coala Naional de Studii Politice i Administrative Facultatea de Comunicare i Relaii Publice Communication and advertising- nivel master

Symbolic distance and care for one another Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign

Applicant: Cezara Radu

Bucureti 2013

Table of contents:

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Approaches with regard to humanitarian campaigns .................................................................................... 4 Public relations campaigns as a means of communication ....................................................................... 4 Advertising campaigns as a means of communication ............................................................................. 5 Advertising discourse as a persuasive technique .......................................................................................... 7 Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign ............................................................................................... 9 The Campaigns description ..................................................................................................................... 9 Analysis of the advertising discourse...................................................................................................... 11 Objectives of the campaign ................................................................................................................. 11 The rhetoric of the campaign .............................................................................................................. 12 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 17

Introduction The world is in a continuous process of development and the standard of living is rising annually. To be in tone with the modern evolution of society it is necessary for companies and organizations to go beyond advertising activities focused on brand names or individual products. These entities need to adapt and aim to create consumer confidence in the company as a whole, focusing on corporate promotion. In order to pursue this strategy, organizations must become actively involved in social activities. Campaigns are also a great and efficient way for organizations to improve their image in the eyes of the general public. The present paper is has three chapters in which the Stop the pity. Unlock the potential humanitarian campaign, launched by the MamaHope organization, is analysed. The first chapter is an analysis of humanitarian campaigns from two different standpoints: public relations and advertising. The clear marking and delimitation between these two areas of communication is important because humanitarian campaigns tend to incorporate elements present in both. On the one hand, organizations make use of public relations by launching campaigns designed to promote and better the image of the organization. On the other hand, humanitarian campaigns have recently developed in complexity considerably, using a more sophisticated rhetoric and discourse, and becoming more and more linked to methods innate to advertising. The second chapter aims to study the discourse used in the case study campaign, treating it as a well defined system meant to persuade the target audience. The last chapter represents the actual case study, the analysis of the Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign. This was a very controversial campaign due to the fact that it had a fundamentally different approach from other humanitarian campaigns. Moreover, this campaign points out the questionable way in which traditional humanitarian campaigns promote their message and display the people they are trying to help, that is, by evoking pity and stereotypes. The different approach taken on by MamaHope ensured a greater credibility from the public and managed to positively influence its development. In this sense I have done an analysis of the rhetoric in the campaign as a means of persuasion of the target audience. The campaign also borrows and uses advertising campaigns in order to influence the consumers' opinions and attitude.

Approaches with regard to humanitarian campaigns

The activities carried out within the universe of public communication are seldom clearly delimited. In fact, any activity of this sort makes use of concepts and notions characteristic to other communicational activities. This is the reason a humanitarian campaign can be viewed from two different standpoints. The first consists in looking at a humanitarian campaign as being a public relations campaign, as it does not aim to promote a product, its objective being linked the image or opinion held by the public. The plan behind a humanitarian campaign is, in general, the same as that of a public relations campaign. The strategy drafted has the organization's concerns as a starting point, and it must promote and better the image of the organization. On the other hand, from a second point of view, humanitarian campaigns can be treated as advertising campaigns because they make use of advertising techniques and aim to advance their cause to the public, to convince and influence the public. The discourse of a humanitarian campaign is an advertising one, consisting in the sending of a message with the purpose of persuading.

Public relations campaigns as a means of communication

"Public relations represents the distinctive managerial function that helps ascertain and maintain reciprocal limits regarding communication, and also fosters the mutual acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its audience; public relations aids managers by duly informing them and allowing them to respond to the requests of the public; public relations defines and accentuates the duties of managers regarding the serving of the public interest; public relations acts as an early warning system meant to help managers anticipate trends in the economic medium; it uses ethical research and communication as their principal tools."1 In order to make an activity, idea or product public it does not suffice for these elements to exist, they must also be known. The most innovative and groundbreaking drug will bring no change in the world unless it is known, acknowledged and distributed. A theory that is not acknowledged by the scientific community does not further the advance of science. Public relations means communication. The objective of a public relations campaign consists in ensuring the communication between an organization and the general public. The purpose behind
1

