The 'Make It Possible' multimedia campaign: Generating a new 'everyday' in Animal Welfare

Abstract

Although livestock welfare issues were once barely visible to mainstream consumers, animal welfare activists now combine traditional public media advocacy with digital media advocacy to spread their campaign message and mobilise consumers. This article examines one attempt to mainstream animal welfare issues: Animals Australia's ‘Make It Possible’ multimedia campaign. Specifically, we contend that the campaign puts into circulation an ‘affective economy’ (Ahmed, 2004a, 2004b) aimed at proposing and entrenching new modes of everyday behaviour. Core affective positions and their circulation in this economy are considered from three interrelated articulations of this campaign: the release of and public response to the YouTube campaign video; Coles' short-lived offering of campaign shopping bags; and public engagement in the ‘My Make It Possible Story’ website. Analysis also opens up broader questions concerning the relationship between online activism and everyday life, asking how articulations in one domain translate to everyday practices.

RAS ID

18231

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2014

School

School of Communication and Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Swinburne University of Technology

Comments

Rodan, D., & Mummery, J. (2014). The ‘Make It Possible’multimedia campaign: Generating a new ‘everyday’in animal welfare. Media International Australia, 153(1), 78-87. Available here

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1177/1329878X1415300110