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RURAL REALITY vs. REALITY TV:
ANATOMY OF A PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
Internet organizing
This will surely surprise some people in la-la land, but the "hicks" in the South not only have indoor plumbing -- they have computers. And they are using computers … to protest CBS's plans for a new, reality version of the old "Beverly Hillbillies" sit-com.
Editorial
Charlotte Observer,
January 12, 2003
The Internet provided an efficient way to reach a broad audience with two-way communication. The Rural Strategies site (www.ruralstrategies.org) logged more than 30,000 hits a day for the first two weeks of the campaign. The site gave information on how to contact CBS, tips for writing letters and emails to oppose "The Real Beverly Hillbillies," a sampling of public comment and press coverage about the issue, and facts about rural America's most pressing challenges. Thousands of individuals signed on to join the campaign and sent faxes, letters, and emails to CBS.
The site was promoted in news coverage and through partner organizations with extensive email lists. Key partners in email organizing included Tolerance.org (part of the Southern Poverty Law Center), which distributed the anti-CBS message to some 25,000 subscribers, and MichaelMoore.com, which had a list of 100,000 individuals and created an action alert.
Comments from the website showed a wide range of people wanted to be part of the campaign. Some comments came from rural residents, others from people who had migrated to the city for work. About half the comments came from lifelong metropolitan residents who valued rural people and places and were disgusted with CBS's intentions. Several lamented that the network that aired Edward R. Murrow's "Harvest of Shame" would stoop to mocking poor rural people for the sake of profit.
Perhaps the most compelling comments came from young people who felt trapped by rural stereotypes. A 24-year-old Texas woman wrote:
I grew up in a trailer park. Last year I graduated from Texas A&M with honors. The hardships I faced growing up served to strengthen me, but the cruel stigma haunts me to this day. I wish I could be less embarrassed about my past and speak up. I know I contribute to the stereotypes by not admitting where I am from.
During the first month of the campaign, the Rural Strategies website received more than 3,400 hits from U.S. military personnel (people logging on through .mil domain names). Rural servicemen and women wrote that CBS's plans to produce "The Real Beverly Hillbillies" fit a social bias against rural people. An Army sergeant stationed in Germany wrote:
I could bore you with literally hundreds of examples of negative stereotypes that people hold about rural Americans. ... Suffice it to say that the overwhelming image of rural Americans is very negative and growing worse. We have our work cut out for us in trying to change that image.
More than 4,000 people left comments and signed on to receive periodic updates on the campaign. Through a low-cost third-party service, Groundspring's EmailNow, Rural Strategies sent email updates as the campaign unfolded.
The website also created unsolicited cash and in-kind contributions. A bank group paid to place the Rural Strategies ad in eight rural newspapers. A chamber of commerce and a town council joined the fray. Volunteers downloaded the print advertisement and asked their local papers to run it as a public service announcement. Tolerance.org reported that more than 5,000 people had downloaded the ad to take to newspapers, print out as promotional fliers, or forward to their friends.
NEXT: Building a national alliance
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