The Issue of Urban Poverty - Essay Example

?I. Identify a social problem that should be overcome and the rationale for the project The issue that was chosen was the issue of urban poverty. Therationale for this is because there is because there are a number of trends that show that the public does not have a good perception of those in poverty, therefore a campaign is necessary to correct some misperceptions about the poor and to get the public to have more sympathy for the plight of the urban poor. Moreover, typical ad campaigns, that show the poor in a pathetic light, are ineffective because it leads to what is called a “stereotype rebound effect” which is explained below. One such trend is the public’s tendency to blame the poor for their own poverty. Recent studies show that the public over-attributes poverty to characteristics such as character flaws of the poor and under-attribute situations beyond the poor’s control. (Bolitho et al. p. 14). The studies also show that the wealthier the individual and the more opportunity the individual is afforded, the more likely that individual is to blame the poor for their own plight. (Bolitho et al. p. 14). This study is important, as it illustrates a challenge that organizations that help the poor must face – if people are predisposed to blame the poor for their own plight, they are less likely to give. (Bolitho et al. p. 14). Another trend that is related to the above phenomenon is known as the “stereotype rebound effect.” Kennedy and Hill (2008) argue that typical advertising campaigns, in which the poor are depicted as “helpless, passive and destitute…desperately awaiting handouts from aid agencies” contribute to this phenomenon, in which individuals, upon seeing these helpless poor, attempt to suppress the stereotypes that they are feeling about these people, and this suppression leads to a “stereotype rebound effect” that leads to fewer donations. (Kennedy and Hill, 2008, p. 112). Profile of the campaign audience The individuals who will be targeted will be those that display the characteristics of conspicuous compassion, donors who are peer driven, donors who are community driven, self-driven donors and corporations. The profiles of these donors are explained in the next section below. As explained below, each of these donors would be the most likely to give to this campaign, because of the psychographic profiles of each of these groups. Audience Perception This section discusses the key attitudes and perceptions of the different psychographic profiles that will be targeted in this campaign. The first psychological trend is what is known as “conspicuous compassion” (Grace and Griffin, 2006, p. 147). This refers to a particular behavior in which an individual participates in charitable work, or displays charitable symbols, such as ribbons, for ostentatious reasons as opposed to altruistic ones. “Conspicuous compassion” is related to the term “conspicuous consumption”, in which an individual purchases an expensive car or house, because to not do so would imply failure. As with “conspicuous consumption”, the individual is interested in his or her image, and how this image is supposedly enhanced through public emoting. This person does not care about the charity, he or she just cares about how being associated with the charity enhances his or her image. (Grace and Griffin, 2006, pp. 147-148). “Conspicuous compassion” is a logical extension to other studies that show that donors are often motivated by intrinsic benefits, such as “increased self-esteem, public gratification, satisfaction and fulfillment through meeting one’s obligation.” (Grace and Griffin, 2006, p. 148). If a donor’s motivation is “conspicuous compassion”, then that donor is looking to the charity to enhance his or her social standing. Grace and Griffin (2006) argue that conspicuous compassion is the reason why people wear empathy ribbons, and, presumably, empathy bracelets, such as the yellow bracelets offered by The Livestrong Foundation. Further, the individuals who are interested in charities because of the conspicuous compassion factor are less involved and motivated in helping others. They are also more likely to be high self monitoring, which means that they are unusually sensitive to social cues when monitoring their behavior, and they are susceptible to interpersonal influence, such as the teenager who wears empathy ribbons because all her friends are wearing them. (Grace and Griffin, 2006, p. 151). Clayton (2009) has also examined donor’s motivations, classifying the motivations according to how the charitable activities fit the donor’s individual needs. One of the motivations for giving is the “peer driven donors”, a category that is closely related to the conspicuous compassion model. Peer driven donors donate because their needs are outer directed and “are about success, material goods, respect, competition, and, most crucially, the acceptance and respect of their peers.” (Clayton, 2009, p. 389). They see charity work as a “badge of wealth or honor or even simply to be cool.” (Clayton, 2009, p. 389). As with the conspicuous compassion individuals, the peer driven donors need tangible proof of their generosity. They tend to be interested in charitable activities that offer extrinsic rewards, such as purchasing a piece of equipment for the hospital and having their name attached to the equipment. (Clayton, 2009, p. 391). “Community driven donors” are those whose needs center on friends, family, money, work and survival. Their needs are driven by sustenance, and their giving is related to their own community and cultural frameworks, generally organisations that help them in some way – such as their church, their trade union, their PTA, or their Girl Scout troop. (Clayton, 2009, p. 389). “Self driven donors” refers to the individuals who are inquisitive about the world, do not feel the need to prove anything, and want to get the most out of life. They tend to give large amounts of their income, and see charitable work and donations as keys to the meaning of their lives. They tend to get involved with more global causes, such as Human Rights, International Development and the environment, looking for big solutions to big causes. (Clayton, 2009, p. 