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Case Studies / Citizens for Community Values
Memphis Library System Now World's Largest To Feature Internet Pornography Screening
THE SITUATION
A 3,000-strong citizen group asked for help in attacking pornography in the community on several fronts, the most pressing of which was geared toward adolescent males via the Internet.
THE SOLUTION
Provide a paid advertising/ PSA campaign of television ads supported by an intensive, media-focused community relations effort designed to persuade the Memphis-Shelby County Library System into placing anti-pornography filters on Internet screens in the public libraries. Develop a one-month blitz period in which to deliver the message via multiple channels (October 1999, a/k/a "Scorn Porn Month"). The campaign featured op-ed articles, news stories in the major daily and an alternative weekly, appearances on television and a highly publicized rally on the steps of the main library.
THE RESULT
In the fall of 1999, the library board voted to install Internet filters, making Memphis the largest urban area in the world to have such anti-pornography devices. The campaign also succeeded in increasing public awareness of the problems of pornography and enhanced demand for further corrective actions. An author of two empirical attitudinal studies on the issue said attitudes with respect to pornography were undoubtedly influenced by a combination of the advertising/ PSAs and the public relations efforts throughout the community. The research concluded that the changes in attitudes were a more reliable measure of effectiveness than recall.
THE WORK
