Glenn Close sets back Disability Rights 50 Years

Glenn Close has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Tony, and has been nominated for an Oscar, but she still can’t seem to get a simple PSA right. She and her sister Jessie, who has bi-polar disorder, have recently launched a new campaign to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness- but are they [...]

Can social marketing reduce stigma?

This was one of the questions I addressed in my masters thesis this past summer. Specifically, I wanted to explore how different cultural interpretations of disability would affect communication efforts to reduce stigma in developing countries. More on that later.
As I was doing research, I came across a very interesting campaign from Scotland. The tagline [...]

Got Water?

Its summertime in Washington, DC, and although it has been a comparatively mild summer, it is still hot and humid enough to make you want to jump in the pool, or have a tall glass of crisp, cold water.

How about the latest in boutique bottled water, B’eau Pal?
Unlike other high end aqua refreshment, [...]

AARP catches the youth, hope train

Osocio is one of my favorite blogs to follow- they always have great examples of social marketing campaigns from around the world.
This one, is from AARP- The American Association of Retired Persons, and its a product of their “U@50″ video contest. (Getting young people to think about retirement is a tall order! Kudos to AARP [...]

Don’t let your work hide on a shelf!

Last semester I took a course on children in international development. It was an amazing overview of some of the particular development issues that hit children – child labor, trafficking, education in crisis, early marriage, HIV/AIDS to name a few.
The final project for the course was a case study and we were partnered up with [...]

You’re not the only one talking!

A great friend of mine and amazing woman, Jayne Cravens has just added a new resource to her website with information and tips on how to build staff capacities to communicate and present. The information she has posted was developed while she was in Kabul, Afghanistan, working with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. [...]

Virtual Violence

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and there are lots of things you can do!
UNIFEM has organized a “Say No to Violence” campaign, and they are collecting signatures to deliver to UN Secretary General Ban Kim Moon. You can find out more, and sign the petition here.
I’m a little disappointed [...]

The “West Wing” as Civics101

I arrived today in Budapest for a course called Media, Democratization and Civil Society. Its put on by UPenn Annenberg School of Communications and Central European University.
I’m really excited about it and will be posting about it (maybe live blogging a little, too) over the next couple of weeks.
There was a lot of required readings [...]

Race and Politics- Live Blog from CAP

Due to the unprecedented nature of the 2008 election, communities of color are being actively sought after and their role and influence scrutinized by the media and political pundits. In an effort to add depth to the national conversation about the important role these communities are playing and will continue to play in ‘08 and [...]

Public access and grassroots video

I’m attending a lecture today given by DeeDee Halleck, an expert in public access television programing and the use of communications in grassroots development.
You can follow along here.