| The Media Campaign
The Media Campaign has been an innovative and strikingly effective tool for modeling nonviolence, recruiting mentors, and building community awareness since MEN’s 2004 launch. The core of the campaign consists of quarter-page ads in The Taos News in which groups of Taos men deliver the consistent message: “We’re Men and We’re Nonviolent – Join Us!” The first ad began at the top with the three living mayors of Taos. We followed with leaders of the business, academic, social service and church sectors. Very quickly, nonviolence took root as a standard for male behavior. Since then, cowboys and Indians, Anglos and Hispanics, priests, plumbers and painters have appeared in these ads – over 500 individuals to date. In the fall of 2008 we began to include daughters, wives and moms to underscore the need to respect and care for women. The latest photoshoot focused on high school couples as part of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. This fall we want to focus on mentors with their mentees, fathers with their chilldren or families, and athletes. The entire MEN photo library is now in the process of coming online. |
Every photo subject signs the Media Campaign Agreement, confirming that he or she is indeed physically* and sexually nonviolent and will remain so. We also ask for three character references. We are serious about this, and have developed a Protocol for Violation of Pledge to guide us in the event one of our volunteers breaks his or her pledge. We have been extremely fortunate to have the services of Donald Graham, a world-class portrait photographer who has given countless hours of beautiful work free of charge. The perfect complement has been the graphic design provided by David Doyle, who has produced our ads, logo, and this website from the beginning. We also want to acknowledge The Taos News, which has provided all the adspace free of charge as part of its commitment to the community. The Media Campaign has also included radio spots, primarily to promote current events or to recruit mentors. The “Nonviolence” column, written by founder and board president Vishu Magee, begain its bi-weekly run in the Taos News in autumn, 2008. Click these links to download the Media Campaign Agreement or the Protocol for Violation of Pledge in pdf form.
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