A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Oxfam's I'm in campaign

Oxfam are currently running a really effective TV ad to drive people towards their website and get them signed up (under the slogan "I'm in") to sign a very simple pledge: "I think poverty is an injustice and I want to do something about it."

You can sign it here:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_you_can_do/imin/index.htm

Now I know that political parties can't advertise on TV but aside from that this is a prime example of NGOs and charities being streets ahead of political parties in the way they integrate different campaigning media, recruit supporters and activists and fundraise around a simple core message.

It just happens that the Labour Party's core message is also "I think poverty is an injustice and I want to do something about it." Why isn't the Labour Party recruiting people around a similar simple message about what it stands for? Most of the people signing the Oxfam pledge ought, if they were approached the right way, to be Labour members too. But if you go the front page of Labour's web site you don't get a simple statement about what we are for - you get a poll about double devolution (which is a fairly technical question even for councillors) and (this evening at least) worthy but less than exciting stories about a speech on Corporate Social Responsibility and extra cash for playing fields. The Supporters' Network button on the front page doesn't give any actual reason to "support" other than to "keep in touch" which I reckon most people would see as "please let us send you spam emails".

We would do well as a Party in adopting some of the charity sector's hard hitting advertising and effective core messages if we are going to remind people what the difference in values and practice is between a Labour government and a Tory one.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe the labour party should work with oxfam closely and get a lot more done quicker. Two heads are better than one!!!
:) Maybe ??? (:

6:09 pm, January 21, 2007

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

 
Free Hit Counters
OfficeDepot Discount