The Marine Conservation Society created a poster campaign to raise awareness about the dangers balloons pose to wildlife. The poster explains how balloons can harm birds and other animals if they are released into the environment. It aims to educate the public and encourage safer alternatives to balloon releases. The campaign has been successful in banning balloon releases in some areas of the UK.

1. Social Action and Community
Media
Existing Product Research

2. Case Study: Marine Conservation Society
Purpose:
This campaign’s main purpose is to raise
awareness on the dangers balloons pose to
wildlife, and to change public attitude on their
usage. The campaign is aimed at bringing
nationwide change through the UK and
providing information on the dangers, as well
as safer alternatives for people to use.
Aims:
This poster has been created by the Marine
Conservation Society to raise awareness over
the danger that balloons and lanterns pose to
wildlife, particularly birds, as most people
would likely not know or think about what
happens to balloons when they let them float
off. The poster also provides information on
what balloons can cause in the environment
and has posted the web addresses for the
charity that offers several alternatives to using
balloons in fundraisers and certain holidays.
The charity aims to reduce the number of
balloon-related deaths in the wild by
educating people on the danger they pose to
wildlife and encouraging people to use
alternatives, such as releasing balloons inside
or using tethered balloons, as a sculpture or
arch.
2Creative Media Production 2012

3. Techniques:
This campaign makes use of a white, blue and orange colour
scheme that ties into the group’s environmental agenda, which is
aimed towards protecting the coastal environment and wildlife. This
helps to make the leaflet feel more like a reminder to the public
rather than a telling off, which might use dark, bold colours and lots
of punctuation to make the text seem more dramatic and give the
impression that it is a warning to the public. This campaign uses a lot
of unedited shock imagery of animals entangled in man-made
rubbish in order to incite certain feelings within the viewer and make
them feel sympathetic for their cause. Coloured, bold text is used to
highlight the main dangers of balloons as well as the campaign’s
tagline ‘Don’t Let Go!’ which helps to draw attention to the main
points that the poster is putting across, allowing somebody to skim
across and know the meaning behind the post without reading into
the finer details. The charity has used a weathered font for this
poster in order to create the idea that balloons are a genuine issue
and can cause serious damage if something is not done about them.
The charity behind the campaign has included their contact details at
the bottom as well as their personal website, which allows people
who wish to know more to log on and receive more information than
the poster can convey by itself.
3Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Marine Conservation Society

4. Impact: Through this campaign the MCS has seen some favourable
results thanks to heavy campaigning and writing to local authorities and
MPs regarding the problem with balloon releases and their subsequent
danger to wildlife. A petition organised by the charity helped to ban all
intentional balloon and lantern releases in Wales when they presented
their figures of litter found on beaches to the local government.
4Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Marine Conservation Society

5. Case Study: Shelter
Purpose:
This campaign’s purpose is to raise
awareness about the number of young
children who are homeless in Scotland. It is
intended to change attitudes about homeless
people by highlighting their plight and giving
them more of a human representation so that
people will be able to connect with them. The
campaign also provides information and
builds relationships with subjects with the
figures of how many children are in temporary
accommodation.
Aims:
By creating this poster, Shelter aims to reduce
the number of children who will be living in
temporary accommodation by Christmas.
They do this by using imagery that helps the
audience connect with what these homeless
people might be feeling, as well as using a
happy, festive occasion such as Christmas to
highlight how alone they really are. The
charity also aims to raise more money for
their campaign and get more signatures for a
petition that will be presented to the
government. The charity hopes to put
pressure on the government to build more
accommodation and housing in response to
the crisis. 5Creative Media Production 2012

6. Techniques:
The poster that Shelter uses is comprised of a simple greyscale
background with red details, which helps to make certain important
elements more prominent such as the logo of the charity and the
banner for contact information. This gives the poster quite a striking
appearance which is easily noticeable to the casual observer. Using
a shade of grey as the background has created a gloomy and
unforgiving atmosphere which helps people realize the problem of
youth homelessness, as opposed to a cheerful and vibrant look that
could be achieved with lots of bright colours. Red is commonly used
as a colour to connotate urgency or danger and this is highlighted by
the red tape at the top reading ‘Emergency Christmas Appeal’ which
highlights how out of hand the situation is for the charity and how
they need the help of the public. The main feature on this poster is
the depiction of a young child posed to appear innocent and oblivious
to the shortage of homes for young people, which helps the audience
to connect through sympathy, particularly those who may have
children themselves as they can realize that a child without a home is
a huge problem for their wellbeing and development, which can give
them backing to support the charity. The poster automatically
assumes that the problem with the homeless has angered the
audience with their tagline ‘Yes, we’re outraged too.’ This has been
used to connect with the audience and create the impression that the
figure for homeless children is extremely worrying and concerning.
This is a tactic used to reassure the public that they are thinking the
same way as the charity and their support is wanted.
6Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Shelter

7. Impact:
In response to this campaign, Shelter has managed to successfully
persuade the Government that more new homes are needed, which led to
the creation of a £400 million investment fund for new houses. In addition
to this there have been changes to letting and boarding schemes, such as
operations to weed out rogue landlords and prevent tenants from being
taken advantage of or otherwise given an unfair deal.
7Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Shelter

8. Case Study: Conservative election campaign
Purpose:
The purpose of this poster is to change
the voting behaviour of those who vote
for different parties other than the
conservatives, evident by the tagline
‘We can’t go on like this’ which
highlights that the current party in power
is inadequate. The poster is also used
for campaigning for the Conservatives
in order to secure more votes.
Aims:
The Conservatives have created this
poster with the aim of acquiring more
votes in the general election over their
opponents. The poster is aimed at
painting the party in a more positive
light with their tagline, which promises
to cut the deficit instead of the NHS.
This gives the impression that the
Conservatives have the British people in
mind by putting the health service first
and fixing the economy.
8Creative Media Production 2012

