nisbetmc | November 12, 2006Genetech is running ads in the NY Times, The New Yorker, and on their Web site that feature patients offering testimonials framed in social progress terms. The campaign is similar to the Bristol Myers Squib TV ads I described here. In a smart strategic move, the ad campaign "re-frames" the issue of biotech drugs away from the public accountability arguments centered on access and affordability, back towards an emphasis on a "hope for cures." Here is how the San Francisco Business Times details the ad campaign:
Debbie Reynolds went public on her incontinence for Pharmacia. Bob Dole talked…
nisbetmc | November 11, 2006
An unlikely coalition of environmental groups and Evangelical associations are promoting the new documentary "The Great Warming," which defines the issue in terms of a moral duty to future generations and the developing world. Narrated by Alanis Morissette and Keanu Reeves, the film is being shown in theaters, but also along the "Passion of the Christ" model, is being promoted for special church screenings.
The possible appeal of the documentary plays on a major challenge in engaging the public on global warming. How do you tell the "old" story of global warming in new ways that engage…
nisbetmc | November 9, 2006
Buzz is building for Mel Gibson's Dec. 8 release of Apocalypto[trailer]. The film's actual plot is still a bit of a secret. Judging by the title and the focus on the decline of the Mayan civilization, Gibson is offering a metaphor for "the end times." Like Gibson's Passion, the movie is likely to serve as a rallying point for Evangelicals, especially after the recent election and other events have taken some of the wind out of the Evangelical movement.
Yet what effects is a movie with a clear, if not symbolic, political and social message likely to have on audiences? To contextualize…
nisbetmc | November 7, 2006
For his documentary Root of All Evil?, Richard Dawkins was granted inside access to Ted Haggard's Colorado Springs mega-church, and he sits down for an interview with Haggard. "This place strains belief. It isn't just a church, but an organized social network," comments Dawkins upon walking into the basketball arena-sized temple.
See the 8 minute clip at YouTube. Not surprisingly, Haggard accuses Dawkins of "intellectual arrogance," but manages to keep his cool after Dawkins compares his church service to a Nuremberg Nazi rally. Only later does Haggard pull up in his pick-up truck and…
nisbetmc | November 6, 2006Last week I noted the use of the "social progress" frame as articulated by Michael J. Fox in campaign commercials running this election season (go here and here.)
Dems are not the first to employ this selective definition of science for promotional purposes, drug companies have been doing it for many years in direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns. Perhaps the most visible commercials right now are a series of testimonials run by Bristol Myers Squibb, with ads featuring Lance Armstrong and Lynn Redgrave.
nisbetmc | November 6, 2006
Overlooked in the Ted Haggard scandal is that the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals was also one of the leaders of the "creation stewardship" movement, framing the issue of global warming in terms of moral duty.
Polls show that Republicans are far less concerned with global warming than their Democratic counterparts, and framing the "old" issue of global warming in a new way around moral duty is a very viable strategy for engaging the Republican base, showing Evangelicals why the complex and "uncertain" topic was personally relevant. (See this post from Spring 2006.)…
nisbetmc | November 6, 2006In recent weeks, I've weighed in on You Tube as an emerging and important strategic communication tool. (Go here and here.) Now the NY Times adds this to the discussion
IN this election, YouTube, with its extant social networks and the ability to forward a video clip and a comment with a flick of the mouse, has become a source of viral work-of-mouth. As a result, a disruptive technology that was supposed to upend a half-century-old distribution model of television is having a fairly disruptive effect on politics as well. "In politics, there is a very high signal-to-noise ratio," said Mr.…
nisbetmc | October 30, 2006
Over the weekend, I appeared on a stellar panel at the National Association of Science Writer's meetings in Baltimore that featured Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences, Dan Vergano from the USA Today, and Juliet Eilperin from the Washington Post. I will have more to say about this panel later, but apparently, while few fireworks flared in Baltimore, smoked filled the room at the Society of Environmental Journalists meetings in Burlington, VT. (Excuse the strategy/conflict frame.)
The panel featured Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, Bill Blakemore of ABC News;…
nisbetmc | October 29, 2006
It used to be that candidates posed with babies, and George W. Bush still does, especially when using photo-ops to frame instantly for the public that stem cell research is really about "research on young humans." To fight back, proponents of stem cell research are trading babies for white lab coats and instruments.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is just one of several Democrats across the country using their support for stem cell research to draw contrasts to their Republican opponent, in Doyle's case Congressman Mark Green. He's also the latest candidate to benefit from the endorsement of…
nisbetmc | October 26, 2006
It's been a long and very busy week on campus, with several major articles in the works, and midterm grading in full swing. Yet I had to weigh in briefly on the relevance of framing to understanding the controversy this week over the Michael J. Fox stem cell ad. Press play above.
