Re: Good spay neuter PSAs (Public Service Announcements)

10-15 years ago, when ever I ever saw a spay neuter PSA come out from one of the national humane groups, I'd buy a copy. What I did was copy them all on to one tape, not with copyright infringement in mind, but thinking that it would be easier for other groups to determine which would work in their communities if they could see a 'line up'. If you want a copy (Lord willing that I can find it) please let me know and I'll try to get one to you.

More importantly, and along the same subject line, I'd like to put a whole buncha' two cents worth in here, and this is REALLY IMPORTANT!

I must say that we, as a humane community, have always taken it upon ourselves to either create or find a PSA, and then beg borrow and steal to get it on the air. When actually, our rewards (for the animals) are really quite minimal considering the vast effort it takes. IMHO, and please forgive me for being blatantly honest and not pulling any political punches here, but I see NO REASON what-so-evah that the national humane orgs are not getting PAID ADVERTISING for spay neuter on the air. We are, after all, selling spay neuter.
And who to best sell spay neuter than the large and ever so powerful national humane groups who have been in this business for 80-100 years?

I have called and written, and called and written, and banged my head on the floor with these people. I called the Southwest Regional Director here in Dallas and asked "WHY aren't I seeing any S/N PSAs on TV??" and the response was: "Because we are at the mercy of the media." To which my response was: "When you're pulling in $45 MILLION dollars a year, you're not at anyone's mercy." AH, but these Slick Ones always have answers. Always an excuse for not getting the job done.

This organization takes in between $35-45 MILLION dollars a year from YOUR community and virtually NONE of that money returns to help you do your work. And yes, I'm being very politically correct by not calling names here.

Why do you think you have to do it all??

Why aren't the national humane organizations PAYING for time to remind the public they need to spay neuter?

WHY should the public have a clue if they don't hear SPAY NEUTER SPAY NEUTER SPAY NEUTER on TV and from their vets?

They don't. And, really, the vast majority of the public is oblivious. They're living in warp-speed, in their own little worlds, and when fluffy has a litter and they are able to give all the litter way, (and even give fluffy if fluffy poops in the wrong place) these people firmly believe that there IS no problem finding homes. After all, they just gave a whole litter a new home.. just like that.

I've been working under contract for IBM for the last 4 years. I've changed assignments and 'areas' three times and each time I have learned that, while these are highly educated and smart folks, they don't have a clue how many animals we're killing and how much money it's costing them in tax dollars. As soon as the know, they're agog and will neuter. Yes, there are still other 'segments' and 'mindsets' that contribute to the problem but these people in particular would be reminded and educated if spay neuter was promoted properly on TV.

What MUST happen. MUST MUST MUST happen, and I'm not going to shut up until SOMEONE hears me. What MUST happen is for either the national organizations (who shall remain nameless, but I can point you in the right direction if you want the numbers and the documentation) start putting some of that $35 -$45 MILLION a year they are taking out of the local humane communities with their yearly Christmas donation blitzes, into 'advertising' spay neuter. Yes, subsidizing surgeries is great, but at the very least they should be reminding the public. Yet they aren't doing either. They'd much rather spend money on more solicitations so they can pay their top CEO's $350,000.00 A YEAR, plus benefits.. BARFFFFFFFFFFFFFF! The real tragedy is half of the humane community itself doesn't see the corruption and DONATES to them!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how much TV has shaped our lives. We are virtually PROGRAMMED every day by what we see, and hence we want to get our little PSAs on there with our messages.

It's going to take much more than that. Humane has been farting around (scuze me, I can't put it any other way) for 80-90-100 years now, and our progress shows it.

TV stations are no longer required by law to donate time for Public Service Announcements. I have not seen a PSA for spay neuter in 15 years, and the one I did see was an EXCELLENT one made locally by a small org. I saw it 4-5 times and it was always at 2 or 3 AM.
Minimal impact then and if it were shown again it would still be minimal impact. We don't have another 50 years to wake up to the fact that we need to work smarter, and that our processes simply have not been working nearly as effectively as they could.

It's not up to shelters, or rescue to educate the masses. They have their hands full trying to save lives. Our real problem is that NO ONE is, or has been promoting/advertising spay neuter (I'm talking beyond the local level here guys, beyond the local school programs and etc.)

Until now. <grin>

And I want connections. <BIG grin>

We must collectively try to find the people and make the connections in the advertising and marketing world to start approaching the companies and corporations who are already spending big bucks to advertise and who SHOULD be very interested in obtaining brownie points and the wonderful warm fuzzies they will get from their target audiences, which come with being community conscious and adding a pro neuter message to their advertising.

We are wasting very valuable time and resources. And it's really stupid.

Please forgive the rambling sentences, I'm so tired of repeating this over and over to everyone I meet. I've even asked at national conferences, why aren't you doing this? It's such a no brainer! And no one is listening. Why would it make sense to expend all that energy to get a few seconds once every two or three weeks at 2 am when successful companies and corporations are ALWAYS looking for good advertising?

What IF Heinz said:
   "We'd LOVE to be the only Heinz 57 in America! Please neuter your pets!"

What IF Advantage said:
   "My 'other' Advantage is I'm neutered!"

What IF Clorox (who is apparently already in bed with ASPCA, but does anyone want to place any bets with me that there's an ASPCA logo on the Clorox bottle and NO MENTION of please spay neuter!) ANYWAY, what IF Clorox said:
   "We sterilize, so should you!"

I mean, the possibilities are incredibly endless.

15-20 years ago many of the slogans I've come up with on my site http://www.ahimsatx.org/ "Welcome to NeuterNeuterLand" and "Humor Us, Neuter US Campaign!" would have never been acceptable. And whether they are 'acceptable' to you or I is quite irrelevant. They WORK! We have to step outside our own minds and target the mentality of the public. Today these slogans fit right in with the overall mindset of the American public: rude, crude and socially unacceptable. And guess what? It's a direct result of what people have seen on TV. Funny thing.

Humor can help us educate the public in a way that no other avenue can. It really is our only hope. I can honestly say that I really believe I have done more to educate the public with my car that the national humanes have, and/or the local humane groups as far as that goes. How many of you put SPAY NEUTER on every single thing you use for promotion? T-Shirts, bumper stickers, key chains, pencils, pens, yada yada... on everything? Well, surprise. When the public sees 'so and so' humane on your shirt they send a check to the national humane organizations because they can't differentiate between local humane, national humane, local animal control, etc. The "name recognition" we need is SPAY NEUTER. You need to be anchoring in an association with SPAY NEUTER to your group.

We can continue to fart around by wasting all this energy to put up a billboard once a month, and/or get a PSA on TV... and while those were once very effective means of education they are a waste of our time and energy today, or we can change our approach. My X-husband used to have an expression: "Go Big or Stay at HOME!" and it applies. We REALLY need to look outside ourselves and remind the public, especially Corporate American, that the Pet Kill Crisis is NOT a shelter problem. It's not a rescue and humane problem.

Humor can help us remove the 'blame factor' and put a new spin on making neuter 'kewl'.

To prove it's VERY possible, snagging a two page centerfold in Cat Fancy's 2001 "Unsung Heros" (with the help of Arlene Robbins nominating me) proves the point. The public wants to laugh.

And we can make them laugh until they cry and SEE what's happening to these animals.

I hope some of you are hearing me. We need to make connections NOW!

Bless you each and every one for everything you do for these critters.

Hugs & castrations!
The Katstrator <neener, neener...> :)