Online petitions

CCGL 9061
HKU, Common Core
Introduction
Communication is an essential component of humanitarian action

We have seen how victims’ messages can guide humanitarian actors

and interventions

But humanitarian actors also communicate about their actions, and

try to raise support and money

Individuals and local actors, and not only large institutions, are also
now directly communicating about, and fighting for, their causes
Intended Learning Outcomes of the lecture
1. To relate online petitions to the context of communication
in humanitarian action

2. To describe the impact and limits of online petitions

3. To reflect upon the use of words and images in

humanitarian communication

4. To criticize actual online petitions

Overview

1. Institutional communication in humanitarian action

2. Online petitions

3. Designing effective communication

4. Two examples of online petitions

Overview

1. Institutional communication in humanitarian action

2. Online petitions

3. Designing effective communication

4. Two examples of online petitions

The need for communication
Humanitarian organizations need to communicate about their actions

• In the field, communicate with the local government and with parties in conflict
• Negotiate possibilities of intervention
• access to specific regions, transportation of wounded persons
• E.g. provide the coordinates of intervention sites to prevent getting bombed

• Communicate with large funding institutions (EU, governments, large foundations)

• Communication with the general public

• To get better recognition, and weigh more heavily on some situations
• To raise money for their actions
The competition for donors
There are many causes, and many humanitarian organizations
• We can easily be overwhelmed with calls for help

An intense competition for donors

• A need to capture new donors’ attention
• A need to retain regular donors

Online fundraising has become crucial

• But still, not the only way

https://medium.com/techsoup/9-tips-to-maximize-your-fundraising-with-social-media-992a4f9e4d6f
UNICEF offline and online sales

https://unicef16.wixsite.com/pageaccueil/comit
e-16-en-images?lightbox=dataItem-j17iowz6

https://www.unicef.ca/en/discover/article/cards-gifts-at-unicef-canada
Adapting the communication to specific niches
Using a few tricks from social psychology…

Wealthy donors: emphasize i) special privileges to make one “feel special” and ii) tax
reduction schemes (give the feeling that one actually makes money when donating)

“Regular” donors: communicating on the daily cost of a donation scheme, not the
monthly or yearly cost

Street fundraising to find new donors

• Often outsourced to specialized companies…
• … which recruit people to do the job…
• … after a short training about the organization and how
to approach people

https://causeaeffet.com/association/care-france/
The cost of a cup of coffee

https://greenhousementoring.org.uk/fund-
raising/spare-a-cup-of-coffee/

http://petorphans.org/the-price-of-a-cup-of-coffee/
Speaking to the
wealthy

https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/ways-to-donate/major-gifts-philanthropy/become-major-donor/
Embracing communication 2.0
Humanitarian organizations have embraced digital ways of
communication
• Texts, images but also videos, online ‘serious’ games, movies, “experiences”
• Along with phone calls and land mails
A case-study: ICRC’s communication
Different medias / platforms
• Twitter account
• Facebook page
• Instagram
• Etc.

Different levels of communication:

• The institution itself
• Staff’s blogs, twitter accounts etc.
• From the president to field workers

Different channels for different purposes and to reach different publics

• With a lot of cross-posting
ICRC on
Twitter

https://twitter.com/icrc?lang=fr
 Peter Maurer
(current president
of ICRC) on Twitter

https://twitter.com/pmaurericrc?lang=fr
ICRC’s current
Head of Regional
Affairs (Middle
East) on
Twitter…

https://twitter.com/StbonamyICRC
 ICRC on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/icrc/?hl=fr
 ICRC on
Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/ICRC/
 ICRC on
Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/
UCZyACOXbNnPs2RXA_Iv9pxA
Overview

1. Institutional communication in humanitarian action

2. Online petitions

3. Designing effective communication

4. Two examples of online petitions

Shifting from institutions to individuals
Online petition: the possibility to create ‘virtual’ petitions online and to
collect signatures in hope of a change offline
• Born in the 2000s

To “give a voice” to everyone willing to ‘change the world’ (or its more
immediate surrounding…)
• Cf. user-generated content with social media

A departure from institutional communication

• (sometimes) Different perspectives
• Different responsibilities
A real shift?
Individuals may still be part of organizations, although they may
create a petition by themselves

A possible selection of the petitions by the platform

• Or selective support to enhance some of the petitions

Who is backing/financing the online petitioning platforms?

