Advocacy Policy Change Letter

25 May 2011
The CW Network LCC
3300 W Olive Avenue # 300
Burbank, CA 91505-4661

Dear CW Executives:

We are writing this letter to petition for the institution of at least one healthy relationship message per prime time TV show on your network. A study conducted by RAND in 2004 found that kids with higher exposure to sex on TV were almost twice as likely as kids with lower exposure to initiate sexual intercourse. Seeing the direct effects of media on youth, it is your responsibility to take action. Integrating one healthy relationship per prime time show will provide young viewers with positive role models and help defame the idea that overly sexually aggressive behavior is the norm.

Currently there are no alternative options for viewers who want to watch entertaining television shows that provide positive role models for living out healthy relationships. Looking at our poll results from our blog, there is overwhelming support for integrating these relationships. We believe that from the feedback we have received placing in healthy relationships will not only increase your viewership, but also gain the support of parent groups.

We are partnering with Commonsense Media and we recognize that shows such as Smallville and Supernatural appropriately provide positive role models for viewers. If positive relationships with less promiscuous behavior were placed within your prime time shows such as 90210, Gossip Girl, Hellcats and Vampire Diaries we can help promote your shows to gain better response from parents and teens.

At the same time we have also gain the support of advertisers such as Vitamin Water and Ford who are pledging for our cause. If we do not receive your support, Vitamin Water and Ford have pledge to pull their advertising from your network. We ask you to take action on behalf of our youth and recognize your responsibility to better our society.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter,

Revive Media



(408)773-2298
ReviveMedia@gmail.com
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95050

Campaign Media Plan

Our Facebook page will act as an informational tool for parents and primarily the youth. Although we are not directly targeting the youth- we want them to be aware of the extent of the issue and think about how the issue relates/affects their behavior and outlooks.
The Facebook page would have statistics and supporting literature on the issue to not only educate youth but parents who are members of the SNS. We would also have video clips from YouTube showing examples and prevalence of promiscuity to urge the backing of parents in specific.
People can advertise their support for our organization in a public way to market our team and efforts as well as provide a discussion board for youth and parents to engage in conversation about their feelings on the issue, provide support and networking opportunities, and post effective actions for parents and supporters to do in order to push for policy change.
We will use Twitter to promote our events including speaker banquets that serve to educate media executives and the public about our issue and the actions we want to take. Additionally, our concert would be advertised as well as other activities centered around our issue like school/hospital educational discussion meetings, meetings with CW executives and other activities to promote public awareness and support.

We will urge parents to become more aware of the promiscuous content in media directed towards youth by presenting clips and examples in our literature, community meetings, and online resources. Here are just a few examples we would use...
Hi, check my new fantastic look @ http://www.dove.us/?dl=/cfrb/gallery/video_2.aspx%7Cvideo-id=1&source=shareBlogger
http://youtu.be/4zCP2rauvvQ
http://youtu.be/6jaSHlDpXi4

As well as informational coverage other informational background organizations produced:
http://youtu.be/vrP6HsCsF0c
http://youtu.be/jU2WzCjTkF4


We also want to create and upload a PSA campaign commercial to YouTube that demonstrates our organization's platform and efforts, and most importantly provides ways our supporters (mostly parents) can help achieve a policy change: like changing the channel, writing petitions to the CW, and working with others to widen awareness and action.
The PSA commercials will be similar to the Dove Real Beauty Campaign commercial called "Under Pressure" that shows all the risque content of prime time shows on the CW/or of media in general.

The same commercial will be aired on TV and advertisements of the celebrity endorsing our cause and calling for the public's support and action will run in print: newspapers, parent magazines like O and Real Simple [to target CW and parents]. In addition to younger-geared magazines like People, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour.

