So the media company idea is pretty neat and everything, but how am I supposed to make it work???
I did a little bit more research using that link I posted recently…
Essentially, the leadership within the organization (once it is established) should be in place and providing creative direction and legitimacy for the organization. Of course the founders need to be charismatic enough and committed to the cause in order to attract some good talent to work. “Effective NGO leaders use the talents and enthusiasm of all NGO
stakeholders—board members, staff, community members, clients, and even donors”, say the authors of the article. This could not be more true I think. If the leadership is not there to begin with then there’s no way the movement can even begin to be sustainable.
The next issue would be who conducts the advertisements? Since it is a media agency, we would be running the ads, but with significant government support. A mechanism would need to be in place for the government to be able to at least split the cost of producing the ads with the company.
As well, we would need to run on donations and a lot of community funding. Prospects for clients could range from church congregations to sexual assault victim clinics. Basically whoever is willing to donate.The more influential the donor the better, since they too have an influence on pop culture. For example, Molson Canadian co-sponsoring an ad would send a more powerful message to the community. This would also be corroborating the suggestion that one’s peers are active against sexual assault, which, according to another article that I blogged about recently, is a more effective way of influencing people against a particular form of behaviour.
However, I would be wary of gathering support from some specific companies such as that of contraceptive vendors like Trojan for the simple reason that I wouldn’t want to be telling those that are likely to commit sexual assault that it’s okay to do so, as long as they wear protection. I would perceive a conflict of interest there if I were to try and gather support from those companies, as their target customers are interested in sex (whether they are sexual assault perpetrators or not). These companies also attempt to add more value (thus boosting profits) to sexual activity by manufacturing condoms designed to maximize pleasure. I wouldn’t be able to perceive my specific goals for society being reached if I were at the same time encouraging teens and children (these demographics are part of my larger, all-encompassing target market) to be liberal with sex if what I was trying to do was change the way people in society perceive each other sexually. One of the objectives is to foster a fundamental respect for sex with somebody you care about, as opposed to a perversion of the idea as something to do to somebody when you feel like it. That said however…perhaps I might eventually diversify by creating another company that educates society on STDs…
This is exactly the kind of image I'm trying to fight...
