After the presentation the next task was to research campaigns and movements that represent our era and answer questions such as who are the audience, how is the message carried. I started to think about topics that have been relevant and growing in society. The main topics were gender equality, climate change, Brexit and LGBTQ movements. I think climate change has been a significant topic in the society in the last few years and I have seen many campaigns in social media especially Greta Thunberg.
I found few organisations that work on climate change such as School climate Strike leaded by Greta Thunberg, WWF, Connect4Climate, GetUP Action for Australia and many more. I think the main campaign on social media is the school climate strikes, the whole world started to listen to what she was saying and she got a massive space in the news and social media people started to sharing photos, hashtags and joined the rallies.
#FridaysForFuture
How it started?
In May 2018, aged 15, Greta won a climate change essay competition in a local newspaper. Three months later, in August, she started protesting in front of the Swedish parliament building, vowing to continue until the Swedish government met the carbon emissions target agreed by world leaders in Paris, in 2015. She held a sign that read “School Strike for Climate” and began regularly missing lessons to go on strike on Fridays, urging students around the world to join her. Her protests went viral on social media and as support for her cause grew, other strikes started around the world, spreading with the hashtag #FridaysForFuture.
TOPSHOT – Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (Bottom C) and German climate activist Luisa Marie Neubauer (Center R) attend the “Fridays for Future” demonstration for a better climate policy in Berlin on March 29, 2019. – Since December last year, teenagers across Germany inspired by the 16-year-old Thunberg’s climate fight have been marching weekly instead of sitting in classes. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images)
By December 2018, more than 20,000 students around the world had joined her in countries including Australia, the UK, Belgium, the US and Japan. She joined strikes around Europe, choosing to travel by train to limit her impact on the environment.
Who is the audience?
The audience is mainly world leader and the general public. She is raising awareness for the climate changing happening in the world and demands action from world leaders to change and develop policies. She uses the general public and calls them for action which is part of the strikes on Fridays. They happen all over the world and she also attends to most of them.
How is the message carried?
In September 2019, she travelled to New York to address a UN climate conference. Greta refuses to fly because of its environmental impact, so she made her way there on a racing yacht, in a journey that lasted two weeks.
When she arrived, millions of people around the world took part in a climate strike, underlining the scale of her influence. Addressing the conference, she blasted politicians for relying on young people for answers to climate change.
What is the message?
Her message is to show and speak up about how we are destroying the world and have been for years. She speaks with scientific reposts using evidence. She called for banks, firms and governments to stop investing and subsidising fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and gas. “Instead, they should invest their money in existing sustainable technologies, research and in restoring nature,” she said.
Brexit – Vote Leave
The next campaign that I think represents our era is the Brexit campaigns since 2016. I think the campaigns for and against have been all over social media and on street which effected the final results.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 09: City financier Jeremy Hosking (L) and co-founder of ‘Brexit Express’ Alex Deane (R) pose during a photo call to launch a new European Union referendum campaign with a series of billboards in Vauxhall Cross on June 9, 2016 in London, England. Mr Hosking is campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union ahead of the referendum on the 23rd of June. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
The posters above are billboards in the cities which many people reacted to and was seen very racist especially the ‘Breaking Point’ poster. The audience for these campaign are the general public trying to get people to vote leave. The message was to say that leaving the EU would be the best for UK’s economy and that they would have their freedom back. The message involved using immigrants and slogans like ‘They are stealing our jobs” which racist and hateful comments to get people to leave EU.The campaigns are really direct and simple. It directly communicates what they want the public to do. Whereas remain campaigns have bold big type, lots of imagery etc.

The poster above is one of the main posters used in the campaign. I think the reason this poster was so powerful was because it is very direct. it has no imagery or funky type. The message is clear and simple, it directs the audience from all ages from someone who is 18 to 75.
Brexit- RemainÂ
The remain campaign had many persuasive materials which were also widely seen by the general public. The audience was the general public and aimed to persuade them to vote remain and change their perspective. As a political campaign, I think the persuasive materials are very clear and bold. The colour schemes are appropriate to the political party but there is a massive difference in the style compared to leave campaigns.
The message of this campaign was to persuade people to vote remain in the EU, the campaign had many important slogans like ‘more jobs, lower prices, a stronger future”. These slogans clearly direct the young generation too as it involves the future which would attract voters. The message is clearly showing that by staying in the EU it will benefit jobless people and also the general public with the low prices.

The message is carried by using posters, TV adverts, billboards and social media adverts. By this way, it reached more wider audience and also debates on television programs answering questions from the public which is also a way to persuade people. I thin compared to the Leave campaign, the remain persuasive materials were very clear direct and also very racist attacking certain group of people in the society.