• Avaaz’s alleged connections to billionaire George Soros
The actors
Change.org (https://www.change.org/)
SumOfUs (https://www.sumofus.org/)
Avaaz (https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/)
Mesopinions.com (initially French) (https://www.mesopinions.com/en)
…
Change.org
Change.org by itself
The issue of money, again…
Platforms need money to
run servers, pay salaries
to staff etc.
• Getting money from others
mean losing independence,
and increases vulnerability
to criticism
• Asking money to ‘members’
is a delicate thing to do…
• Pop-up messages…

https://www.sumofus.org/
From the futile to the utmost important?
Hold victory parade if England win the
Cricket World Cup

But futile for who? Important for who? https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/100_clean_yt/

Some criticism
Online petitioning may elude the complexity of real situations
• It depends on the content of the petition…

An opportunistic behavior and some questionable choices

• Looking for petitions that may attract attention, rather than petitions which focus on what really
matters (if this makes sense, however)

Astroturfing
• the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious
or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported
by grassroots participants
• i.e. collusion with some organizations

Clicktivism
• The combination of click & activism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
The issue of clicktivism
An ineffective approach to activism?
• “In promoting the illusion that surfing the web can change the world, clicktivism is to
activism as McDonald’s is to a slow cooked meal. It may look like food, but the life-giving
nutrients are long gone” (Micah White)
• “A petition alone — as with any action by itself — cannot sustain a campaign or is
unlikely to create change. But coupled with offline actions, media and grassroots
activism, a petition can bring new voices into a campaign and help push direct action.”
(Garth Moore)

Clicktivism doesn’t achieve much and actually prevent people to engage in

other ways with an issue?
• It’s easy to click, but it’s also just as easy to disengage

Regan, Ciara (2015). Social Media ‘Clicktivism’ Creates More Apathy

Than Empathy. Development Education.ie. 15th January 2015
 Unicef Sweden’s 2013 campaign

https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/gallery/2015/feb/02/charity-campaigns-influential-oxfam-unicef-adverts-gallery
Overview

1. Institutional communication in humanitarian action

2. Online petitions

3. Designing an effective communication

4. Two examples of online petitions

Communicating effectively
Modern Internet consumption
• “The current generation of internet consumers live in a world of "instant gratification and quick
fixes" which leads to a "loss of patience and a lack of deep thinking“
• “Say it quick, say it well”, or the modern ineffectiveness of long messages

The weight of emotions

• Build positive content to attract people - one can only like or be neutral on Facebook
• Using people’s fears and negative emotions

An engaging story rather than a logical presentation

“Dog bites man isn’t news; man bites dog is.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/management-rewired/201803/surprise-fake-news-spreads-fast
https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2012/mar/19/attention-span-internet-consumer
How to design petitions that will
make people sign?
A shot overview of various fields that may provide answers to this question
Choosing words carefully
Obviously, words come with
different emotional charges
and strengths
• large vs. gigantic
• shocked, outraged, horrified
• hurt vs. destroyed
• Etc.

Choosing stronger words will The NRC Emotion Intensity Lexicon aka Affect Intensity Lexicon
make more of an impression…

https://saifmohammad.com/WebPages/AffectIntensity.htm
Using rhetorical devices
“Of the [modes of persuasion] provided through speech there are
three species: for some are in the character of the speaker, and some
are in disposing the listener in some way, and some in the argument
itself, by showing or seeming to show something.”
Aristotle, On Rhetoric, 1356b (trans. George A. Kennedy)

Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion:

• Ethos: one is perceived by the audience as credible (or not)
• Pathos: one tries to persuade the audience by making them feel certain
emotions
• Logos: one attempts to persuade the audience by the use of logical arguments
Speech acts
A concept from linguistics and philosophy

Idea that words do not only convey information, but also carry out actions
• Austin, J.L. (1975). “How to Do Things With Words (2nd ed.)”. Harvard University Press.
• The speaker wants to act on the world and to this end attempts to modify a listener’s
states of mind

A speech act is an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and the

effect it has on a listener.