Like many Americans, I grew up avidly following the (mis)adventures of Fox starring as Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties, Marty McFly in Back to the Future, and the title character in TeenWolf. (In fact, as a young teen I modeled myself after APK, though in my post-college political orientations I have evolved.)
Fox…
nisbetmc | October 18, 2006I have been meaning to type up a brief summary of last week's talk at AAAS HQ here in DC. The presentation packed the auditorium with a crowd of about 200. However, AAAS beat me to the punch, posting this news summary at their Web site today. Definitely check it out, it very succinctly captures the major themes discussed.
nisbetmc | October 16, 2006How do you communicate the underlying meaning and values of a political party with a single word or phrase? Republicans have boiled it down to "national security, tax relief, and family values." And now Democratic strategists think they have figured out the catchphrase that strategically conveys the complexity of what they believe.
nisbetmc | October 16, 2006
Last week, I detailed the growing use of YouTube as a strategic communication tool. Now, in today's Chicago Sun Times, Washington Post, and in other papers across the country, there appears a leading example. Syndicated scribe Robert Novak opens his column about the Missouri constitutional amendment on stem cell research by referencing a campaign video archived at YouTube.
The video, sponsored by Missourians Against Human Cloning, doesn't define opposition to the amendment in moral or religious terms. Instead, in a strategy designed to broaden their support, the group frames the matter…
nisbetmc | October 13, 2006
As usual, global warming is no where close to being a major topic of debate in the upcoming election, despite the fact that 2006 will be a historic high in amount of coverage at the New York Times and Washington Post.
Global warming fails to receive more attention at election time, in part, because candidates look at the topics that poll as the "most important issues facing the country" and see that global warming places as low as 10 or 11 in the public's rankings. (As I detailed on my former blog site, even Al Gore in 2000 was snagged by this paradox , go here for more.)
There's also…
nisbetmc | October 12, 2006
You know you have reached a new ethical low in advertising when 9/11 is now fair game for selling commercial products, much less pickup trucks.
But for those who haven't caught the ad, Chevy is running a commercial throughout primetime that fronts John "Cougar" Mellencamp singing "This is Our Country," and a montage featuring flag waving, images of the heartland, first responders, and a picture of the "trade towers of light."
The full minute version of the ad starts with scenes from the civil rights era and Vietnam war (archived here at You Tube), but the 30 second version of the commercial…
nisbetmc | October 12, 2006
YouTube is quickly emerging as a new tool for strategic communication. Uses include promoting documentaries by posting trailers and news clips (see this post on Jesus Camp), reaching bigger audiences with community-based or advocacy media (see this clip by PR Watch), amplifying the views of scientists working to defend evolution (see this lecture by Ken Miller,) and magnifying the arguments of politicians via news clips or political ads that otherwise would have only reached "live viewers." (See for example these clips on Senator Inhofe's claims about coverage of global warming, and the…
nisbetmc | October 11, 2006Turn out at this morning's presentation at AAAS approached 200, and it looked like the auditorium was completely full. It's a sign that interest in framing as a public engagement tool is really increasing. The Q&A session was a particular highlight for me, with many great comments and insights from attendees. I also really enjoyed the discussions before and after the talk. I will have a summary of the talk and some of the questions raised soon, but for now, AAAS has posted the lecture slides on their site.
nisbetmc | October 10, 2006For those in the DC area, tomorrow I will be giving the following presentation at AAAS HQ as part of the Science Policy Alliance speaker series. Breakfast is at 730 and the talk kick-offs at 815. I'm told about 180 people have RSVPed. I hope some readers can make it!
In the presentation, I explain why the dominant models of science communication--the science literacy and public engagement models--are incomplete, especially when thinking about how the public makes up its mind about contemporary controversies such as those over stem cell research or global warming.
In fact, when thinking…
nisbetmc | October 5, 2006
Following Pope Benedict's late August seminar on evolution, the consensus view from Science magazine and intelligent design watchdogs appeared to be that the Vatican was not yet ready to endorse ID, but rather was likely to come out in support of a theological view of evolution.
Yet, the Pope, perhaps in an effort to appease conservative members of the Church, continues to send out mixed messages on the issue, and ambiguity can be a powerful communication tool for ID supporters. For example, just before the meetings, the Pope replaced George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory,…
nisbetmc | October 5, 2006
Lanny Davis, former White House counsel under Clinton, veteran of the Monica Lewinsky wars, and a recognized expert on crisis communication was on NPR this morning, offering some very valuable insight on message strategy in the Mark Foley page scandal.
Davis recommends that iin any scandal, you want to get out in front of the story early in order to frame responsibility before either the media or your opponents do it for you. He argues that the GOP leadership, knowing about the emails last May, should have immediately confronted Foley, alerted the House Ethics Committee, told the…