There are a lot of really bad things in the world that deserve our attention. A lot of causes that we could be dedicating our time. Charities that we could be donating our money. Change that we could be advocating for. At a recent BCAMA event focused on sustainable marketing, a speaker from the Vancouver-based marketing firm Octopus Strategies discussed how with such an array of causes and corresponding public appeals, passion alone isn’t enough to drive your personal cause – something more is needed to engage the public. But what exactly is this “something more”? Is there a formula where you can plunk in your cause, your goal, and your audience and the perfect engagement tactic will spit out? Unfortunately, this is not the case (well – not yet at least – socially responsible mathematicians get to work!)
Recent scientific findings (and no, these are not related to most of the “recent findings” cited by John Horn on the popularity of Johnism) have shown that us humans have a physiological response to inequality – namely, the human brain, upon confronting an inequitable situation, reacts more positively and strongly when those in an inequitable or unfair situation are given more equitable or fair treatment. We all know this pretty innately – nobody likes to see others suffer. But the breadth of appeals that confront us can be overwhelming, and when we don’t actually see or experience these inequalities in our daily lives, it can be difficult to become engaged. Stats don’t lie, as they say, but they certainly make it easy to remain far removed.
An amazing public awareness campaign in Toronto recently caught my eye, and made me think about some po
ssible solutions to these frighteningly overwhelming questions about engaging the masses. The Stop Community Food Centre has just wrapped up it’s Do the Math Campaign, which aimed to raise awareness about the dismally inadequate social assistance program in Ontario. I encourage you all to take a moment, go to the site, and Do the Math. Trust me, when you do you’ll find that a person attempting to live off of social assistance does not receive enough income to live with health and dignity.
This campaign caught my eye because it engaged Torontonians in a clever and unique way towards a very specific goal. Popular and influential Torontonians, including Naomi Klein, city councilor Joe Miheyc and Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown, stepped up to the (mostly empty) plate to raise awareness about how difficult it is for a person living on social assistance to live in health and with dignity. Relying on food hampers and drop-in lunches for a week, they blogged about their experiences living off drastically limited choices and encouraged others to become involved. This campaign succeeded in getting people involved because it used prominent public figures as a bridge between worlds – between the haves and have-nots – that is seldom crossed. It took advantage of technology to reach young adults, a particularly hard group to reach. It sucked readers in with curiosity and kept them there with personal stories from people they respected and trusted. It made people think … would I be able to survive if I only had $30.00 – $60.00/month for all of the food I consume? If I had to plan and stick to a budget so tight that every single penny was accounted for (check out this blog by a Vancouver Island resident living on a very limited budge for more on this)? Participants and organizers alike were quick to recognize that in no way was the experience of these participants anything like those of someone actually living in poverty, but statistics can only go so far and gimmicks and theatre often work to engage otherwise desensitized citizens.
There are a lot of friends and family in my life who work tirelessly for causes, who ooze passion from their pores and work every day to make this world a better place. Finding this balance between passion and clever tactics is never easy, but so necessary in order to make the changes we hope to see a reality.
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Great post Michelle.
Recent findings show two things about it: first, jokes about Johnism merely reinforce the tenets of the world’s coolest new ethos…Johnism; second, the results from the “do the math” campaign are quite staggaring.
You’ve articulated an important need surrounding an issue that people, I think, don’t pay any attention to and, when attention is given to it, the majority of us tend to say things like “hand outs” and “get a job” and “work harder” and “I’ve seen hard times, too” – do you think that some much needed in-shoe-walking needs to happen before people truly understand what it means to live on a $60 food budget? Perhaps the Daily Gumboot needs to conduct a bit of an experiment.
Also, I hope that Naomi Klein comments – mostly because she’s brilliantly awesome, but mostly because I think you’re brilliantly awesome in a way that rivals her! That’s right, Naomi Klein…I went there.
- JCH
I’ll raise my hand and say that I definitely fall into the camp of ‘go to a shelter/soup kitchen’. My feeling is that my tax dollars go towards these programs, so I don’t need to be giving my spare change to an individual that I don’t entirely trust. I’m in favor of increased taxes for these programs, so perhaps I avoid the sting of hypocrisy, but after reading this article and links, I may still be ignorant and insensitive to the plight of the needy.
One of the things that really opened my eyes a few years ago was while volunteering at a soup kitchen. I was surprised to see such a large share of students and even a few ‘businesspeople’ (for lack of a better word). It really dawned on me that the problem is much more vast than just the ‘people on the streets’ – that there is a basic level of sustenance issue affecting a far greater number than field reports can uncover. And like an ever-slipping sinkhole, it can be near impossible to get out of the negative feedback loop.
On the other side of this issue are people like me that don’t really know what to do. Marketing campaigns are great at opening eyes and minds, but can fall short of driving action. They can also serve to feed back into the endless cycle of lobbyism. What we need is a radical approach to how we address the issue, and clear directives for the average Joe that wants to help.
Great post! I volunteered at The Stop’s food bank a couple of years ago when I was between school and work and they’ve been one of my favourite organizations since. Rather than just giving people a standard basket of food The Stop gives people the chance to have choice in what they get. And even though it started out as food bank, it now calls itself a Community Food Centre and covers a full spectrum of food initiatives including a drop in centre, education, community gardens, green houses, fresh food markets, farmers’ markets and more. Another of the interesting projects they are working on (and that I’m really looking forward to as someone working on food system planning) is looking at how their Community Food Centre model could work in other communities.
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