Quinton

A. Merrill
WRA 202, 002
Final Draft
3rd round revision

Background

Throughout history the usage of todays natural resources has been the topic
of many political debates. In fact, the crisis of global warning has been on the agenda
of political icons such as Mr. President, Barack Obama and according to
whitehous.gov Obama has set an ambitious yet achievable goal to lower greenhouse
gasses by nearly thirty percent by 2050. Organizations like Conservation
International (CI) are at the front line when it comes to raising awareness about the
negative effects of climate change; using many different mechanisms of
communication in order to successfully achieve their goal of: providing information
that is easy and accessible via social media, websites, and other propaganda to
audiences across the United States and other countries. Conservation International
has a goal to inform their potential donor audience members about these impacts on
the environment; targeting social age groups in their mid twenties with steady
paying jobs, as well as retirees with deep pockets. One can find the rhetorical slogan
on the front page of the Conservation International official website
(www.conservation.org): Were working to ensure a healthy, productive planet for
everyone. Because people need nature to thrive.

ARTIFACTS AND ANALYSIS

Organizations driven by a passion for protecting and conserving nature have
one goal to fulfill: spread awareness to audience members who have the likelihood
of donating money to the organization in order to help solve issues relating to the
overuse and destruction of nature. The propaganda found in each artifact is easily
geared towards, white, middle to upper class individuals living in the United
Stateswhich tends to be the majority of the financially stable population in the U.S.
CI looks to alarm its viewers into taking action on preserving the worlds natural
resources. Most of CIs artifacts are geared towards media savvy individuals across
the United States who are financially stable, but also extends to similar audiences
internationally.
The first artifact I bring to your attention is the official website of
Conservation international. The
website is designed to be very
interactive
and
visually
stimulating to the viewer, due to
the supplemental imagery of
slideshows, and informational
bubbles that move when you
hover your cursor over the logo.
Here is the organizations chance to
draw in their potential donators

that are navigating through their plethora of information. For example, their usage
of initiating an electronic-style flash card in their information section is just enough
for the viewer to stop and take a moment to read what he or she has just caused. As
a result of its viewer friendly layout, the target audienceupper to middle class
potential donorsis more likely to give philanthropic-style donation. As a viewer of
the websiteand a middle class potential donor in my twentiesmy initial thought
was that in order to move down the webpage, I had almost no choice but to flip an
informational bubble; this was an effective way to catch my eye and got me thinking
of the interactive and detailed web design that was going on. The ability of the
website to mold me into a client donor proved useful in giving me information
pertaining to the organizations purpose and overall mission; more importantly it
gave me more information as to who their audience members were and how they
wanted them to interact with their website design.

The second and third artifact that we should analyze is the usage of
social media within the confines of the organization. Artifact two will consist of the
usage of twitter as a whole, while artifact three will be the hash tag associated with
the official twitter account. The usage of Twitter is an effective means of
communicating for a number of different reasons but let us stick to the examples of
re-tweeting and following. My own experience with Conservation International is a
perfect representation of how the organization interacts with people looking for
more information.

I reached out to CI via Twitter saying I would like to learn more about their
organization, and twenty
minutes is all it took for a
response.
This
example
represents the idea of quick
and efficient interpersonal
communication between a
large organization like CI, and
strengthened the argument
that CI is motivated to educate
youthful individuals in their
mid twenties, as an opportunity
to gain a potential donor who
will
graduate
with
an
undergraduate degree, or go on
to make donations once they
are financially stable. The social
media manager was efficient in giving me more information in less than 140
characters, and it also gave me a sense of trust with the organization. I started to
build a relationship with the organization and that was exactly what this twitter
conversation aimed to do. Effectively reaching out to middle class Twitter donors
passionate about the environment was proving to be CIs strong suit.

Next, the hash tag artifact came into play through the response to my tweet, and
thus opened my eyes to
the hash tag campaign
used by CI to further
their
audiences
understanding of their
overall goal to create a healthier planet for everyone. The independent idea of the
hash tag campaignfunded by the well known company of HP paviliongave
audience members an incentive to actively use their twitter accounts and deliver a
message people everywhere need to hear as quoted on the CI official Twitter
account. Also, the hash tag came with its own way for the Twitter community to
donate for each time they used the hash tag in a tweet. It was simple to see that the
target audience was specifically reaching out to the people of Twitter; specifically
those passionate about the environment and were motivated to use the hash tag as a
way to donate. The target audience still fell under the category of working middle
class Americans in their twenties, or retirees looking for something to do with their
money, but now it opened up the idea of CI to the twitter community. The twitter
community includes everyone from non-profit organizations to international users,
and this is how CI spread its message throughout the world, and gained the
attention of international conservationists.