Grunig, James E., Repper, Fred C., 1992, Strategic Management, Publics and Issues apud Coman, Cristina, Relaii publice i mass-media, Polirom, 2004, Bucureti, p. 4

these campaigns is the making of this communication better and the ameliorating of the relationship between the two parties. The public relations campaign is a sustained effort from the organization to build trustworthy relationships with society, with the public, in order to more easily achieve its goals. This effort is based on carrying out communication strategies and evaluating results.2 Similarly to public relations campaigns, humanitarian campaigns are drafted with care, in advance, having a precise number of stages. These stages and the strategies employed in such campaigns are under the influence of both internal and, especially, external factors. The target audience has a great influence on a humanitarian campaign and this is the reason why in the planning stage all social categories are analysed so as to design a campaign that is appealing to a larger part of the public audience. However, a significant difference between PR campaigns and humanitarian campaigns is the budget. A public relations campaign has a budget that is decided before the planning of the activities and is put up by the organization. On the other hand, humanitarian campaigns are usually launched by non-governmental organizations and, thus, the budget is made up of funds coming from various sources. Fund-raising activities have thus become paramount for this sort of organizations. NGO's are highly dependent on the donations and subscriptions paid. Consequently, NGO's must periodically get involved in fund-raising activities. A central role in these activities is held by important campaigns, advertised through the organizing of special events (from marches and public spectacles to mailing massive amounts of letters and door-to-door visits by activists).

Advertising campaigns as a means of communication

At the very core of advertising lies a wide range of communication strategies. These strategies ensure the connection between the products or commercial activities promoted and the possible customers. The relevance of the message in both its advancement and debating is paramount for the efficiency of these communication strategies. This is due to the fact that the message conveyed to the public with regard to a specific commodity creates certain expectations in the minds of the receivers, who, consequently, demand the quality and performance presented in the advertisements. An advertisement campaign is a plan: a communication plan whose
2

R. Kendall, Public Relations Campaign Strategies: Planning for Implementation , Harper Collins Publishers, NewYork, 1992, p 3

primordial objective is the proper understanding and assimilation of the message by the target audience. In order to achieve this objective, it is fundamental to keep in mind the characteristics of the products and especially those of the potential buyers. Communication has developed into something more than an implied element for the correct functioning of society. It is now regarded as a value, as a complex mix of various instruments, methods and techniques at the disposal/service of society, different groups and individuals. Communication is also a mechanism that enables cooperation between organizations and institutions. Any act of communication is, in fact, placed somewhere in a wide range of institutional/social interactions and constraints. In his interpretation of the events, the individual perceives and confers particular meanings to the structures in which he interacts, resorting to communication practices; he positions himself with regard to his interlocutors and the chain of events; he reconsiders and provides new meanings and sense to arguments and traditional and objectified ideas."3 Advertising is typified by promotion/consists in the act of promoting. In turn, promoting implies a process of communication carried out by an organization or company through which, using an array of specific methods and techniques, the respective entity aims to influence the behaviour of its potential clients in the hope of obtaining better results (profits) for a longer period of time.4 Thus, by using communicational means sponsored by diverse entities (individuals, companies, organizations), the party interested in promoting a product intends to mould the behaviour of its target audience to its advantage. As mentioned above, advertising campaigns should focus on the promotion of a commodity based on the characteristics and needs of potential customers. Consequently, in the context of advertising campaigns, communication methods have been diversified because communication has the objective of conveying information/a message to a very vast audience and diverse categories of consumers. The advertising discourse must have an impact on the opinions and behaviour of the public.

