The NonProfit Times - December 15, 2008 - (Page 14) A Originally published 9/15/08 BY MICHELE DONOHUE SHOCK&AWE & MAKES AN IMPRESSION SOMETIMES YOU CAN’T GO TOO FAR WITH PUBLIC AWARENESS 14 DECEMBER 15, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com A poster featuring a busty, D-cup model will turn heads. Couple it with a precocious, pig-tailed face of a little girl and it will stir an Internet frenzy. That’s what happened to The United Way of Greater Milwaukee’s (UWGM) statutory rape awareness campaign when the faces of adolescent girls were imposed on full-figured, adult female bodies. But before the campaign could launch, the ad images leaked on the Internet and the campaign was tossed, even though the ads tested well in focus groups. “It was obvious that the ads were being misconstrued,” said Nicole Angresano, the community impact associate director for UWGM. Angresano said that changes were made to the images and text and the leaked versions represented earlier design prototypes. “If we were to move forward, those were not the versions they would have seen,” said Angresano, who explained that the ads were created to discourage adult men from having sex with under-aged girls. Some 71 percent of babies born to teen girls in Wisconsin are fathered by adult males older than 20. In 20 percent of those cases, the fathers are at least six years older than the mothers, according to the Wisconsin Subcommittee on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention study. The UWGM assumes that the statistics have stayed relatively the same since 1998, through case studies and anecdotal evidence from law enforcement, said Angresano. A new study is under way but results have not yet been released. “The message has to be understood. If they are just shocked and outraged, what is the point of that?,” Angresano rhetorically asked.“It’s not shock for shock value alone. It’s important to try new things to raise awareness, but it should change behaviors purposefully and thoughtfully.” People are bombarded by thousands of advertising messages each day. Ads explode from the Web, television, newspapers and magazines. They crowd public areas such as bus stations, sports arenas -even restroom stalls. Some nonprofits, with causes ranging from teen pregnancy to global warming, use provocative campaigns, everything from shock to sex appeal, to bring their message to the masses. The mission’s success,“whatever it is, it relies on their ability to communicate to someone. You can’t do that if you can’t reach people with your message,” said Gary Mueller, executive creative director and co-founder of Serve, an advertising and marketing agency in Milwaukee that worked pro bono on the UWGM ads. Serve works on extensive awareness campaigns that Mueller describes as “not hot, not popular and not sexy,” such as teen pregnancy, child sexual abuse, ovarian cancer and Shaken Baby Syndrome. He said that he believes successful marketing is the most important component of a nonprofit’s mission. “Your job is to get as much attention to your cause as possible,” said Mueller, who encouraged nonprofits to take risks but to stick to “smart, strategic” ideas. “It’s irresponsible if you don’t do the most powerful, provocative campaign to reach the most people,” said Mueller. Serve has donated more than $8 million of time and services for cause campaigns since 2002, which includes using guerrilla (unconventional marketing tactic that maximizes exposure with minimal funds), stickers of children peering out of gar-bage cans to highlight child abuse and images of bullet-ridden,bleeding safety signs to condemn gun violence. The UWGM has moved forward with other campaigns, including images of pregnant teenage boys, to shed light on Milwaukee’s high teen pregnancy rate. One outdoor campaign featured writing on billboards and buses “For a good time, call” in child-like handwriting, and more than 14,000 callers were greeted by a teen mom talking about pregnancy over a baby’s screams. The campaigns are meant to alarm the Milwaukee community, and the city is taking notice. The Milwaukee public school system agreed to place posters about teen pregnancy struggles in eighth-grade class- rooms and high schools. UWGM and Serve are beginning to develop a pregnancy awareness campaign for the city’s fourthgrade children in concert with the city’s health department. But Mueller warned:“If your ad doesn’t get seen by someone first, it doesn’t really matter what you’re going to say.” The Montana Meth Project Foundation doesn’t have to worry about exposure. It is the largest advertiser in Montana and runs ads during the local feeds of shows like American Idol and The Simpsons. In the ads they are doing more than just frying an egg, like the famous “This is your brain on drugs” ad. The television ads have actors as drugged-out teens breaking into houses or hitting parents, in an attempt to reduce teen first-time methamphetamine use. Methamphetamine stimulates the central nervous system and the can be highly addictive, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).The nonprofit, founded by businessman Thomas A. Siebel, uses powerful researched-based print, radio, television and billboard advertisements about the drug’s risks. “You have to get them to relate. We need to communicate with them in ways and places they can listen to,” said Nitsa Zuppas, Siebel Foundation’s executive director. Only alcohol and marijuana beat out meth use in some Western and Midwestern states, according to the federal DEA. “You can’t be in any of these communities and not see devastation. It’s incredible,” said Zuppas. Researchers found that teens thought there was little risk to meth use and even http://www.nptimes.com
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