In January, I pulled ten videos and print publications from EPA’s Nonpoint Source Outreach Toolbox and gave it to the Due Diligence Test Panel to review. This commercial from Kentucky was the biggest dud in the bunch.
Because I’m about to be so harsh, let me remind you why I’m doing this in the first place: I’m conducting a shakedown cruise of this new service by testing materials that have already been released. But the real point of the DDTP is that you use it to pre-test materials before you release them “into the wild.” Don’t worry — once I launch the service, I will give you the board’s feedback on your stuff in complete confidence!
So imagine that it was you who had commissioned this video — and the panel came back with feedback like “depressing,” “dull,” “pointless,” and “confusing.” It would give you an opportunity pull the plug or revise the piece before throwing good money after bad to actually air it.
You can click here to read the full feedback from the test panel, but it seems to me that this piece basically unravels because of the weak call to action. The piece does NOT begin with behavior.
The little girl does her job — the sounding board members find it very sad that she can’t play in the creek because of the construction site erosion. But the video gives viewers no hope for a remedy to the problem, no encouragement that they can help solve this problem, no indication that anybody else is doing anything about it. The below average ratings below suggest that reviewers find this piece to be just one big disheartening downer.
So even I’m not sure I know the answer to this, what can a regular citizen do about construction erosion?
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Well, you can check out http://www.muddywaterwatch.org to see what regular citizens can do about construction erosion. It’s a brand new, redesigned web site so the last 2 years of data (around 200 sites) haven’t been uploaded yet, but you can get the idea. Trained volunteers monitor construction sites in their neighborhood and use an online system to report the sites to their Riverkeeper and local enforcement agency. All the collected data, photos and videos are presented on a clickable map.
I agree that mud is hard to talk about! We’ve struggled with language too.
The music is too loud. The child’s voice is too soft and it’s difficult to understand what she is saying. There is a disconnect or pause about half way through that seems odd – like something objectionable was cut out. I understand the perceived value of using children for these PSAs but sometimes they are over-used which is the case here.