[NLA] Discussion: Working effectively with the media

[Mary Hendrick]

Without seeing the image of the advertising it is difficult to determine 
precisely the target audience.  From the wording, I would assume it is a 
promotional ad for Toyota's involvement with NCFL.  Not only is that an 
excellent way to polish their reputations, the ad could lead readers to 
inquire about contributing money or time to such programs, or to find out 
more about programs in their area.  It's doubtful that the ad is designed 
to recruit adult students directly (many of whom can't read at that level,) 
but it could be used to encourage readers to refer those in need of adult 
education.  Periodicals subscribed to by elementary educators would be an 
excellent target for this ad.

-----Original Message-----
From:	Thomas Sticht [SMTP:tsticht at aznet.net]
Sent:	Thursday, January 03, 2002 9:19 PM
To:	nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject:	[NLA] Discussion: Working effectively with the media

Regarding the use of the media, while browsing magazines a while back at
Borders I came across an ad in Harper's about the National Center for
Family Literacy (NCFL). The ad was sponsored by the Toyota company. With
a little more browsing I came across the ad in Newsweek and the UTNE
Reader (the latter advertises itself as the best of the alternative
press). In the latter mag for February 2002, a major part of the ad
stated,

Quote:" NCFL is the leader in parent-child learning. It is a powerful
way to develop learning skills in young children by helping
disadvantaged parents complete their own education and learn important
life skills at the same time.

Toyota has provided support to more than 150 family literacy programs
across America. By supporting NCFL, we hope that the book on missed
opportunities will one day be closed forever. "end quote

What I first found of interest was that the ad was not about adult
illiterates and how we should pity them and volunteer a helping hand to
raise them out of their misery because they can't read. I still have an
ad like that from the early 1980s, and it seemed to me then and now to
demean and shame adults who need to further develop their literacy
ability. Instead, it was about NCFL as an organization serving adults
and children.

I thought that would be a good model for advertising the Adult Education
and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States. The message could focus
on the AELS as an education system for adults who want to continue their
education, perhaps to get a high school credential and go on to further
education and/or training. The ad could tell what the AELS is, what it
does, and how to learn more about the programs the AELS offers in the
reader's local community. So the idea of what should be the focus , that
is, the message, of an AELS campaign ad was what I first thought about
after seeing the NCFL featured in the Toyota ad. [I didn't like the part
about "complete their education" because it implies that education can
be complete and I think that is wrong and I didn't like the part about
"we hope that the book on missed opportunities will one day be closed
forever" because it is not particularly clear what it means but it could
imply that the need for an AELS will go away once we get some other
education problem solved and I think that is not a good message because
the need for an AELS serving lifelong learning grows with each year in
my opinion].

Then I got to thinking about the magazines in which I had found the
Toyota/NCFL ad. Newsweek has a pretty broad circulation to a fairly
general audience I guess, but to me Harper's seems selective of more
literary, essay oriented readers, and the UTNE Reader, an alternative
press, has a very selective readership I would think. So I wondered for
whom the Toyota/NCFL ad's message was intended? Would many potential
adult students for the NCFL be reading these mags? What do other NLA
members think? I also wonder about these mags as message bearers for an
AELS campaign. What about magazines concerned with automobiles,
motorcycles, hunting, quilting, fashion, etc. I think they would have a
different readership than the ones I found the Toyota/NCFL ads in. Who
should such ads try to reach?

The coincidence of finding the Toyota/NCFL ads while the NLA was
discussing the way to engage the mass media offered me a chance to
concretize the discussion a bit around issues of what the message for a
pubic awareness campaign for the AELS should be, who the audience(s)
should be, and how the message  should be disseminated. Perhaps NLA list
members will want to go to their Borders or Barnes & Noble book stores
and enjoy a cup of coffee while searching for the Toyota/NCFL ad in
various magazines. The weekend is coming up!
_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org