Hi, check my new fantastic look @ http://www.dove.us/?dl=/features/videos/default.aspx%7Ccp-documentid=8354359%7Cvideo-id=1&source=shareBlogger

After creating buzz through these PR tactics, we will try to present our issue and campaign to news organizations so features can be done on it and to reinforce credibility. Example: http://youtu.be/RVsS9Sxoo4U

Our Plan of Action

We are advocating for the CW network to incorporate a minimum of one healthy sexual and/or relationship message into each show broadcasted during prime time hours.

We feel this action will promote a healthy and realistic message about sexuality and relationships. Our hope is that CW will incorporate our message and that adolescents will have a more realistic and cautious view on sexual behavior. Thereby, not glorifying the looseness of sexuality and the gratification from such behavior (without showing consequences).

It will also provide young viewers with positive role models
Decrease the viewership of shows that highlight overly sexual behavior
Provide insight and guidance into having and maintaining successful and healthy relationships.
Reverse the distorted representations of relationships.

We are targeting the CW Network- who airs some of the top teen prime time shows including:
-Gossip Girl
-90210
-America's Next Top Model
-Vampire Diaries
-Hellcats
-Life Unexpected
-One Tree Hill
-Smallville

Indirectly we want to target the parents of the media-targeted audience (youth ages 12-20).
We hope to recruit the support and action of the parents to press the CW to incorporate our desired message in each show.


Spreading the Word:

We will use cooperative strategies like meeting face to face with the CW to provide them with evidence for our case that shows the correlation between over-sexualized messages and the high percentage of risky behavior and loose attitude of the youth.
We will partner with parents and other advocacy organizations (like Parents Television Council and Commonsense Media)that back our cause to produce stronger results and reach a wider audience. We also will educate the public through online literature and updates as well as at schools, churches, and community boards.

Activities:
Hold informational discussion sessions at schools, doctor's offices, and local clubs and volunteer organizations.
Holding a concert with celebrities endorsement and involvement to sway the support and action of their fans and industry decision makers who are likely to work with them for their appearance on shows.
We also will enlist Politicians to take up our cause and give it a public platform.

Problem is Proven

Experts agree that this over-sexed problem in youth programming is increasing risky behavior and attitudes in youth.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 62 percent of teenagers have sex by the time they reach the 12th grade (2005). Unfortunately, many sexually active teens are careless about birth control and condom use, putting them at risk for unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Additionally, early sexual activity has been linked to emotional problems, such as low self-esteem and depression.
[http://www.healthtree.com/articles/teen-behavior/sex/]

A study conducted by RAND in 2004 found that kids with higher exposure to sex on TV were almost twice as likely as kids with lower exposure to initiate sexual intercourse.

The Pew Research Center did a recent poll that showed that 75% of 1505 adults surveyed would like to see tighter enforcement rules on broadcast content, particularly when children are most likely to be watching.

We will provide supporters with links of work others published that furthers our cause.
Examples: http://youtu.be/0iFDdULwtzI

PROMISCUITY PROBLEM: ATTN: THE CW

Images like this are promoted by the CW for their prime time shows targeted to youth. Racy and irresponsible messages the CW produces affects the youth's behavior and attitude about sex and relationships, threatening the health of our youth.

Today- more than ever, our world and viewpoints are dominated by the media's messages. Media helps connect people on a global scale by acting as a source of news and advertisement of messages of all sorts.

One of the messages the media has been promoting to youth through prime time shows is the over-sexualization of adolescents and irresponsible sexual behavior and attitudes that are portrayed by popular characters. Prevalent promiscuity in the media can negatively affect sexual behavior and perceptions of healthy relationships in adolescents and teens. Definition of promiscuity in television: sexually overt material that glorifies short term, superficial relations that does not discuss responsibility or risk of having these types of relationships.

The prevalence of this risky message all over popular TV shows is that it causes impressionable adolescents to think that the scandalous sexual behavior shown on TV is the norm. In TV land- the casual hook-ups, one-night-stands, orgies, multiple partners and naive behavior do not have consequences, like the real world does.