The genre that activists use to get their message across has a great influence on how their audience interprets what they are hearing/seeing.
Posters:
With a total of 5 words, this poster leaves much up to the viewer. Hopefully the concept is fairly easy to grasp, but this is a huge limitation for the poster genre. The message is just there, which leaves everything open to interpretation and can be great, but may also leave some things misconstrued and leave some people with the wrong idea. This may be especially true if the poster uses satire.
Documentary:
I'm sure that everyone reading this blog has heard of Michael Moore, and I'm hoping that all of you have seen at least one of his films, but even if you haven't he is an excellent example of a documentary with an activist theme. Although all of his movies use a bit of satire and a lot of fact, they do have one flaw. Movies can all be edited to skew quotes, stats, and other information in the way directors and editors want. However, Documentaries do an excellent job, and only if done correctly, of stating their argument, discrediting their opponent, and laying out their rebuttal all in one lovely VHS or DVD shaped package.
Song:
Music is another way to reach the masses. Although you don't see too many "Top 40" songs around recycling or LGBT rights, it can be a great way to catch people's attention. Songs are catchy, they can be replayed over and over, and the have the potential to really influence people based on their emotions. Unfortunately the message can often be lost due in the musical aspect of it all. Songs are often vague, which can sometimes do more harm than it can help.
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