State campaigns prove extremely useful in drawing public attention to particular problems in society. Nowadays people are overwhelmed with abundant information from television and the Internet. Activists require support from the government to be heard by the public. People use various social media tools to find supporters and create communities. The purpose of this study is to analyze four state campaigns on two important themes in the society of the U.S.
The state campaigns in Alaska and California attract public attention to the lack of physical activity and high obesity rates among citizens. One-third of children and two-thirds of adults in Alaska suffer from being overweight. The annual costs of medical treatment for obese citizens exceed four hundred million dollars. According to the site of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, the “Play Every Day” campaign was launched in 2012 “to increase public awareness about the health risks of childhood obesity and the importance of the physical activity to prevent and reduce obesity” (ADHSS, 2013, para. 4). The campaign extensively uses social networking sites and online videos to tell people about the health benefits of physical activities. The main goal is to make families in Alaska more active and reduce the amount of fast food in their everyday meals.
A similar campaign has been launched in California. The main aim of authorities is to create healthy environments and promote healthy food in the cities. The activists of the campaign also use social media tools to inform the citizens of California about the importance of balanced nutrition and physical activities. The officials plan to make cities more suitable for active recreation by enlarging park territories and opening health food stores.
Child Safety is another big issue that needs constant attention from the public. The state of Florida has started a Water Safety for Kids Campaign (Glady, 2015). The main objective of the campaign is to teach children and parents basic rules of safety on water because swimming is the most common leisure activity for all people during the summer season. Parents often do not have the needed information and skills to save their children from drowning. As in the two previous cases, the campaign activists promote water safety rules on the Internet and control the access of children to pools. According to Glady (2015), “campaign will provide free books, coloring sheets, and informational videos to children, and events with puppet shows, guest speakers and readings of water safety books will be held in elementary schools, child care centers, libraries and book stores throughout Florida” (para. 5). In the meantime, Texas Health and Human Services have started a car safety campaign. This campaign also uses social networking sites to promote road safety rules.
State campaigns are extremely useful in raising public awareness about significant issues in society. The activists of all campaigns use social media tools to promote their ideas to a wide range of people and create communities that can help the officials in achieving their goals. Nowadays, people receive information from a multitude of sources. The number of events in the city and around the globe overwhelms people. They need to see rules and hear about certain facts regularly to remember them. Therefore, campaigns use public activities and the Internet to attract more attention from citizens. Nevertheless, state campaigns need significant financial support to achieve their goals.
References
ADHSS. (2013). About the play every day campaign. Web.
Glady, M. (2015). DCF launches water safety for kids campaign. Web.