390). Corporate donors tend to give to charities and NPOs for four major reasons: 1) To maximize profits; 2) For altruistic reasons; 3) For political reasons and 4) For managerial utility reasons. (Noble et al., 2008, p. 317). The first of these reasons is the maximization of profits. This motivation is that the corporation aims to enhance their bottom line through association with a charity by increasing revenue or reducing their costs. An example of this is giving to a charity as a way to advertise, and increase demand for, their product. For instance, a corporation might sponsor a charity race or charity event. Charitable giving might also increase productivity in the corporation’s work force, in that, employee volunteering programs may enhance morale, which leads to lower staff turnover rates. (Noble et. al., 2008, p. 317). The second major reason that corporations give to charities is altruism. This is where a corporation does good just for the sake of doing good, with no expected benefit to itself. Corporations might be motivated by altruism if their officers believe that it is their duty to act as a good corporate citizen and obey the social contract. This leads the corporation to give to NPOs that engage in activities that help the community at large, as well as society. (Noble et al., 2008, p. 317). The third major reason that corporations give to social organizations is political. Part of this motivation is the desire to cultivate social approval and legitimacy, and build a positive corporate image. An example of this is when corporation, whose business hurts the environment, donates to NPOs dedicated to environmental concerns. Another example is when corporations give to NPOs to secure a tax break or avoid a regulatory requirement. (Noble et al., 2008, p. 317). The fourth reason is the managerial utility motivation. This is simply where the manager of the company has a personal affinity or cause, that does not necessarily benefit the corporation at large, but is something about which the manager his or herself is passionate. He or she then uses the corporation to advance this personal agenda or cause. (Noble et. al., 2008, p. 318). These are the reasons why corporations give, and it is important for any NPOs to understand these motivations, as corporate giving is a large part of how any charities and NPOs stay afloat. However, there are challenges that must be faced in relation to corporate giving. One of these drawbacks is that corporations and other large donors tend to restrict their gifts. This is a challenge that NPOs can face, however, by stating clearly why they need the money, and what specific project or goal would be funded by the major gift. While the NPOs would like to get unrestricted gifts to use on whatever they choose, this often does not work with major donors and corporations. (Cluff, 2009, p. 372). Another challenge is that the major donor or corporation wants to be a part of creating the solution, not just to give money and be done with it. While this might create a welcome two-way relationship, it might also be a challenge if the organisation is not prepared to engage in debates with the donors. A major donor might want to give input about how to run a certain project, and if the NPO has different ideas, then that donor might go elsewhere. (Cluff, 2009, pp. 372-373). Campaign objective – what is hoped to be achieved by this campaign The major objective to this campaign would be to help individuals see the poor in a different light. Specifically, the goal is to show the poor as being just like you and me, and that the urban poor could be one’s own sister, daughter, son, father, best friend, etc. Make them relatable and less culpable in their own situation, in the eyes of those who are touched by these ads. Campaign Themes and Ideas Slogan – Help the poor help themselves, just as you would your neighbor. Media Release - Meet Mikayla. Mikayla lives in the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles. Her mother died of AIDS, and she never knew her father. She spent her entire life in orphanages until the age of 18. At 18, she was turned out of the orphanage and into the street. At just 15, she was impregnated by an abusive man who raped her and attempted to sell her into white slavery. However, this is not how Mikayla wants to be known. She wants to be known for her talent and intellect. She is a fierce poet who has been published in local newspapers. She was the chess champion of St. Gabriels, the home that raised her. She plays a mean game of scrabble, and watched Rachael Ray faithfully for ideas about recipes, because Mikayla loves to cook. She knows fifty different chicken recipes by heart, and enjoys cooking everything from scratch. Her most treasured presents from the sisters at St. Gabriels are the DVDs of the television series “Mad Men”. She made many close friends at St. Gabriels, friends who are dear to her still. She did not have family, so the people at St. Gabriels became her family. Now, all she wants is a chance. Cooking is her passion and her talent, and she would like to attend culinary school. However, she has not been given the opportunity to pursue her dream. She currently works at a sweatshop, making just $50 per day. This has been the only work that she has been able to find in this economy, and, because she had to drop out of high school to raise her daughter, that was the result of the rape, she does not have the education necessary to get a better job. Your donation can help Mikayla realize her dream. She has the motivation and talent to become a great chef, she just does not have the means or the opportunity to make this dream a reality. Mikayla was dealt a rough hand in life, with her mother dying, her father abandoning her, and dealing with the demands of a child that was a result of rape. She has made the best of a bad situation, but needs help in becoming self-sufficient. Your donation of _____ can help impoverished women like Mikayla become not just self-sufficient, but able to realize a life-long dream. We ask you to help the poor help themselves, just as you would your friend or neighbor. Print Ad – The print ad will feature a picture of Mikayla in a kitchen with an apron on, with a rolling pin in her hand that is raised as if she is about to playfully swat a young boy that is standing next to her. Mikayla will be laughing, and the young boy will be smiling. The text will be: “(In Bold) Mikayla is just your typical young lady.