Contributed by Sally Kohn
In Sum
If a banner drops in the forest and your target audience isn’t around to see it, will it make a difference? Probably not.
When evaluating the success of a particular action, it doesn’t matter what you think about your creative poster or press release or civil disobedience. All that matters is what your audience thinks. Protesting solely for the sake of self-expression and self-gratification? That’s the political equivalent of masturbation. Political action that is carefully and thoughtfully designed and executed to cause a reaction or response from a targeted audience? Now that is making love!
If you’ve already thought up some awesome, off-the-wall action and are now trying to figure out who you want to reach with it, you’re doing it backwards. The point of creative political action isn’t simply to be creative, but to have a desired impact on a particular audience. First identify your target audience and then brainstorm actions to effectively convey your message. A guerrilla musical performance of the latest hit would be awesome — unless you’re trying to influence the members of the American Association of Retired Persons.
Remember that there is no right audience, just the audience that is right for your particular goals. Try this basic formula: we can get A to do B if they believe C. A is your audience, B is your objective and C is your message. Design your action or actions toward getting A to believe C.
If your core tactics and actions aren’t explicitly and strategically designed to get the desired impact on your target audience, you’re not being strategic. That song number may be fun and the hits on YouTube astronomical, but will it reach your senior citizen target audience? Baby, quit playin’.
Traditional artists don’t necessarily worry about their audience’s experience. For them, creative self-expression may suffice. But for political artists, the audience is everything. The purpose of political art is the reaction of those who experience it. When you push over your tree in a grand act of theatrics, make sure the right people are watching, and that they hear one heckuva loud noise.