Building off the idea of the increasingly popular hash tag, comes artifact four:
the use of celebrity endorsed videos. These artifacts prove valuable to the cause of
raising awareness about
the
environment
through the use of well-
known
Hollywood
movie stars, by reaching
out to a group of target
audience consumers. In
an article from Market
Watch, Ryan Sager states, we seem to crave connection to the famous and
powerful. Edward Norton is voiced over in these promotional videos and speaks as
if he were the element itself. Norton represents the voice of the soil and throughout
the video stresses the importance of the earths soil, and how we as a human race
are destroying its viability. Advertisements containing celebrity endorsers cause
products to be viewed more favorably and cause consumers to be more likely to buy
the product (Atkin and Block, 1983 and Agrawal and Kamakura, 1995). The idea
behind backing up a political campaign such as #NatureIsSpeaking with celebrity
faces such as Edward Norton, runs along the same lines as the product consumption
idea derived from Atkin et all. In that I mean: by linking celebrities known for their
passion on screen translates to the credibility that inspires the media savvy, and
potentially rich donor consumers to find trust and support in the Conservation
International films, and ultimately the organization. The common factor that,
Edward Norton, along with other celebrities share is the willingness to support the
ideas and goals of CI by associating voice-overs with the natural resources in the

videos. In my opinion the videos make a compelling case against humans and their
tendencies to abuse natural resources of the world.



The fifth and final artifact comes from the confines of the CI website. The Hu
manifesto is a poem-style type writing meant to evoke emotion from the reader,
and send a message of urgency that nature does not need humans, but humans need
nature.
Human beings are part of nature. Nature is no dependent on human beings to exist.
Human beings, on the other hand, are totally dependent on nature to exist.
The growing number of people on the planet and how we live here is going to determine
the future of nature. And the future of us.
Nature will go on, no matter what.
It will evolve.
The question is, will it be with us or without us?
If nature could talk, it would probably say it doesnt much matter either way.
We must understand there are aspects of how our planet evolves that are totally out of our
control.
But there are things that we can manage, control and do responsibly that will allow us
and the planet to evolve together.
We are Conservation International and we need your help. Our movement is dedicated to
managing those things we can control. Better.
Country by country.
Business by business.
Human by Human
We are not about us vs. them.
It doesnt matter if youre an American a Canadian or a Papua New Guinean.
You dont even have to be particularly fond of the ocean or have a soft spot for elephants.
This is simply about all of us coming together to do what needs to be done,
Because if we dont, nature will continue to evolve. Without us.

This Hu manifesto was designed for a specific audience of arts and humanity
members, while leaving it broad enough for anyone to interpret it into something
meaningful. Within the text it mentions the irrelevance of nationality, making it a
universal message to those not within the confines of the United States; reaching out to a
larger audience is the key to spreading awareness on the issue of global warming and the
exploitation of natural resources, and do so by keeping this artifact general and concise to
their target audience of people in the working middle class, or retirees willing to donate.
This message creates a sense of community among not only those passionate about
endangered species, or ocean life, but for those looking for an answer on how we can
make the world a better place for generations extending past our own family linage. By
creating a sense of community among different types of people with a common goal
make this artifact one of the most important to the organization. This artifact is perhaps
the most important because it uses a unique style of writing to connect with the artistic
audiences following CI.

Conclusion
The use of persuasive and rhetorical techniques is apparent throughout the entire
organization of Conservation International. Whether it is social media, video
endorsements, or poetry, the message remains dominant throughout. Although there is a
common goal to connect with a general audience, it is through these different artifacts
that each individual audience members (financially stable potential donators, artistic
humanity members, and retirees with deep pockets) can find their own place among the
organization. With the constant increase of youth using social media, it is a good idea for
CI to use the hash tag to its advantage to spread awareness across the world, and rope in a
future generation of middle class donors. Twitter itself can connect with more than one
national audience by traveling around the world in order to expose the account name and
information. As we conceptualize what our values areand what we consider to be
importantCI wants to urge us to respect the nature we still have. Rhetorical thinkers
like those of us obtaining an education, and eventually entering the workforce to make
money, must come together to prioritize pressing issues similar to the crisis of global
warming.
Non-profit organizations can make a compelling argument about their mission,
but sometimes come off with almost too much conviction, which potentially takes away
from the goal of persuading their donor audience in order to support their mission. Public
opinion is a powerful tool in the political world of mass media and can have a lasting
affect on an individuals rhetorical thought process. Understanding these mechanism of
audience frames can help you better understand the organizations goals, and become a
donor who makes a difference in the preservation of our natural resources.

Works Cited
Atkin, C., and M. Block. "Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers." Journal of Advertising
Research 23.(1) (1983): 57-61. Print.
"Climate Change and President Obama's Action Plan." The WHITE HOUSE. 1 June
2013. Web. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change>.
Conservation International. Web. <http://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx>.
Conservation International picture. Digital image. Conservation International, n.d. Web.
Edward Norton endorsement. Digital image. N.p., n.d.Web.
Sager, Ryan. "Do Celebrity Endorsements Work?" Market Watch. 21 Mar. 2011. Web.
<http://www.marketwatch.com/story/do-celebrity-endorsements-work1300481444531>.
Twitter picture of #NatureIsSpeaking. Digital image. HP Pavilion, n.d. Web.