Social Networking Activism Perfection

            For movements to make better use of social network activism, they need to make significant changes. Most importantly, they need to link the gap between the Internet social network and the personal social network. These two coexist right now and for social movements to be most effective these have to cooperate. Movements are based on personal social relations to progress their cause, and outreaching through social networking could do wonders for organizations. An organization that creates an interactive and interesting website will draw in an audience. People’s interest and curiosity and will entice them to read about the organizations’ causes and potentially donate money towards them or become a member. The two aspects of social movements need to combine for organizations to successfully recruit members online and solidify relations as well as exchange ideas on the movement’s progression in meetings in members’ local areas.

            To accomplish the complete blend of present day social activism recruitment and support, organizations need to have foundations in local areas as well as an online presence. In the modern world advertisements are everywhere, and these visual displays constantly draw people into their products or causes. Organizations that wish to gain memberships and support need to create multiple ads and propaganda that can be widely viewed by the public so a wide audience becomes familiar with the institution. As well as having headquarters in different cities and recruiters that go door to door explaining their platform, a website as well as links to the cause need to be frequently viewed to stir an interest in the public. This method of recruitment will show the strongest results and in turn help fund the organization through donations and increase the membership of the institution. As long as the organizations’ numbers continues to grow they will keep enlarging their political sway, and if enough support is built up then significant social change will become a possibility. 

Social Network Activism Effectiveness

I have interacted a bit with social network activism in my life, and I believe this is an entirely different system than that of traditional political movements. In the modern era of widespread Internet access, it is easy to sit in the comfort of your home and support a cause by donating money with the click of a button. These new technologies make becoming an activist extremely easy, or so it seems. Interacting in social network activism doesn’t guarantee that anything is getting done, because it is rare for one to see the effects that one’s click to support a cause has on the overall movement. This reason causes for some debate on the effectiveness of social network activism on whether it is as effective as traditional political movement strategies.

            I have participated in a few social networking activism campaigns. Two significant ones that I have participated in and have been widely covered in the media are those of the New Orleans population post Hurricane Katrina, and that of the Haiti population after the devastating earthquake that took place. Both of these groups have Facebook affiliations to raise awareness for support and to gain money in order to help with the relief. I contributed money to both of these organizations and am associated with their groups on Facebook, but that is pretty much the furthest extent in which I have interacted with these campaigns. I have kept up on articles about the development in both of these places because I am still intrigued and interested in the progress, but I have done nothing further to involve myself with the relief. It might be because there is such a convenience aspect to social networking activism these days that deter people for attempting to gather people to become members of actual social activism, because they believe the population is too lazy to participate and strive for the betterment of humanity though social enactments. Looking at the effects of social networking activism from this angle may cause one to view the evolution of activism to be taking steps backwards.

Ineffective and Offensive Ad Campaign

              I find that this campaign is fairly ineffective, because of the negative portrayals of Jackie Chan that they give in this advertisement. Jackie Chan’s intelligence is insulted when he speaks in broken English, because this could have been fixed in the script for the ad. The producers made Jackie Chan seem as foreign and Asian as possible, and the best way to do this was to generalize him with the entire Asian population. They also generalized Jackie Chan through the comparison to Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid, because they assume that all Asian actors are the same, because they are trained in the martial arts and they have similar accents.  The entire advertisement degrades Chinese, it shows that they have a natural superior ability in the martial arts and they have no type of discretion on when to use these skills to protect themselves or to harm others. Jackie goes into this commercial as being friendly with the two dolls, and leaves having beaten one up and going to the party that he invited them to by himself. He initially tells a doll to put some clothes on and then beats him up, and in this message I can find no relation to the product. The product was clothing, such as pants and shirts, but no such reference to the clothes advertised was mentioned until Jackie walked out of the house. The end of the ad had clothes advertised at various prices, but that was only a twentieth of the advertisement. If one were to miss the last ten seconds of the video, one would have no idea what the company was trying to sell. The producers of the commercial literally could have put anything before the last five seconds of the advertisement, and it would have had just as much relation to the product as the Jackie Chan advertisement does. Its these reasons why I believe the ad campaign was negative and ineffective, but I do think there are a few changes that could have been made to make this advertisement much better.

            To make this ad better, I would first make it so that Jackie doesn’t talk in broken English. I don’t think that his accent is offensive or demeaning to the Asian population at all, but the fact that Jackie doesn’t form complete sentences is a slap to the face towards his intelligence. Also, I think that the doll should have come back wearing the clothes that Jackie originally told him to buy, not some wrestling costume. It would have made the advertisement more effective by incorporating the product into the storyline, and it would have made it less offensive by not having Jackie fight one of the dolls. If the advertisement were to go this way, it would have put Jackie in a friendly and kind light because he would have given them valuable advice on clothing themselves while making him look friendly by inviting them to a party. The way they presented this product was offensive and ineffective because of the way they displayed Jackie Chan as a stereotypical Asian, and the improvements I suggested would have created for a much more effective and positive ad campaign