Upon browsing through some of my classmates’ blog posts, I stumbled upon Sarah’s Moug Blogpost “The Social Pressure of Social Change” which really resounded with me.
Although I was unable to join Sarah at the 2013 We Day as a Crowd Pumper this year, this blog post triggered some of my past experiences with Free the Children and We Day.
I have been to 3 We Days. My first time in grade 10 as a clueless high school student, and my second and third times in grades 11 and 12 as a volunteer crowd pumper. Attending We Day in grade 10 was a huge turning point in my high school career, it was the jumpstart to my passion to start being involved with the greater community and to start giving back to those less fortunate than me. We Day is a day of inspiration and motivation for youth to pursue social change. Sarah mentioned that she was not the target market of the event, but my grade 10 self was, and I was totally unaware. I was unaware that Free the Children was capitalizing on the fact that 10,000 clueless individuals in its target market were sitting in the audience waiting to be inspired and thus sold to the brand name of Me to We, and Free the Children. In a group of 10,000 other students, it was tough to not buy into the group think and group mentality of what Free the Children was telling me/ all of us.
That day, I became a believer of Free the Children and Me to We. Watch the following video: it is hard not to buy into their message if you aren’t cognizant of the marketing scheme the company is trying to achieve.
WE DAY – THE MOVEMENT OF OUR TIME
While this does not discount the fact that I wholly support Free the Children and its efforts to make positive change on the world, I do not agree on marketing to clueless teenagers who are not aware of their vulnerability. During teenage years, we gullibly believe things that are told to us by celebrities and important political and social figure such as the Dalai Lama or Craig and Marc Kielberger (these were the speakers who spoke at We Day 2010) without really thinking about the message.
When I returned to volunteer as a crowd pumper the subsequent years, I was able to see through the marketing schemes of Free the Children and to reasonably decipher which campaigns I supported and which I didn’t. By being aware of such marketing schemes, I was able to make more informed decisions as a consumer.