Designing a public relations campaign for Big Buddy Program, has been not only exciting and fun, but also very exhausting.

If I haven’t been able to return your calls, answer your emails or even post very often on my blog in the past month or so, it’s because of how busy I’ve been with designing a campaign for a huge non-profit organization here in Baton Rouge called “Big Buddy Program.”

Big Buddy is like “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” in other areas, and much like “Boys and Girls Club.” They do mentoring and activities with often underprivileged kids.

There is so much to say about this campaign but I’ll save a lot of it for later posts.

Big Buddy gave me an advertising budget to work with. And I thought what better way to use some of that money than to make videos that encompass what Big Buddy really is. These videos will be going on their website (which will completely be redesigned in the coming days, my PR group all agreed it was the first thing to do since it’s baaad lol).

However, what’s even more exciting was the idea to produce PSAs (Public Service Announcements) to be broadcast on TV. Big Buddy has a very close, good relationship with all the local media, making my job as a PR person very easy; let’s just say, publicity is NOT a problem.

Big Buddy normally had someone that worked with them for doing video work. I asked to see samples, and let me tell you, it was like a cheese factory had exploded. They were the typical cheesy local commercials; low budget and overly priced.

Since working for Leechon, I’ve really come to appreciate the quality of Br. Belal Khan’s work. He makes complicated things seem pretty effortless. And the greatest example is in the video I’m about to show you.

I told the executive director of Big Buddy whom I’ve been working very closely with since the beginning of the semester of someone I have worked with who I think can do great video work for Big Buddy and for a great price. I had to convince Belal to give us a discount, and Big Buddy got him to come down and shoot some footage.

A group member and I sat there doing the interview with the kids and staff members, while Belal shot the footage. We literally came up with the idea for the PSA five minutes before shooting. I came up with a script, and read it line by line to the kids while they repeated after me. They messed up a couple of times, they were nervous at times but they were awesome. I thought editing this would probably take a lot of time and effort, but again when you see this video, Br. Belal made it look effortless.

So the following are the 4 different versions of the PSA that will be played on TV very soon. We created 4 different versions because:

1. We have an event we wanted to advertise that will take place on the 31st of October
2. Another event on November 18th
3. A general 30 second one to be played all year
4. A 15 second version to also be played all year

When you work in media you have to give TV stations every option to make their lives easier and in turn, you get the coverage you want.

Thanks, Leechon for producing these PSAs and I’ll follow up in the next couple of weeks with various aspects of this AWESOME campaign on this blog, inshaAllah.

And for the record Big Buddy went CRAZY OVER THE RESULT! THEY LOVEEEEEEDDD THE PSAs. In our meeting the executive director, Gaylynne Mack, kept telling me to replay the video, (and I was happy to do it!)

I showed my public relations professor and she said she was speechless.

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****Watch them in high quality on YouTube****

Day of Mentor version of PSA:

Evening of Champions version:

30 Second- Serving Community PSA:

15 second version:

MashaAllah! People should spread this around. This is the first time I hear Sheikh Muhammad al-Munnajid, whom most of you know from IslamQA.com, speaking in English.

If you want to see the original clip, YouTube “Kill Mickey Mouse” It should be a clip about 1:22 in length.

The reason I’m not posting the original link is because I don’t want to support their YouTube channels which spew anti-Islamic content.

*Jazak Allah khair to my brother in law for sending this to me!

I hardly get analytical and political. However, I cannot deny that recent events are now leaving us to believe that perhaps times are ‘a changin’ for Muslims living in the West.

Such a claim is hard to make without stating what are the reasons that lead me to believe this, so bear with me if you will while I outline some incidents you may have missed:

1. The “Obesssion DVD” distributed through swing states.

Recently, as many of you have heard, supporters of John McCain distributed copies of the Fox News produced DVD “Obsession” through various swing states during this election year. “Obsession” is an anti-Islamic DVD aimed at fear-mongering. A dirty political stunt, if you will. They distributed it via mail but more relevantly, they paid major newspapers to have the DVD inserted within the fold as a sort of an advertisement.

How do the Muslims feel about this?