3 4

Beciu, Camelia, Sociologia comunicrii i a spaiului public, Polirom, Iai, 2011, p. 14 Anghel, Laureniu, Dan, Note de curs, ASE, Bucureti, 2009, p. 11

Advertising discourse as a persuasive technique

Persuasion and persuasive practices have been used by mankind since Ancient times. In Persuasion: The art of influencing people, the author James Borg considers the theory of the great philosopher Aristotle with regard to persuasion as being one of the closest to reality. In Aristotle's opinion, persuasion represents the "art of making people do something that they would not usually do, unless if it were asked/demanded of them". Thus, through persuasive actions, the public can be influenced to shift their position from a point A to another point, B. Point A represents a state in which people have a certain degree of reluctance towards the fulfilment of what is expected of them. In this state, they are uninterested in doing the thing someone else desires, being firm on their decision and determined not to be influenced. However, through a series of persuasive methods and techniques, they can be influenced to reconsider their initial position. These persuasive practices can take many forms, from amusing to provocative to vividly expressive. Consequently, these persuasive means have impact over the public and can shift their state to that of point B, where they are willing, amenable and sympathetic to what is presented and expected of them. That is, the goal intrinsic to persuasive practices has been achieved.5 It is obvious that advertising makes use of persuasive methods, these being the tools of the trade for any advertiser or salesperson. The usage of persuasive tools in advertising differs based on the situation. Some advertising discourses are fun, appealing whilst others are dramatic and cognizable. The purpose of the varying forms taken on by advertising discourses is to convey a message to the public that is easily accessible and that allows a positive and willing processing and receiving of the message. For instance, over time, humanitarian campaigns have used affective persuasive techniques, that make people sensitive and appeal to their emotions. This sort of persuasion, that evokes fear, anxiety, sympathy and pity, has a major influence on the public. Its primary purpose is to change the public opinion towards a specific issue of concern and, afterwards, to alter people's attitudes regarding the matter of discussion. " A new model for advertising is necessary that is based on the understanding that consumers are people and recognizes that people are inherently complex, emotional, unpredictable creatures, whose

Borg, James, Persuasion: The art of influencing people, Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 19

relationships with each other and with the "things" (including brands, products, and advertising) around them are more important than the "things" themselves.6 The modifying of consumers' attitudes and their behaviour concerning various products is a deed that requires patience and diligence. This is why it is necessary to carefully analyze the psychological profile of the target audience in the planning phase of an advertising campaign. By being familiar with consumer psychology, the advertiser can diminish the discrepancy between the message delivered and the consumer's convictions and beliefs. In this sense, advertisements that encounter resistance from the public must be modified in order to ameliorate the situation. This can be achieved by choosing a credible person to convey the message or finding the right moment to transmit it. "Truth is irrelevant. What matters are the perceptions that exist in the mind. The essence of positioning thinking is to accept the perceptions as reality and then restructure those perceptions to create the position you desire. We later called this process outside-in thinking."7 Humanitarian campaign's advertising is founded on the ability to provoke emotional responses. Regardless of how this is achieved, advertisers concentrate on attracting the public and making people support the cause of the campaign. Advertisers hope to determine the public to empathize with the message and the cause pursued by the campaign, being heavily dependent on the effectiveness of the emotional reaction of the receivers of the message. A cognitive approach, based on the logical and systematic presentation of facts and arguments seldom leads to the fulfilment of the campaign's objective. In a humanitarian campaign it is necessary to use multiple persuasive strategies, as the target audience consists of different individuals with sometimes radically different viewpoints. Once the strategies to be employed are decided upon, the organization responsive for the advertising has to identify the tools and instruments that are adequate for the efficient influencing of the target audience's behaviour and attitude. Indifferent to what the subject matter of the humanitarian campaign is, there is one omnipresent strategy, common to all campaigns, and that is the achievement of great media coverage and public awareness. Thus, this kind of advertising strategy is based on three simple, but fundamental steps: to create a buzz or hype surrounding the campaign, to repeatedly transmit the message, to create new messages.

6 7

Steel, Jon, Truth, lies and advertising, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, 1998, p. 23 Ries, Al, Trout, Jack, Positioning: The battle for your mind, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2000, p. 10

Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign The Campaigns description
Stop the pity. Unlock the potential is a humanitarian campaign launched by MamaHope, an organization founded in 2006 by Nyla Rodgers. MamaHope derives its purpose and name from the life story of its founder. Nyla Rodgers lost her mother, Stephanie Moore, who had suffered from cancer, in 2006. In order to cope with the sorrow of her mother's passing away, Nyla travelled to Kenya to visit a young man whose education had been financed by her mother from 2001 until her demise. In Kenya, she discovered the full extent of her mother's humanitarian work. Stephanie Moore helped hundreds of Kenyans and Nyla wanted to meet these people and find out more about the way in which her mother came to their aid. This is how MamaHope came into being, as an organization dedicated to the empowerment of African communities. Since its formation, MamaHope has initiated tens of projects through which it offered assistance to over one hundred thousand African people living in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda. MamaHope works in partnership with many local African organizations that identify the issues that affect the communities in question and render the information gathered to MamaHope. In turn, Nyla Rodgers' organization's activity consists in raising the funds necessary for the initiation of projects designed to meet the needs of the African communities and also to carry these projects into effect. The funds required for the financing of projects and campaigns come from various organizations, sponsors and also from ordinary people who choose to donate money for the cause pursued by MamaHope. In its fund raising activity, MamaHope makes vast use of social media in order to further bring its campaigns and projects to public attention. In addition to this purpose, the usage of media coverage is destined to augment the number of people actively involved in the organization's work. Most of the campaigns and projects carried out by this organization have resulted in the building of schools, health clinics, children's centers and clean, drinking water systems. Moreover, considerable quantities of food have been provided to the communities facing shortages. The Stop the Pity. Unlock the potential campaign slogan is evocative: "Only when we see the world through hope and connection can we effect lasting change". The starting point for this particular campaign was a study conducted by MamaHope with regard to the image people in

Africa have in Western societies. Generally, organizations looking to help African communities launch campaigns in which they portray the people of Africa based on stereotypical images meant to elicit the pity of society. The most common illustrations of African people used in promoting these campaigns are those of anorexic children surrounded by flies and suffering and living in impoverished villages. In opposition to these campaigns, MamaHope's Stop the pity. Unlock the potential proposes a different approach to the issues of African communities, an approach that emphasizes the inherent potential of these people, and tries to promote a positive attitude linked to development and hope. This movement depicts the people of Africa as capable, intelligent and respectable and encourages the world to judge them by their qualities and true characteristics, and not by the stereotypical portrayal presented to the West in the past. The Stop the pity campaign consists of a series of video clips uploaded on MamaHope's official website (www.mamahope.org/unlock-potential/). The purpose of these videos is to present the experiences of the MamaHope activists in Africa, as well as aspects of the day-to-day life of the African communities visited by the activists. These video clips commonly show African people dancing, laughing and chattering, emphasizing the positive aspects of their lives and their ability to make the best out of the dire situation they are in. For example, the first video uploaded, which is also the most representative one for the campaign, presents Alex, a nine year old from Tanzania, who is narrating the storyline of his favorite action movie, Commando. The representativeness of this video stems from its spontaneity. Upon hearing that the MamaHope team had arrived from California, Alex immediately started to enthusiastically talk of Arnold Schwarzenegger and to reproduce scenes from the movie. The rest of videos show African men discussing the way Africans are presented in Hollywood movies or in the international media, while other video clips are of African women presenting the art of netball. Regardless of the video content, all the clips uploaded have the laughter, energy and passion of the people in common. Besides mass media, MamaHope also promotes its projects online, by means of their official website and a sustained blogging activity. This part of their marketing strategy is based heavily on the accounts provided by the MamaHope teams in Africa, inspirational stories told and positive experiences lived by these people. Furthermore, a large volume of photographs from the teams' journeys is provided on the internet, in order to better illustrate the riveting way of life of African cultures.

