuality, but straight, whereas the Trix ad is targeted towards kids and only kids.

Sport Sponsorship

What was one of the more interesting points about the reading for me was found on the top of page 186, and how the individual him or herself, rather than the place, is how the space is sold: "Perhaps the most disturbing manifestation of corporate censorship takes place when the space that is sold is not a place but a person." (Klein 186) This made me think of David Beckham and his individual sponsorship with Adidas, and how Adidas clearly uses him, his good looks, his celebrity status, and his ability to perform consistently well on the soccer field, to promote its product. It is also interesting to see how much pressure there is put on these athletes when a company invests so much in them. For instance, when Tiger Woods' sex scandal broke out before Thanksgiving of last year, 2 of his big sponsorships dropped him like a bad habit, because they did not want to have their product associated with him at all, which is funny in the sense that Tiger Woods has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the gillete shaving gel (one of the sponsors), but yet, the individual has essentially become the product itself, so the company or product ultimately rises and falls with that individual's status.