Tag: Positive Social Change

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Organizations We Love: Rescue SCG

Rescue Social Change Group has been working towards creating positive social change since 2001.  Based out of San Diego, they have done amazing work in focusing on major public health issues affecting young people.  The reason Rescue SCG has been so successful is because they do not work like most marketing firms, Rescue SCG focuses on changing behaviors. By changing the behavior of young people, Rescue SCG can make the world better.  This is the realm of Project Kinect and we are so happy to be sharing the same space with Rescue SCG.  For more, watch the videos below, check out their blog, and their Facebook.

Here are two campaigns that Rescue SCG created.

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Letters From A Change Agent: #Empathy

Many studies would have us believe that empathy needs to be taught. I believe the contrary. I feel we are given the power of empathy in early development. It is in our DNA to care and feel what other people are feeling. Empathy often empowers us to react for the good. I see it in my nephew all of the time. When another kid doesn’t have a toy or someone else to play with, he takes responsibility for making that child feel better with a toy or his companionship. He is four. He doesn’t know the word empathy but he feels it.

As we mature and society beats us up, we lose track of that feeling.   We aren’t aware of when our empathy is telling us to take action. Therefore, we have to learn how to access it. Because it is so hard for our post modern, technology filled society to genuinely reveal our empathy, organizations and campaigns must be extra witty and cunning to use our empathy to take action. Too many resources are spent doing this. We shouldn’t have to be tricked into acting and doing good because we feel someone else’s pain; that action should come naturally.

To thicken the wall between our actions and ability to naturally access our empathy, corporations advertise products to be intermingled with our emotions. That is f***ed up! When did heightened emotional stimulation become the new version of the bandwagon technique? My favorite current example is an American Eagle Outfitters commercial. We are told to cherish our imperfections. Be proud of our imperfection but also buy these clothes. I get it, there are imperfections in the clothes but that does not bring me security.

All the corporations do it. From Coke to Verizon, our positive emotions are being triggered and paired with certain products. Advertisers are so good at it that often, we don’t’ recognize it’s happening. We must be able to consciously say, “that is not really how I will feel with this product” along with, “this is causing me to be less empathetic.” I included a commercial I saw last summer in South Africa. It displays my point perfectly; a corporation that has nothing to do with the inspiration it’s igniting in the commercial.

We are entering the season when our empathy is the main tool for driving sales. As change agents, we must be strong and ask if the empathy and action being produced is authentic? Or, is it being stimulated by some corporation that desires you to leave your family on Thanksgiving to beat the Black Friday traffic? Please be mindful of what is being asked of you this month. We have individual power to take action. This agency can be combined with other people’s free will and real action will happen. We are all positive change agents and no one controls us or our empathy.

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Sites We Love: Funny or Die

Comedy is SO IMPORTANT for Positive Social Change.  It brings everyone to a common level and makes difficult topics more easy to discuss.  Last night, Russell Brand was on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.  They were discussing Brand’s new book, Revolution. Brand is best known for his comedy and acting, but more and more he is being seen through an activist’s lens.  Revolution definitely places him in that category.

  • Tool: Find Comedy in your activism.

A major point last night though was that Comedy is necessary to get everyone to a level where we can come together to see real change.  It is how an actual, real working democracy will begin.  Project Kinect understands that we all must find common ground to produce the type of social change we need to thrive.  One of the best websites that uses comedy and satire is Funny or Die.

This last week, an Andy Bush directed sketch was uploaded to the website called Here’s How You’re Getting F***ed. It has Adam Shankman and Brandon T. Jackson in it and makes fun of how unjust to minorities our society is.  It is funny and makes room to have a better rounded conversation.

We listed that video below, as well as some other videos we feel really “Say Something”.  Happy Watching! #WAAI

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Voices We Love: Prince EA

Recently Prince EA has had a lot of amazing press such as the Queen Latifah Show and The Blaze TV. He has also got some bad press for how painfully honest and candid the lyrics are.  Here at Project Kinect, we know that positive social change sometimes is difficult.  Equality for all and human compassion in the technology age is difficult.  All the states that now accept and promote gay marriage took work.  What is happening in Ferguson is just the tip of the iceberg of what inequities are in our country.  The fight and work though that those demonstrators are doing is part of the walk towards positive social change.  Again. This walk is difficult.

We commend and support Prince EA for his honesty, his ability to bring this conversation to a new venue, and most importantly, how transparent he is with his hopefulness.  All is not lost and he acknowledges this.  Prince EA just warns us that we are in some very dangerous territory. He also reassures us that he is not suggesting we find the polar opposite. In a recent Facebook Post, he said, “You need not delete your social networks or destroy your cell phones, the message is simple be balanced, be mindful, be present, be here.”

Project Kinect challenges you to listen to his lyrics and digest them.  What do they do to you?  How are you charged?  Whether you are angry or inspired, what action could you take next?  Please leave your answers to these questions in the comment section.

For more information, check out Prince EA’s Website.

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Letters From a Change Agent: #BeBetter

Recently two very close friends have had some rough life obstacles. One dealt with work place drama at a large social change scale. She ended up leaving her job but took every opportunity she had her last few days to create constructive conversations about this topic where the drama sat. Her ability to handle herself composed and genuine through such a hot topic issue inspires me.

The other friend continues to inspire me through her kindness that most people would not see at skin level. She has been next to me since age 16 and I know her to be one of the most kind people I know. She recently revealed plans to me about combining her love and compassion with her amazing talents at large-scale operations. She constantly demonstrates great acts of kindness that more than not, goes unnoticed. These two women act in the realm of doing better.

I sit in a constant space of “trying to live better”. Often, I fail. A couple weeks ago I was driving on a country highway when I came upon an SUV flashing its emergency lights. As I approached it, I saw sparkles on the pavement, slowed down, passed the vehicle, saw a deer on the side of the road, and then seconds later, realized that the car had hit the deer. I was already 100 yards beyond the SUV and thought, “I should turn around.” My hesitation allowed for the next person behind me to stop and assist.

That is an opportunity where I could have been better. I am not sure that I would have turned around if the car hadn’t stopped. I like to think I would have. I’m a doer and a helper, so most likely yes, but I didn’t. That is the point. My “be better” muscle is not trained well enough to always act immediately.

We all need to be better; no matter who we are or what level of life we are living. Positive Social Change only happens when we are all better for a greater good. Any reaction of, “I already do so much!” or “What can I do?” needs to be removed from our rhetoric. We are crumbling as a species quickly and we all have to take responsibility, at any level we are capable. As my mom always said; “We all have to do things we don’t want to do!” I feel this fits in here on some scale

Do not misunderstand me. This is a change of habit, not a change of lifestyle. I do not mean lose ourselves and commit all our energy to being the best change agents we can. If you can do that, please show me how. I mean be vulnerable to those moments where it is obvious we can be better. Each one of us has the power to be better; thus, adding to the success of the whole.

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