One of the most interesting organisations around at the moment is Just Stop Oil (JSO). They are dynamic and very creative with their own channels. They regularly achieve national coverage and publicity. But what does it do for them?
From the outside, JSO seem uninterested - or at least not preoccupied - in how they’re perceived by the wider public. Clips of them being dragged off the road by irate motorists are hard to scroll past. It seems like the objective is to make noise and keep the heat (sorry) under the climate emergency, so it doesn't fade out of the news agenda.
Fancy getting nicked?
JSO got in touch with us a few weeks ago to ask if we would be interested in attending one of their marches. The object of which was getting arrested. The call came after we'd filled in a form a few days earlier.
The caller was one of their student members. They were very enthusiastic and came across very well. But we told him straight, we weren't interested in getting our collar felt.
We then asked, what are you trying to achieve? We know it's about making people aware of the climate emergency. But is being aware enough?
From the outside, we said, JSO looks like an incredibly middle class, overwhelmingly white protest group (one of a number of 'green' groups, which look like that on TV). This might not be the case but that’s how it appears to us.
The caller made a sort of noise of disagreement but we went on: To us, it seems like JSO has taken a cause that surely everybody is behind and has made it - or at least them - difficult to love, or even like.
Whatever the visual impact of vandalising art or blocking the road - and it's certainly striking - surely it's what we take away from seeing it that dictates how we feel, and whether we're going to get involved.
It would be interesting to know how JSO measure their communications activity - what represents success to them? Is it getting on the news, which is a great thing and a lot of brands will measure success like that.
(We’ve heard of people at a company being told by management that a KPI was to get, say, 100 pieces of national coverage that year. That was it - no mention of where or for what. When someone pointed out that a bomb going off in the building would do it they were told they were ‘unhelpful’ when it could be argued the opposite was true. Yes, you if you're reading this.)
But we digress.
"We don't like the only people fighting for us"
JSO might feel that stopping working people going about their day is a good way of getting attention for the cause, but what about the people they're in the way of? The suggestion is they don't care. And that is where, from a communucations viewpoint, we feel they are slipping up.
A University of Bristol study in August 2023 found that 82% of people considered climate change to be either very or fairly important. But 68% "disapprove" of JSO itself.
A July 2023 YouGov poll (below) delivered an even stinkier verdict on the group, with most people seeing them unfavourably. Perhaps surprisingly, the 18-24 age group broadly shared this view.
Put another way, the British public - that's us - don't like the only people fighting for our actual lives. Because there is no way the governments of the rich world will do what's needed. JSO and other groups like them are prepared to risk their liberty and safety for us. And we can't be doing with them. That's some disconnect and it must be about how they present themselves/are presented to us.
During our call, the JSO person said they see a significant spike in people getting involved after these stunts/actions, and that seem to be enough for them.
So we asked what kind of people are joining - what’s the cut through of this sort of action and the coverage it creates? Because if it’s attracting the same sort of people, how are you going to make serious change?
For JSO to create the shift in politics we all need, they need to take "normal" people with them. By doing that, they create a massive force. So who are we talking about? Well, people who go to the match, the people in bus queues, the people going to work. In short, they need to get the people who are stuck behind them in vans on their side.
The person we spoke to didn’t really seem interested in that, and to be fair they only called to see if we wanted to join their march, but it is something that we at two-footed believe passionately in.
We don't like being told we're wrong or stupid but those things are the grease that spins the social media wheel (what a weird way of putting it). That's not to say JSO are like that but their tone can seem a little hectoring.
Social media is full of people shouting at each other, and/or looking for people to reinforce our own views (or yell at). But what's the point in that? Surely it's better to at least try and communicate with people who don’t share your views (not actual nutters - who has the time?). That takes patience and skill.
And another thing!
To bring it back to the initial call, we said there was no way we were getting nicked trudging along some road in Hackney or Bayswater or whatever. But we said we were genuinely interested in their work, and would love to speak to them about some thoughts we have on their approach. And, while they are getting loads of coverage and appealing to the people who already like them, they didn’t appear to be getting through to the people who maybe see them as a load of hoorays chucking paint around and stopping people getting to work. They didn’t get back to us.
What do you think? Can clearer communication help us love JSO - do they even care? Please leave a comment below. Or not, we're not going to get on at you.
(About this blog: There are lots of great PR and communications blogs out there, looking at SEO and technical things. And while that stuff is vital to any successful website, and by extension, work or project, this blog is just about a few things that catch our eye.)
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