Requests, warnings, promises, apologies, greetings etc.

https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-linguistics-1692119
The three types of speech acts
Locutionary acts: assembling linguistic units into a meaningful utterance which can
be understood by the listener(s) = the actual act of uttering

Illocutionary acts: saying something with a purpose/intent = the social function of

what is said
• To inform the listener(s)…
• … but also to ask, convince, scare, reassure, thank, apologize, order etc.

Perlocutionary acts: the consequences on the listener(s) of what is said = the

resulting act of what is said
• depends on the particular context in which the speech act was mentioned
• Can impact the listener’s feelings, thoughts, or actions, e.g. changing someone's mind.

Illocutionary and perlocutionary acts occur simultaneously when a locutionary

act is performed
Analyzing utterances / messages
"I will not be your friend anymore”
• (Locutionary act: the act of saying this)
• Illocutionary act: to tell of the impending loss of friendship
• Perlocutionary act: frightening the friend

“Over 100 million people have signed Change.org petitions”

• Ethos: give numbers as a way to prove credibility (but is it that convincing?)
• Illocutionary act: to convince of the scale of Change.org’s actions
• Perlocutionary act: impressing viewers, leading them to think of Change.org in a
positive way and get involved
Illocutionary act?
Perlocutionary act?
The power of images
Images can have more impact than words
• “A picture is worth a thousand words”

This is especially true in humanitarian contexts where great tragedies

and suffering can be shown with photographs

Historically, some images had a very strong impact on public

awareness of a situation, and ultimately on political decisions

Images are used abundantly by humanitarian organizations

Nick Ut’s picture “Napalm Girl”

A picture that changed perceptions of the Vietnam war

 Oxfam’s first
campaign in
1943
“Greek Week”,
to try to ease
mass starvation
in Greece

https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/gallery/2015/feb/02/charity-campaigns-influential-oxfam-unicef-adverts-gallery
Comparing the impacts of images
Enter the first 3 words that come to your mind when watching each
picture
CREDIT: AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam (https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/faces-of-famine/)
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/action
-against-hunger-2015-annual-report
https://ec.europa.eu/echo/blog/syrians-lebanon-wheelchair-gain-independence-and-play-friends_en
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-
network/2016/sep/26/orphanage-locked-up-disabled-children-lumos-dri-human-rights
A recent shift in the use of images
A shift away from pictures of victims and misery
• Development of codes of conduct
• Amnesty International: show individuals from behind or not show their face
• Friends International: a campaign to show actors / humanitarian staff rather than child
recipients of aid

Yet a need for strong pictures?

• Nilufer Demir’s picture of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi on the beach near Bodrum
(Turkey) in 2015
• A way to let people know of the tragedy of refugees in the Mediterranean sea
• Bernard Kouchner: there is no outrage without an image
• The saturation of violent images is what is dangerous and desensitizing

http://nonprofit.xarxanet.org/news/ethics-using-images-humanitarian-aid-ngos
Overview

1. Institutional communication in humanitarian action

2. Online petitions

3. Designing effective communication

4. Two examples of online petitions

Learning activity: Analyzing online petitions
Use Mentimeter to enter your comments about the rhetorical
strategies and speech acts that are used to make the petition more
impactful
 Animal Cruelty

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/fr-fr/234/253/616/justice-
for-milo-cat-beaten-to-death-in-kuwait/
 On-Screen Violence Against Women And Girls Need Statutory Warnings Too

https://www.change.org/p/redrawmisogyny-mib-india-prakashjavdekar-prasoonjoshi-add-disclaimer-that-
violence-against-women-is-also-bad-for-health-and-prohibited-by-law-too?source_location=discover_feed
 Clean up our act! Educate Hong Kong on marine waste!

https://www.change.org/p/patrick-lai-clean-up-our-act-educate-hong-kong-on-marine-waste?source_location=topic_page
Conclusions and perspectives
Online petitioning has become a popular way of promoting causes…
• Both for individuals and humanitarian organizations

… yet its benefits and disadvantages are still being debated

• Clicktivism etc.

There are techniques to create impactful campaigns, and increasingly

codes of conduct to respect

Knowing how to analyse a campaign is useful to make better decisions