Save the Internet Campaign

The Save the Internet Campaign

Founded in 2005, the Save the Internet campaign is designed to protect internet freedom by advocating for net neutrality.

The Federal Communications Commission is currently establishing rules for Internet Service Providers that could allow for the creation of content-specific ‘fast lanes.’ Essentially, these providers would have the ability to create a tiered plan that could require the user to pay more to access certain content at a faster rate. The big cable companies (especially Verizon and AT&T) are actively lobbying the FCC and Congress to push for the establishment of this type of plan.

That’s where this campaign steps in. Pressuring the FCC, providing methods of contacting Congress, publishing blog posts and spreading awareness of protests are some of the ways the Save the Internet campaign seeks to engage the public. The FCC still has not announced their revised plan, so there is still room for this movement to have an impact.

Joey L.

The Real Cost Campaign

Here is a link to The Real Cost campaign. This campaign was launched by the FDA to combat teen smoking. The campaign features graphic images of teens having to rip off their own skin and pull out their own teeth to cover the cost of cigarettes and menthols. The campaign uses online, print and television components to reach a wide audience of American teens.

http://therealcost.betobaccofree.hhs.gov

Grace H.

#FreeSlahi

#FreeSlahi was recently launched by the ACLU to raise awareness for a Guantanamo Bay detainee the organization asserts has been wrongfully imprisoned for 13 years. 

The campaign was launched alongside the release of Slahi's book - a first person account of his experiences at Guantanamo Bay. The book is the first of its kind,  providing the ACLU with a newsworthy item to enhance promotional efforts of a campaign that might have otherwise only been directed at active ACLU supporters. 

To promote the campaign, the ACLU created a website (guantanamobaydiary.com), featuring audio excerpts from the book spoken by high-profile actors, the original manuscript, and a spotlight for live events online viewers can attend to be more involved. The campaign is also promoted through Twitter, Facebook, and the main ACLU website that features a petition. 

270 Strategies

270 Strategies is a political consulting firm that has teamed up with Ready for Hillary. They are helping RFH set up a grassroots campaign infrastructure for a potential Hillary Clinton campaign. 270 strategies assists Ready for Hillary in every campaign that they do. Ready for Hillary is a one giant grassroots campaign that is encouraging Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016. The Super PAC using social media, and no television ads, to reach their Hillary supporters.

No KXL Campaign

The ongoing Keystone XL campaign has spanned several years, involving many groups and organizations. One of the main organizations rallying to stop the project is 350.org. The organization was founded in 2007 by Bill McKibben, the acclaimed author and environmentalist. The name comes from the goal of reducing carbon emissions to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in order to avoid catastrophic and irreversible climate change. Much of the campaign is based on community organizing through networks and social media. 350.org has activists in more than 188 countries. The movement has organized thousands of events and demonstrations over the past few years with catchy chants (e.g. "Hey Obama, we don't want no pipeline drama") urging the end to the project. Last week, in less than 72 hours 350.org and its allies mobilized more than 150 events in all 50 states. How influential has grassroots organizing been in delaying the decision?

AT&T Summer Break Social Media Campaign

@summerbreak Campaign Summer 2014 

In the summer of 2014 AT&T held a campaign that followed high school seniors the summer before college. It was the last summer break they had with their high school friends. 

The campaign focused on Social Media, TV and Cellphones. AT&T made a 52 episode mini-TV series that was posted to their social media accounts where they showed weekly videos of the teens interacting with each other. Viewers were able to interact with the cast. AT&T encouraged the viewers to use AT&T  to talk tot he cast.

@summerbreak, the handle for the campaign was focused at teens and young adults as it would comment and discuss ideas and thoughts of teens. For example "what is summer reading you speak of, teacher?" 

The 1st season was so successful that a second season was filmed and finished airing in September. However the question remains, did AT&T put their name out enough on the materials related to the show? When researching the show it was clear that the show was not publicized as much as it could have been in relation to AT&T. 

The Human Rights Campaign

http://www.hrc.org/

The Human Rights Campaign promotes the social welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The HRC foundation advocates for the ensured equality of the LGBT community through promoting public education and welfare.

