Charity Communications: Changing Attitudes

The first session of the day at Charity Communications 08 was called 'Changing Attitudes' and was based around the following questions:

• Can a high profile media campaign change the way we think and live?
• What are the next big issues facing charities?
• From AIDS campaigns of the 1990s to the recent smoking and drink driving campaigns - Is the media the right place to be educating the nation?

The panel consisted of the following:

• Jean Collingwood, chief executive, The Drinkaware Trust
• Kate Stringer, communications officer, Moving People
• Clare Hutchinson, head of planning, WCRS

The session started by showing the British Heart Foundation's 'Pick Up The Beat' advert:

Does this advert work? Who does it work for?

Jean Collingwood spoke about truthaboutbooze.com, which works with other charities who share alcohol related issues. She argued that charities need authentic engagement with their audiences - such as Myspace, Bebo, Facebook, etc - two-way mechanisms that will create a conversation,

What they found from their research was that young people were more savvy about alcohol then they gave them credit for. The messages that charities were giving them were very patronizing.

Having got this information about attitudes, is there a way of changing behaviour?

Kate Stringer spoke about the Moving People campaign, which aimed to reduce negative attitudes towards people with learning disabilities by 5%. The stigma towards mental illness comes from ignorance. People with learning disabilities feel that their illness is the 'last taboo.' The campaign needed to reach 75% of the population to change attitudes and the media was a key to achieving this.

Before the campaign even started, the organisation spent 2 years researching attitudes towards people with learning disabilities. Once the campaign started, the ad campaign was backed up by a local media campaign around the UK.

Claire Hutchinson spoke about the 'Don't Make Children Breathe Your Smoke' campaign:

When smoking was banned from pubs and clubs, its prevalence dropped significantly. But many smokers, particularly from low income families, were unaware of the damage second hand smoke caused to others. After the campaign, there was a shift in people making their homes smoke free.

The campaign was part of a collective effort to help people stop smoking. In 2000, 8% of people said anti-smoking adverts were the trigger to quit smoking. In 2004, this percentage rose to 30%.

This was achieved through the right adverts used in the right ways in the right locations. But it was agreed that it takes a long time to change public attitudes towards a subject. For example, it too 25 years to change attitudes towards drink driving.

But the media is often the first attitude that needs changing as they are key to the public changing their attitudes.

PR is essential to changing attitudes, as its strongest point is its 'realness' - truth penetrates much better through PR than advertising.