(End Bold). She plays scrabble. Writes poetry. Dreams of being a top chef, and has the talent to accomplish this. She could be your neighbor, close friend, or sister. But Mikayla is one of the millions who lives in desperate poverty. Her wages are just $50 per day, which leaves her with barely enough to eat, let alone achieve her dreams. Your donation can help Mikayla, and others like her, who are striving, enterprising, dreaming, and just need a hand up, instead of a hand out. Give and help the poor help themselves, just as you would your neighbor. Storyboard Visual– Mikayla, smiling, playing scrabble Voice-over – Meet Mikayla. Visual – Mikayla sitting in a chair, writing. Voice-over– Mikayla writes poetry, and has been published in a local newspapers. Visual– Mikayla in a kitchen, preparing food,while she laughs and jokes with a friend who is in the kitchen with her. Voice-over – Mikayla is an excellent, talented cook who dreams of becoming a chef. Visual – Mikayla walking through the streets, smiling and talking to a girlfriend. Voice-over – Mikayla could be your neighbor, best friend or sister. Visual – Mikayla working at her job as a seamstress. Voice-over – However, Mikayla is one of the millions of people who are mired in desperate poverty. Her wages as a seamstress only provide her with $50 per day. Visual – Mikayla at a kitchen table with her young son, smiling, teasing him. He is smiling back, and is evident that this is close relationship. Voice-over - She has to feed herself and her son on these wages. Visual – Mikayla looking at a door to a university hall with longing. Voice-over – Mikayla needs help to attain her dream of attending a university to learn how to become a chef. Visual – Mikayla looking straight at the camera with a pensive look on her face. Voice-over – Your donation will help Mikayla and all others who live in desperate poverty to attain their dreams. Layout for Internet Site - The website will include case histories of five different people who are the targets to be helped by this campaign. Each one of the case histories will start on the home page. The people should be a range of old, young, middle-aged and different ethnicities. Content writers will make each of the case histories a compelling story that people will want to read about. As such, the content that is on the home page will be a provocative paragraph about each person that will draw in the reader along with a photograph of the person. It is important that the photograph show the person in a good light – not looking sad and destitute, but looking joyful – laughing, smiling, even smirking. The stories will show all the facets of each person – perhaps a story will capture their sense of humor, as they make a joke. It will highlight their relationships with family, friends and other loved ones. It will portray their aspirations for themselves – perhaps one of the individuals wants to be a writer. Another one wants to be a farmer. Still another wants to be able to be a teacher. Etc. Each story will portray the person in a multi-faceted way. Marketing Communication Strategies and Tools – what will be primary and what will be secondary, and how will the tools be used to achieve the objectives? Internet The primary strategy will be an online strategy, in particular, using social networks. One idea would involve targeting Facebook members with a large network of friends. Sometimes these members have thousands of friends. These are the Facebook members that should be targeted first – they can be encouraged to spread the word about the campaign by doing status updates that tell about the campaign’s fundraising functions and initiatives, status updates that tell the network what they are doing to help the campaign, and having the campaign’s web page and Facebook page as their links. There is also a Facebook coding toolkit that allows “the development of applications able to make use of its member data.” (Miller, 2009, pp. 368-369). The campaign could also buy an application that links personal Facebook pages to their website. This technique has helped a firm called Justgiving, and the results were that 100,000 people added this application to their Facebook profiles in just under a year, enabling Justgiving to share news of its fundraising activities through these people’s newsfeeds. (Miller, 2009, p. 369). Successful Twitter, YouTube and MySpace marketing strategies will also have to be developed. Hiring people who are proficient in these marketing strategies is essential. Advertising The secondary tool would be getting the word out through magazines, newspapers and other kinds of print medium. This campaign would utilize the print ad as described above. Television will be another secondary medium, and the storyboard described above will be used for this part of the campaign. Another secondary tool is getting the word out to corporate donors. The way that this will be accomplished will be to place ads in prominent business journals that are read by business professionals and leaders. The print ad described above will be used in this aspect of the campaign. Targeting corporations is also an excellent idea with this campaign. Campaigns donate to causes, and the main reason why they do is to increase their bottom line by using the NPO as a part of their advertising campaign (Noble et al., 2008, p. 317) – an excellent example of this is the current campaign for Dawn, in which they emphasize that their dishwashing liquid is being used to wash off animals expected by the Louisiana oil spill. However, corporations also give for altruistic motives, and because an individual manager has a cause that he or she believes in and uses the corporation's giving to affect that cause. (Noble et al., 2008, p. 317). Furthermore, it makes good business sense, as consumers tend to favor companies that support causes, allowing this factor to influence their purchase, investment and employment decisions. (Wymer & Samu, 2009, p. 3). This particular campaign will help get corporate dollars, in