Onstuimig

What Breast Cancer is, and is not!

Posted by Marc | 6-02-2012 22:36 | Category: Activism, Health, Pinkverts, Women's Issues

Last weeks I discussed with friends and allies about the cultural and regional differences in communication, and therefore in cause marketing, several times. It is a very interesting subject. Our Campaign of the Year competition shows how big those differences can be.
As a European I know the sentiment about Americans. Mostly ambivalent. But there’s one thing no one can beat them: storytelling. Americans are the best speakers in the world. Fluent, robust and convincing.

That is what I was thinking about seeing this video from Linda. She made a strong statement about the Susan G. Komen Foundation debacle from last week. Linda is a breast cancer victim and a Komen supporter.
The reason for this video is bizarre but it shows the strength of the story. I already got over 200,000 views on YouTube.
One of the biggest challenges for charities and NGOs is how to use storytelling in their communication strategy. Or a more ethical question: should they do? It is a subject we like to discus in various posts this year.

You don’t know what the Komen Foundation debacle is about? Me neither but Tom made it all clear in Pink Stink: Susan G. Komen for the Cure gets political.

Linda: What Breast Cancer is, and is not - Komen Foundation




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Occupy with Foursquare

Posted by Marc | 5-02-2012 13:19 | Category: Activism

Occupy with Foursquare

Nice idea for activists and grassroots. Make your presence seen with the location based service from Foursquare.
Occupy Amsterdam used the service to occupy all companies around the hearth of the Amsterdam financial center Damrak.

This nifty tool is easy to use, low budget and perfect for making a cause visible at crowded locations.
It isn’t a new idea. Occupy Wall Street used it across the US. See this map at the Washington Post.

Disclaimer: I combined a few Foursquare screens to make the image above.

Related post about the use of Foursquare: Shelter Scotland engage digitally with supporters through Foursquare.

Hat tip to Paul van Veenendaal.




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SOPA/ PIPA Boycott Campaign

Posted by Monica Brasov-Curca | 18-01-2012 00:26 | Category: Activism, Culture, Government, Media

Its Hollywood VS Silicon Valley

SOPA: Stop Online Piracy Act
PIPA: PROTECT IP Act

Jan. 18, 2012 is the designated SOPA blackout day.  In protest prominent websites: Wikipedia, Go Daddy, Reddit and over 10,000 other sites are planning to go dark to contest two bills working through Congress. The bills will go before the US Congress on Jan 24th, where they will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. The bills are supported by Hollywood and the entertainment industry - Silicon Valley, representative of many who want to kill the bill in the House, say they want to protect rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.

The campaign to boycott is mostly crowdsourced in that individuals, groups, organizations and internet business have created their own content to express themselves.  Twitter especially has seen large numbers of avatars covered with a black box censored. Youtube, at the time of writing had over 30,000 video results to the SOPA search.  Wikipedia is shut down - only with a message requesting Zip codes which directs viewers to contact their local government officials

WANT to PROTEST? If you would like to participate with changing your avatar or shutting down your website for a day here’s a great link http://sopastrike.com/

From Wikipedia:

“Call your elected officials.

Tell them you are their constituent, and you oppose SOPA and PIPA.
Why?

SOPA and PIPA put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won’t have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn’t being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won’t show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.

Congress says it’s trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the “cure” that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they will fatally damage the free and open Internet.”



Advertiser:
SOPA STRIKE
Source:
Sopa Strike, Youtube, Wikipedia

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“I’m a Roma Woman” Campaign

Posted by Monica Brasov-Curca | 14-01-2012 21:24 | Category: Activism, Discrimination, Gender issues, Human rights, Women's Issues

In the midst of the recent upsurge in violence in Europe against the Roma people, where unprecedented numbers of organised right wing extremists, terrorists, hooligans and, in some cases, even resentful citizens have participated.

The “I’m a Roma Woman Campaign” is fighting back against hate and marginalizations that all Roma suffer with stories. Roma women in Europe face triple bias; marginalized and discriminated because they are women in their communities and because they are Roma and women outside their communities.

The campaign began in 2008 and is a product of collaboration and partnerships between Roma and Non-Roma NGO’s and activists, the video below was released in March 2011 and features the five activist who originally began the initiative

Working with the Roma Media Archive, which is an ongoing participatory media project to which the Roma and non-Roma artists, activist organizations and communities are invited to contribute with various documentary and art materials that reflect the contemporary Roma situation. 

The campaign was developed to challenge centuries-old stereotypes about who the Roma are and allow them to take ownership of their image often misunderstood by mainstream media.

It also wanted to tell the REAL Roma story and create the conditions for effective advocacy of issues related to Roma women and to caste a vision of the future for Roma youth which stresses the opportunities offered by social activism to increase self-empowerment and community empowerment.

Does it succeed?



