Virtual Activism

Meez, a 3-D avatar provider, is widening its activity to virtual activism, under the newly-minted "CAUZ" banner, according to the company’s PR. The CAUZ brand is the result of collaboration with 7 youth-oriented non-profit organizations: 26 Valencia, Do Something, Just Think, Music for America, Outward Bound, Summer Search and YouthNoise.

"CAUZ virtual items will include t-shirts, hoodies and backgrounds that prominently display a non-profit's brand or a message about a social concern that is important to today's youth, like the environment or AIDS."

CAUZ items will be available for free, unlike Meez branded sportswear which has a price tag.

Many teens spend more time over the web than in real life, so these NGOs decided to promote social activism in the virtual arena. Cool. Yet, Merton and Lazersfeld* would have said (if they were alive) that consuming virtual activism is a "narcotic disfunction" of mass communication. It gives users the false sense of doing/acting while actually being passive, i.e. ONLY consuming activism at home (as TV entertainment or here - as virtual content).

What do you think?

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*Lazarsfeld, P.P., and Merton, R.K. (1948). Mass Communication, Popular Taste and Organized Social Action, in: Schramm and Robert (eds.) The Process and Effects of Mass Communication, pp. 459-480. University of Illinois Press.

Comments

[GorillaSushi]

I think real life activism is a rare thing sometimes. I don't think any analog activists will downgrade to strictly virtual activism so I see little harm. Potentially virtual activism could at least introduce people to the concepts where they may have never considered them. Good intentions but I don't think it will change the world!

[Xen]

Merton & Lazersfeld might not agree on the affect of virtual activism on real life activism. They argued that consuming news gives people the false sense of actually doing something about the situation (politics, economy, society…) while in reality they're just watching the news...
I tend to agree with you that virtual activism might expose more people to the concepts but nothing more than that...