9. Techniques:
The election posters used by the Tories involve using
large, bold taglines that are designed to grab the
audience’s attention, whether they are passing by in
the street or on a road. They are designed to be short
and simple so that people do not have to spend a lot
of the time reading the poster and deciphering it: they
can walk past, glance at the tagline and have the
message implanted firmly in their heads. In particular,
to improve their public image, their taglines revolve
around bettering the economy and publishing figures
that indicate the country is recovering under a
Conservative government. The bottom poster
features a long and seemingly endless road, which
implies that there is still lots to be done to fix the
economy. The usage of bright colours for the fields
and the sky indicate that while there is still progress
to be made, Britain has definitely shown some
recovery and the future is looking bright for the
country. The figures listed below the primary tagline
are arranged with the power of three in short
sentences, which creates more of an impact as they
can be read quickly. The top poster invites readers to
learn more about the party’s plans by posting their
web address on the poster, meaning that the
Conservatives are offering more information than a
poster can convey which helps to encourage people
to support the party.
9Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Conservative election campaign

10. Impact:
Under the Tories there is evidence that the economy has flourished,
reporting a 2.6% increase in growth in 2014, when the government was a
Tory/Lib Dem coalition. In addition to this, party membership, thanks to the
election campaign, has risen in the Conservative party which is now at
134,000 members, below the Labour party at 190,000.
10Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Conservative election campaign

11. Case Study: Accessible Arts and Media
Purpose:
The purpose of this charity is to create
access to media production for non-
traditional groups by organizing different
activities for all ages. It is also trying to
create and strengthen community ties
by educating them about issues that
they may not know a lot about. This
charity also tries to infiltrate mainstream
media by letting disadvantaged people
have a say.
Aims:
This poster is aimed at bringing together
people with disabilities or special needs
and giving them an outlet that may not
be available elsewhere. The charity
aims to give disadvantaged people a
voice and create better representations
of who they are. The charity primarily
aims to do this through engaging
activities and workshops to allow
disabled and disadvantaged people to
express themselves through creativity.
11Creative Media Production 2012

12. Techniques:
The main website for the group uses easily legible, colour
font and lots of childish elements which ties in to the charity’s
youth-orientated nature. The usage of lots of different colours
in the website’s elements gives solidifies the idea that they
are an all-inclusive organization, with different colours on the
site representing different groups of people. The choice
colours also creates a timeless atmosphere where they are
appealing to all the age groups without any specific colours.
The logo for AAM itself is designed to represent the drive to
allow disabled people to express themselves through
creativity, hence the paint splatter. The website includes lots
of pictures of its members partaking in activities which it uses
to both advertise itself as a friendly and welcoming
organization and to show off their different offerings for the
community. To make itself more accessible to disadvantaged
people the site uses coloured tabs at the top for navigation
which makes to distinguish between pages. The site has also
included a ‘night’ setting which allows the site to be easier to
read in the dark or for people with reading difficulties, which is
part of their drive for accessibility for all types of people. The
information on the website is a combination of long and short
sentences that is beneficial to those who have trouble
reading more complex sentences. The site also includes lots
of links to pages where people can contact them for support
and also to send donations to the charity.
12Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Accessible Arts and Media

13. Impact:
Thanks to the charity’s activities, it was awarded £1000 from the Hull and
East Riding Charitable Trust and £500 from the James Reckitt charity in
order to be able to continue their group in East Riding. The charity also
received £1500 from the Charles Ruddock Trust which was used to
continue support for the Hands & Voices singing choir.
13Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Accessible Arts and Media

14. Case Study: Stonewall
Purpose:
This charity’s purpose is to challenge
dominant representation and agendas,
to change attitudes, to bring global
change, to campaign, and to raise
awareness.
Aims:
This charity is dedicated to campaigning
for equal rights, especially for the LGBT
minority, which still suffers from
discrimination in the 21st century. Its
main goal is to get people to stop using
the word ‘gay’ as a derogatory insult
when the subject is not gay at all. The
charity is also fighting for people to
accept gay people for who they are
instead of making a big fuss about their
sexuality. This is an attempt to make
people realise that homosexuality is
something that should be supported
fully instead of being demonized.
14Creative Media Production 2012

15. Techniques:
These posters by Stonewall rely on a simple yet
effective approach, being comprised only of text and
a blank white background the emphasize the
message on hand. The main element of the poster is
the debunking that the word ‘gay’ should not be used
as a simple derogatory term as it wrongly implies that
the subject is homosexual and trivialises the meaning
of the word. The two main colours are black and red
on a white background which gives the poster a very
striking yet simple appearance and makes it easily
recognizable in public spaces or on the internet.
At the bottom of the poster Stonewall has included
their social media links, such as Facebook and
Twitter, as well as their web address. This allows
people wanting to know more to be able to log on to
these sites and have a look at the charity and it’s
activities for themselves. The poster also includes a
Twitter hashtag, allowing people to spread the
campaign’s message quickly and easily. This helps to
make more people aware of the campaign and get
them to pledge their support.
15Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Stonewall

16. Impact:
Thanks to the efforts of Stonewall and other equal rights charities, rights
for the LGBT minority has increased in many European countries, such as
the UK, Iceland, France, Spain, and most of Scandinavia. Following a
push by the charity, same-sex marriage was legalised in the UK in 2014,
which was a major milestone for LGBT rights.
16Creative Media Production 2012
Case Study: Stonewall