that it makes an effective case for support – help the poor help themselves – and shows why the the money is needed, what the money is going to spent on, how it will make a difference, and why the campaign is the best way to deliver the work. These are all factors that major donors want to know before they commit. (Cluff, 2009, p. 372). Sales Promotion Through the website, people can have chance to enter in a raffle for a prize if they give a donation of $20 or more. The raffle will occur once a month, and a prize will be given out, such as plane tickets or hotel vouchers in Las Vegas. Direct Marketing The direct marketing will utilize flyers sent through the mail, along with notifications by e-mail. This direct marketing will utilize information that is obtained through the other channels, such as when donors give money or people request information. By using the information that they provide, the campaign will directly market by updating the people on the different case studies that are portrayed on the website, explaining how each individual is being helped by these donations, and explaining how each individual is bettering his or her life. By doing this, it is keeping the campaign fresh in the person’s mind, as well as giving an important update, so that this person knows how he or she has helped the individual featured in the flyer or the e-mail. Public Relations The public relations campaign will be similar to the Internet campaign, in that blogs will be utilized to give voice to the poor and correct the misperceptions that people have about the poor. Moreover, guest speakers will be lined up to speak on the issue of poverty, and these speeches will be open to the public. News media will be informed about the events and encouraged to come. The focus on these speeches will be how the poor is misrepresented in the media, and how they are just like anybody else and could be one’s neighbor or friend, and that they are not “other.” Question and answer sessions will be encouraged, and people who have been lifted out of poverty will also be asked to speak, and these people will emphasize how they got out of poverty and the difference that donations can make to their situation. Again, the emphasis will be on how the person helped him or herself. Support media The support media will be using radio call-in shows to express views about the poor whenever the topic comes up about poverty. For instance, when Rush Limbaugh starts in about the poor and how the poor are responsible for their own situation, and how there is no such thing as hunger in America, a campaign staffer will call in to try to set the record straight, armed with facts and figures that contradict what he is saying on the radio. The same will go for any other prominent conservative talk show on the radio. Guerrilla marketing will also be utilized, as campaign staffers will be positioned in the local malls with surveys to ask people, with the lure of buying the customer a cookie or other treat after the survey is done. Then, after completing the survey, the staffer will review the answers and try to clear up any misperceptions the person might have about the urban poor. Measuring Success The best way to measure success would be in the amount of donations to the campaign. Beyond that, there will be other ways to measure how successful the campaign is. Specifically, by doing a quantitative study on the individuals who are subject to the campaign, asking the surrounding community questions about how they view the poor. This is important, because the questions will not just be asked of the people who have donated or expressed interest in the campaign, but also people who were merely exposed to the campaign through the public relations efforts, print and television advertising and the like. If these people have changed their views on the poor, then the campaign will have been a clear success. Also, the number of visits to the website will be quantified, and people will be asked when they visit the website how they view the urban poor in their community, then asked after they are about to log off if their views have changed. Conclusion Poverty is an issue that is important, yet needs to be seen in a different light. People see other people on the street, begging for money, and typical advertising campaigns show the poor as pathetic and helpless. However, studies show that this kind of portrayal is actually hurting the cause, because people do not want to see the poor as helpless and it fosters harmful stereotypes. This ad campaign seeks to show the poor in a different light, as somebody who is just like you or me, thus reframing the issue. It also seeks to reach donors who are community driven as well as peer driven and those who seek conspicuous compassion. Corporations are the other target of this campaign. Through the use of print layouts, social networking sites, PR activities, direct marketing and support marketing, we hope to get this message out, far and wide. Thus, the goal of the campaign is not just encouraging donations but also encouraging people to see the poor in a different way. This is the best way to help their plight. Sources Used Bolitho, Floyd, Stuart Carr, and Richard B. 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Hou, Jundong, Lanying Du, and Zhilong Tian. “The Effects of Nonprofit Brand Equity on Individual Giving Intention: Mediating by the Self-Concept of the Individual Donor.” International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing (August 2009): 215-229. Kennedy, Stephanie and Stephen Hill. “Could Stereotype Rebound Affect Aid Advertising Campaigns?” International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing (May 2009): 111-123. Laidler-Kylander, Nathalie & Bernard Simonin. “How International Nonprofits Build Brand Equity.” International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing (2009): 57-69. McLeod, John, and Kelley McLendon. “Charitable Giving During Leaner Times.” Investment News (August 2008): 6-8. Miller, Bryan. “Community Fundraising 2.0 – The Future of Fundraising in a Networked Society?” International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing (November 2009): 365-370. 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