Advertiser:
The Romedia Foundation

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This is what marriage is all about

Posted by Tom Megginson | 27-11-2011 15:32 | Category: Activism

Love. Sex. Intimacy. Support. Laughs. Tears. Shared interests. Grocery shopping.

image

This wonderful video about how a healthy relationship turns into a successful marriage should inspire anyone who has ever been in love, and anyone who has ever made the decision to publicly celebrate their commitment to it.

See the video after the break. And try not to be moved.



Advertiser:
Get Up! Action for Australia
Agency:
Unknown - e-mail us to take credit
Source:
It's OK to be Takei (Facebook)

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No, I don’t write about the new Benetton campaign

Posted by Marc | 16-11-2011 22:33 | Category: Activism, Discrimination, Human rights, Politics, Religion, War & conflicts

When talking about Hate or Unhate I prefer relations between real people. Those on the front line.
Unhate isn’t about stunning Photoshop work or a green logo from Italy.

The best recent example of Unhate is the question: “Could you hurt someone who has your blood running through their veins?”.




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Culture jamming in Rome: Dislike - share this with a pic

Posted by Marc | 15-11-2011 22:25 | Category: Activism, Politics

Culture jamming in Rome: Dislike - share this with a pic

These are images from a recent culture jamming action in Rome. The sender is anonymous.
According to the sender the action was done because of the corrupt Italy political landscape. Not against a single political party. It is about all of them.

More than thousand posters where jammed with three different stickers: “Dislike. Share this with a pic”, “Shit This - Follow on Twitter” and “404 Page Not Found - the page hasn’t been digested. Try again!”

image



Source:
Shot MCN

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Ban the Bomb: Alive and Kicking

Posted by Marc | 11-11-2011 17:19 | Category: Activism, War & conflicts

Nice animation from Vidar Bakkeli made for ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Banning Nuclear Weapons isn’t the most salient activist movement these days. Remember the 90s.
That is what ICAN tries to change:
“Our aim is to inspire young people to take action and raise awareness on the fact that nuclear weapons do not make us safer because they cannot address the threats that young people and our societies have to face today.”

These are the arguments from ICAN:
- because there are 20.000 nuclear weapons in the world today, and represent a constant threat to humanity;
- because in case of a nuclear attack, borders would not protect us from radiations and climate change;
- because the resources that we invest in nuclear weapons could be reinvested, helping the economy to get back on track;
- because we believe that change does not just happen we, collectively, make it happen!

ICAN is at Facebook too.

ICAN - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons



Advertiser:
ICAN

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We Art The 99%

Posted by Noah Scalin | 7-11-2011 08:30 | Category: Activism, Government, Politics

As a socially conscious designer, I don’t always wait for a client to hire me to create something to support a cause I believe in. Most recently I created this design to support the Occupy Wall Street movement…


image


There’s no guarantee that something like this will actually be utilized, so I was particularly happy to discover that it has been used by the NYC General Assembly on flyers that have been spotted in Zuccotti Park and in other NYC locations.


image
image by Phoebe Berg



You can download a PDF of my design and see additional versions I created HERE.


And I’m not the only designer who has been so inclined, see more examples after the break…



Advertiser:
Occupy Wall Street

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Breast cancer survivors’ body painting art censored by Facebook

Posted by Tom Megginson | 3-11-2011 15:29 | Category: Activism

image

Facebook continues its moral crusade against the human nipple. Ukrainian top-free feminists FEMEN (who have faced their share of Facebook bannination) made me aware of the latest administrator crackdown on an art and advocacy project called the Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project (BCABPP).

Calling themselves “An all Breast Cancer Survivor project for awareness, fundraising, inspiration and healing worldwide” they use nude body painting and photography to help survivors express how they feel about what the disease has done to their bodies. But while Facebook generally gives an exception to nudity (which in America means exposed female nipples, bums and/or genitals) in paintings and other “art”, it does not except non-sexual nudity that has been painted.

“It has come to our attention,” states the petition against the social media network, “that Facebook is now censoring images being posted for this project. I have used social media long enough to know that they censor who and want they want. I see pornographic material on there daily. I see women, men, children using their bodies to elicit business in their avatar usage. What I want to know is HOW can they censor a project that uses the human canvas and creates ART - when they allow nude paintings and other photos to be shown? I am positive that our children see more T & A while surfing through Facebook (and other online venues), as well as just turning on the television, opening a magazine or going to a beach!”

Facebook is, as always, within its rights to censor based on its user Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. The problem artists and activists are having is that it simply prohibits “nudity” without stating details or exceptions and that enforcement is based on user reporting. So it is basically in the hands of the most prudish visitor to decide what is “pornography”, and Facebook admins usually follow a guilty-until-proven-innocent deletion policy. In the past, artists have been reinstated after causing PR headaches for the network. But they continue to pander to a very Middle American standard of decency.

image

The project is by Florida photographer Michael D. Colanero and body painter Keegan Hitchcock, along with an army of survivor volunteers.

You can see some of their work after the break.



Advertiser:
Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project (BCABPP)
Agency:
Uncommon
Source:
FEMEN (FB page)

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