Angry. Seeing any clip from the DVD is enough to make your head boil. It’s the typical anti-Islamic rhetoric we’ve been hearing since 9/11. “Terrorist, Islamist, etc., etc.”

How did the recipients of the DVD feel?

Furious. Yeah, that was a surprise to me too.

Recently, in an article published in the associated press, discribed the some of the reactions and consequences to distributing the DVD:

Although a few papers refused to carry the DVD, about 70 including The New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor’s right to free speech. The decision generated letters, cancellations and even a protest.

“This is definitely the most feedback that I’ve gotten to an ad,” said Ted Vaden, public editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. “It’s among the heaviest reaction I’ve gotten to anything. The great majority of the reaction was negative.”

Vaden said the paper received about 500 e-mail and phone messages and had some 50 cancellations. He said the paper may have sparked some of the complaints by writing a front-page story calling attention to “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” the DVD insert that critics have denounced as anti-Muslim propaganda.

Newspapers generally insist on giving a platform to a variety of viewpoints, but readers who complained were largely critical.

“I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk `Obsession’ in my newspaper!” Margaret Lewis of Durham, N.C., wrote to The News & Observer. “What will you enclose next? KKK robes?”

2. The Presidential Election

Obama, has a pretty good lead over McCain with the second of the presidential debates just ending – despite all the attempts at tying him in with Islam and “Terrorism.”

Recently, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin made comments at a fundraiser regarding Senator Barack Obama attempting to reestablish this notion that the senator was tied to “terrorism.”

“Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo.

“This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,” she said. “We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism.”

The Times reported Palin as referring to a man by the name of William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

In fact, the Times was particularly turned off by Palin’s statements:

In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers’ day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate.

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as “not like us” is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

It seems that the general public is sick of the fear-mongering and no longer blindly led to believe anything an opinion leader has to say, such as was seen in the aftermath of 9/11.

Nasru Min Allah, wa fathu Kareeb!

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So if there really is a different perception about Islam than we’ve seen in the years post 9/11, what is the cause?

Could it be that Islam is entering into every household as prophecized as one of the last signs before the day of judgment?

Perhaps mass media is not the best way to convey the message of Islam. That’s a weighty thing to say coming from a Muslim who went into mass media for the sake of Allah and spreading His deen. But my statement does not come without reason to believe that in order to really continue to change the world’s perception of Islam, we should continue with one-on-one dawah. Much like the example of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam during the early Mekkan period.

The following is a rubric for persuasion in mass media, that can very much be applied to Dawah for the sake of Allah:

Keep in mind:

Advertising and promotional media are controlled media, generally external to the (person/organization doing the marketing/PR work), that also offers access to large audiences.

News Media provide opportunities for the credible presentation of organizational messages to large audiences.

Organizational media are published or produced by the organization, which controls the message content as well as its timing, packaging and distribution.

Interpersonal communication offers face-to-face opportunities for personal involvement and interaction.

How does this all relate to the first part of the post?

Well, if we analyze the situation of Muslims in the West post 9/11 and see what is leading to this change in perception, we should analyze this model.

It’s pretty obvious that very few successful attempts at getting the proper message of Islam dissiminated through mass media whether that was advertising and promotional media, news media, and organizational media. Those in esence reach the greater audiences but dont have as big as an impact with regard to persuasion.

However, you’ll notice that interpersonal dawah efforts sky rocketed and this still remains the case, which is in my humble opinion I see is a big factor to the changing perception. It may happen slowly but there is no doubt that it is surely happening, wallahu alem.

With that said, the reason I went into mass media is because of the lack of Muslims with a proper understanding of the deen of Allah who are actually withing the feild of mass media. Sure, I’m still learning, but I hope that through my quest to seek knowledge it’ll help reach that larger audience, the mass media.

We generally cannot say that speaking to mass audiences is not effective at all — because it is. But when you throw in elements such as the guidance of Allah, planting the seed of iman in someone’s heart, and the barakah Allah ‘az wa jal has placed in your dawah, you will not only be able to reach mass audiences, but inshaAllah perhaps have mass persuasion as well.

WAllahu ta’ala alem.

*Note: I didn’t edit this post yet, please disregard all typos and grammatical errors… it’s been a long week.