Analysis of the advertising discourse

Objectives of the campaign Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign set itself apart from other humanitarian campaigns from its very beginning. The MamaHope organization proposed to launch a campaign that had a different approach from any other campaign that had been launched in the past. The usual way in which NGO's designed campaigns is fundamentally based of emotional response from the public. Most humanitarian campaigns seek to create a sympathetic feeling in people and rely heavily on stereotypes regarding social categories and issues. This formulation is seeks to rouse pity and compassion for the cause of a particular humanitarian campaign. In contrast with this way of advertising humanitarian campaigns, MamaHope's Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign opposes the stereotypical presentation social categories, namely the people living in harsh conditions in Africa. Thus, a first objective for this campaign is, as the very name of it suggests, is to stop the pity. That is, to stop presenting people in Africa in the usual, stereotypical way they have been presented in the past, because this sort of presentation creates a distorted image of them in the world. Subsequently, this campaign also wants to signal out the discrimination against African people by other NGO's , who present them to be beneath other human beings in their humanitarian campaigns advertisements. Moreover, MamaHope's kind, willing and helpful approach is designed to further the organizations prestige and image. The innovative way of looking at humanitarian campaigns and the assertiveness of the advertising makes Stop the pity. Unlock the potential stand out and this is the first step in the process of consolidating MamaHopes's image worldwide. The firm opposition this campaign presents towards others of its sort make it appealing to people, who become curious about the activities of the organization. Furthermore, this interest from the public in the organization's activity makes it much more likely that future campaigns will be greeted with a positive attitude. Consequently, both the organization as a whole and the individual campaigns and projects under its management are better known by the public. The innate goals of the campaign represent other objectives. These goals consist in raising funds from a multitude of sources in order to follow up on the objectives stated: the building of schools and a decent educational system for children in Africa, the construction of

health clinics, to provide food and water to communities in distress. Moreover, MamaHope is making efforts to enlarge its team of activists, through organizing camps and training courses. At last, an ubiquitous objective, inherent to any campaign, is the creation of a favourably inclined, positive attitude towards MamaHope and also the broadening of the organization's audience and the increasing of the number of people who are aware of its work. The rhetoric of the campaign MamaHope's Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign has a suggestive and persuasive approach. Informative discourse, that is meant to convince the receiver through rational arguments and by making him analyze the situation, is not very present in the rhetoric of the campaign. This is because MamaHope designed its message for this campaign to appeal to the psychology and feelings of the target audience, a technique specific to humanitarian campaigns. It has been stated that Stop the pity. Unlock the potential is different from other humanitarian campaigns and one point that supports this claim is the rhetoric used. The message is not meant to conjure negative feelings such as pity or horror. Quite the opposite, the rhetoric used abounds with words that have a positive connotation. This has been the objective of the campaign from its beginning and this is also the reason it has been a surrounded by controversy. Although it was a campaign that went against the mainstream way of conducting humanitarian campaigns, Stop the pity. Unlock the potential has been a success. Until the present time, MamaHope has benefited from positive media coverage and a growing number of supporters. For example, The MamaHope Facebook page has a number of approximately 6000 fans. The slogan of the campaign is a short, concise and attention getting phrase that emphasizes MamaHope's attitude towards the issues of poor African communities: "Stop the pity. Unlock the potential". On the official MamaHope website we find the motivation and explanation behind this campaign: Take the word AFRICA without thinking, what images immediately come to mind? War? AIDS? Genocide? Or maybe the vision of a small child with a swollen belly, surrounded by flies? Too many non-profits ask for your pity by depicting poor, helpless Africans. But like any stereotype, this portrayal has more exceptions than truth. This is a campaign to build awareness of the simple fact that we are more similar than different. Its time for us to change the way we see people across the world and start to see other

communities for the people they are instead of the stereotypes weve been trained to expect. It is time to stop the pity and unlock the potential! Thus, the starting point of the campaign is the assumption that NGOs generally portray a false image of Africa. The use of verbs in the plural indicates unity and urges people to perceive the people in Africa as our peers. The keywords of the campaign concerning Africa are: potential hope, connection, creativity, love. Every video clip in the campaign is described on the campaign's official website and on the organization's blog. The rhetoric is based on narration, on the presentation and description of the characters. Every clip has characters embodied by African people who are representative for their community or even the whole of Africa. For example, Alex represents the children of Africa, who are energetic, enthusiastic and positive. The emphasis is placed on people's personalities and not the environment in which they live. By deeming the environment as unimportant, the campaign presents Africans as strong, intelligent and capable people. The audience can relate to the situations, characters and behaviours invoked in the ads and, consequently, will be inclined to support the cause of the campaign. The campaign's blog has a number of articles concerning the experiences of activists in Africa. However, none of the articles makes any reference to the poor background. The focus of the articles is the people, their customs, their culture and other aspects of their lives that are not known by the world. The titles are suggestive and point out the difference in perspective with regard to Africa: "Images of Africa: hopeless or hopeful", "A fish called hope", "Inspired" and so on. One of the ways the fundraising activity of the campaign has been carried out is the online sale of handmade accessories made by African women. Again, this is an aspect that shows the positive traits of the people that the campaign is trying to help. Moreover, the articles are corroborated by photographs. These are also suggestive of the way of life on the African continent, depicting children playing with a ball or women dancing. Photographs play a key role in the campaign because of their ability to transmit more than a simple posted message or article, so the activists upload all photos taken onto the website. Furthermore, the photographs can be viewed as one of the most effective persuasive instruments used in this campaign. The MamaHope team is guided in its activity by their motto, "Listen, connect, enable", which is also the development strategy for the organization. "Listen, connect, enable" are the keywords for the organization's primary projects development strategy, Connected Development.

