3 styles of video advocacy (lobbying, vertical campaign, horizontal campaign) prepared for the Health Media Initiative of the Open Society Foundations and presented in Geneva Switzerland June 13th, 2013.
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
Video Advocacy Styles
1. VIDEO ADVOCACY
Mary Joyce for the Health Media Initiative
of the Open Society Foundations
Geneva, Switzerland | June 13, 2013
Styles
image: Flickr/JustinJensen
4. Successstories
2007: Bound by Promises (17 minutes), about modern-day slavery in Brazil, was
screened before the Brazilian Congress’ Human Rights Commission, and has
proven instrumental in getting Mobile Inspection Squads, which are responsible for
investigating claims of runaway slaves, to resume their work. "Bound by Promises"
has also led to greater investments in programs for workers.
2005: The Austin, Texas City Council unanimously approved a resolution opposing
vigilantes along the U.S.-Mexico border and requiring authorities to monitor and
report all vigilante activities after a screening of Rights on the Line (4 minutes).
The film was co-produced by partner American Friends Service Committee in
collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union.
source: http://www2.witness.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1011&Itemid=70
2005: The State Senate Majority Leader in California introduced sweeping legislation
to overhaul the State’s juvenile prison system five days after System Failure
(31 minutes) by partner Books Not Bars revealing rampant abuses in the system was
screened at the Capitol.
5. Casestory
US Secretary of Defense sees the
documentary The Invisible War,
about sexual assault in the military.
He decides to change the military’s
policy about investigating assault
cases to make it easier for victims to
seek justices.
6. Film director and producer commit themselves to work on a lobbying campaign.
They have a screening on Capitol Hill for members of Congress that is co-
sponsored by 2 members of Congress who are allies.
The filmmakers also organize 30-40 other private screenings for policymakers.
They reach out to politicians, advocacy organizations, journalists and military
personnel.
They used their existing political connections. One producer’s mother was a
Senator.
The private screenings created a strong word of mouth campaign, which led to
the Secretary of Defense seeing the film.
How ithappened
source: http://www.filmindependent.org/resources/case-studies/case-study-the-invisible-war/#.Ua-TiPZAS4d
8. More people to arrange screenings.
More people to get press contacts.
People to organize supporting tactics.
You get the benefit without doing the work, because tasks are decentralized.
Allies are motivated to participate because they reinforce their own key
relationships with journalists and decision-makers by using your content.
Allies work to their strengths. Lobbying organizations lobby, grassroots groups
hold protests and rallies.
Who are your allies on your video topic?
The Importance ofallies
9. When is lobbying the best option?
When would it not work?
Lobbying1.
13. Allies andsupporters
Ally Supporter Group
National Bar Association lawyers around the country
helps you mobilize
University Student Association university students
Union President union members
Who else?
18. Who are your likely supporters?
What technology do they use?
Developingtactics
You website
Ally’s website
Your blog
Ally blog
Popular blog
Facebook
Twitter
VKontakte
LiveJournal
20. Casestory
When the Global Fund pulled out of Russia in 2009, the Russian government refused
to continue supporting harm reduction programs. A campaign using video of expert
testimony on the crisis convinced the Global Fund to extend its funding.
21. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union filmed experts at the 2009 Moscow AIDS
conference talking about the crisis in Russian harm reduction.
They made a video, “Officially Neglected” (9 minutes) and posted it on Youtube.
They shared it on their own website and on their Facebook page.
They allowed other NGOs to post it on their sites (example: drogriporter.hu)
They emailed the link to NGO allies.
They reached out to ally websites with higher traffic, like stopthedrugwar.org, to
try to get a broader audience for the video.
They started an e-petition to focus supporter influence on the target.
Allies also showed the video directly to decision-makers (mixing advocacy styles!)
How ithappened
source: http://www.filmindependent.org/resources/case-studies/case-study-the-invisible-war/#.Ua-TiPZAS4d
22. When is vertical campaigning the best option?
When would lobbying work better?
Vertical2.
campaigning
25. Casestory
Celebrities, sports teams, businesses, politicians, and ordinary people make videos
urging LGBT youth not the commit suicide because life “gets better.”
26. In September 2010, in response to the suicide of a number of gay teens, gay
journalist Dan Savage and his husband record a Youtube video telling queer teens
that “it gets better” and suicide is not an option.
Savage writes about the video in his column in the Seattle weekly The Stranger a
few days later. In that column he says that he has started a Youtube channel to
host videos of LGBT adults saying how it has gotten better for them.
Decentralization: Savage doesn’t make all the videos. He inspires others to make
their own and share their own stories.
The campaign gets very big very fast. Over 50,000 people create a video. A
month later, President Obama creates a video for the project.
Over 50 million people have viewed one of the project’s videos.
How ithappened
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Gets_Better_Project
27. With these types of projects, it is easy to measure participation and it is hard to
measure goal attainment. (What is the goal?)
It is easy to measure how many people have watched the video or created a video.
It is very hard to know how many viewers were queer teens considering suicide
who were convinced not to by watching the video.
They don’t know if they have attained their goal of preventing the suicides of
queer youth.
This is because, unlike a vertical campaign, the individual targets are unknown to
the advocate so their reception of the campaign is also unknown.
Measuringsuccess