Their logo, a square image with a centered equal sign, is now one of the most recognizable symbols for the LGBT community and has become synonymous to the fight for equal LGBT rights. The HRC brand has been introduced on t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other promotional wear and can now be spotted all over the world.

In 2013, the campaign shared a red version of its logo in support for marriage equality and asked its supporters to change their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures to the new logo. The campaign went viral, with millions of shares, celebrity contributors, and memes. Other campaigns by HRC have included #LoveConquersHate in support of Russia's LGBT community during the Olympic season.

Online Campaign - #FixtheTrustFund

#FixtheTrustFund is an advocacy campaign urging Congress to restore the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) to solvency and ensure it has a sustained source of capital moving forward. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is behind the campaign. A related campaign is Faster Better Safer, a coalition ASCE is a member of and that the US Chamber of Commerce manages.

The HTF is the agency tasked with making grants to state and local governments to maintain, repair, and replace roads and bridges. Most of its funding is 18 cents a gallon, a figure set in 1993 that hasn't been increased or adjusted for inflation since. As a result, the HFT can't pay for much needed repairs. (ASCE gave the US transportation infrastructure a D on its 2014 report card.) In fact, the agency runs out of cash in May.

Raising the gas tax is the simplest solution. The idea has bipartisan support in Congress, but  #FixtheTrustFund doesn't explicitly call for it. This allows them to keep their options open since the White House and the chair of the US House Transportation Committee have ruled it out.

The website has some good, easy to understand information about the problem, but you have to scroll down to find it. They do highlight a piece "60 Minutes" did recently on the problem. It will be interesting to see how they and their allies can build momentum using social media. "Transportation Infrastructure" is not a sexy issue and #FixtheTrustFund screams of jargon.

Curious to me - but maybe it's my ignorance showing - why use the # in the name of the campaign? Presumably you would put in in a Tweet, not the organization's name. Anyone know of other examples?

Online Campaign - Correct the Record

Correct the Record is an online effort created in November of 2013 that, as per its website, acts as a "strategic research and rapid response team designed to defend potential Democratic presidential candidates from right-wing, baseless attacks." The group is active both on Twitter as well as on Facebook.

While the group claims to be defending all potential candidates on the Democratic side, one can notice that on their website, their Twitter feed and on their Facebook pages, they are all aimed at "correcting the record" for one prospective candidates, Hillary Clinton. And considering the leadership of the group includes a former senior advisor to Clinton as well as one of her top donors, plus with American Bridge being founded by David Brock, a high-profile advocate of Clinton in the media, that is not surprising in any way.

Communication Campaign

A current communication campaign is Right Wing Watch, a project of People for the American Way. The organization was founded in 1981 by Congresswoman Barbara Jordan with business, civic, religious, and civil rights leaders disturbed by rhetoric of politicized televangelists.

Specifically, Right Wing Watch monitors conservative broadcasts, emails, and websites to analyze and distill information to the public. For example, today they wrote about Rep. Steve King's attack on DREAMers at the Iowa Freedom Summit, who mockingly "imitated" DREAMers by sarcastically saying, “We’ve borrowed the keys and we’re not happy about the maid service, the TV doesn’t work and we can’t eat at the continental breakfast. That’s unfair, we’re dreamers, we’re dreaming about that breakfast." He continues to say, "That’s pretty much the same argument the protesters outside are using. They haven’t checked in, they’re using property not of their own, they’re demanding room service and they say they can’t be evicted now because their kids have been born in that room they busted into."

Right Wing Watch usually provides a small description of the rhetoric, but largely leaves the viewer to hear the words being said directly through video clips.

Social Media Activism vs. In person activism

We read this Malcolm Gladwell article for Professor Steinhorn's Strategic Communications class last semester which questions whether social media activism is true activism. 

Saturday Night Live opening skit this past week made same point -- 

Another example is the ice bucket challenge. Raised a lot of money and awareness for ALS, but will they be able to translate into power to move legislation and win increased appropriations for research? 

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