It can be observed that in nearly all articles the organization condemns the traditional approach taken on by NGOs for the solving of problems. Even more, each article points out the superiority in both efficiency and presentation of MamaHope's campaigns and projects. In conclusion, we can say that this campaign, Stop the pity. Unlock the potential, has been a true success. One of the main reasons for its success is the fact that it was designed by competent communication specialists and, although the approach was different from that of traditional humanitarian campaigns and thus, riskier, it became widely known to the public. Also, MamaHope did not neglect social media in its campaign, with campaign pages being created on Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, LinkedIn.

Conclusions
The present paper, entitled Symbolic distance and care for one another, is an analysis of MamaHope's Stop the pity. Unlock the potential humanitarian campaign from a public relations and advertising perspective, concepts that are regarded as auxiliary systems meant to aid the organization in the creation and development of humanitarian campaigns. Humanitarian campaigns bring their contribution to the development and enhancement of the image of an organization, and also bring people closer to the creed and scope of an organization. In this sense, advertising is used in humanitarian campaigns as a means of persuasion and as a technique for influencing people and gaining their attention and sympathy. The literature review presents the main concepts present in any humanitarian campaign, as well as the way in which they influence the behaviour of the public. Planning the campaign refers to an analysis, strategy defines the approach and the plan suggests the actions to be taken. If the plan is drafted according to the theoretical framework, then it will constitute an important management instrument for the organization. It will advance the results to be attained, the modalities to achieve the objectives and it will also offer motivation to pursue the objectives. Even more, the approach of a campaign and its plan of action use advertising methods for promotion. The messages created and conveyed to the public act as an advertisement. They communicate the existence of a product or commodity in the most favourable way possible, so as to influence the potential consumer in a positive manner for the organization. The Stop the pity. Unlock the potential campaign was a complex case study subject to analyze. Firstly, the complexity arose from both its great success and impact in society and, especially, from its different approach to the way communication is handled in humanitarian campaigns. If traditional humanitarian campaigns aimed to sensitize the public by depicting drama and shocking scenarios, MamaHope put forward a positive portrayal of people faced with severe problems, portrayal that won the sympathy of the general public. The objective of the campaign, apart from finding the solutions for the general problems encountered by African communities, was to ameliorate the image MamaHope had and to strengthen the relationship between the organization and the public. The messages brought to the public eye from the campaign abounded with positive descriptions of situations encountered by MamaHope activists in Africa. The rhetoric and techniques used in the discourse of the campaign represented a true,

solid communication plan that managed to influence the public into helping the organization fulfil its objectives.

Bibliography
1. Anghel, Laureniu, Dan, Note de curs, ASE, Bucureti, 2009 2. Beciu, Camelia, Sociologia comunicrii i a spaiului public, Polirom, Iai, 2011 3. Borg, James, Persuasion: The art of influencing people, Prentice Hall, 2010 4. Coman, Cristina, Relaii publice i mass-media, Polirom, 2004, Bucureti 5. Grunig, James E., Repper, Fred C., 1992, Strategic Management, Publics and Issues apud 6. R. Kendall, Public Relations Campaign Strategies: Planning for Implementation, Harper Collins Publishers, NewYork, 1992 7. Ries, Al, Trout, Jack, Positioning: The battle for your mind, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2000 8. Steel, Jon, Truth, lies and advertising, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, 1998