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    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

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SIX Advertisement Samples for the Washington Post - Review & Comment by 31 Oct!

muffin

Senior Member
Messages
940
Samples Ready for Feedback

The ad samples are ready for your review. Please go here: http://mcwpa.org/?p=166

Go here to give your feedback: http://www.forum.mcwpa.org/viewforum....

Look under "Print Advertisements" and then look for "Ad Samples."

If you have not registered, you will need to do so. After registering, you may have to enter another password: "action" to access the topics.

Feedback time will end on October 31 at midnight EST.

Don't forget to donate here: http://www.causes.com/causes/511536?m...

Look at the top left for the donate button.

The MCWPA Team

------------------------------
Please post your ad comments on the www.mcwpa.org forum not here http://forum.mcwpa.org/index.php

You can register for access to the site and then hit the forum "Print Advertisements-
Ideas and feedback"
Password: action

You can chat about your ideas on the ADs here if you like but if you want the Advisors to read your comments and take them into consideration for changes then you must go to the forum site shown above. We have gotten quite a bit of comments and they are really insightful, thoughtful, and helpful. So please keep looking and adding. You have until 31 Oct to respond!

We want your ideas and comments so that the ADs are even better with more eyes and brains looking at them. So please go there and not here to give us your input. Voting is also on the website/forum as well. Thanks! The MCWPA Team
 

Chris

Senior Member
Messages
845
Location
Victoria, BC
I think the ads are terrific--all of them--I am a Canadian, but in many ways we just follow. Just donated a few bucks--great work! Thanks to you all. Chris
 

LJS

Luke
Messages
213
Location
East Coast, USA
I read the post daily and it is filled with special interest advertising. Most of the advertisements I normally just glance over and not pay any attention too. I have been paying more attention to them after the thread on this board about making an ad in the paper. The first point I want to make is the less words and clutter the better. It is best to use imagery instead of words if possible. I am worried that some of these ads have too much text and not enough people will give it a serious read. The background image in ad #2 is a good eye catcher and I feel ads one and four need an eye catching background image. Another thing I wanted to say is if XMRV is part of the focus of the ad the ad should not be published until some more data is released supporting that it is present in CFS patients, right now the majority think it not there.
 

Rafael

XMRV+ Member
Messages
66
Location
Ontario, Canada
Link to feedback not work so put my comment here.
The message in 3 and 4 (same or similar I think) is the best. And 3 has better visual.
Some of the others get too long and also the point isn't as clear to me .... because there is a bit of negative slamming or complaining about the past.
I think that even if deserved by some readers... it just gets people's backs up .....and a positive win/win go forward message would serve us best here ... which 3 and 4 are.
 

Lynn

Senior Member
Messages
366
Link to feedback not work so put my comment here.

I checked and the links are working fine on my computer. There are a couple of steps to get on the discussion page.
1. You must be registered with your own personal password.
2. Then when you click on this link http://www.forum.mcwpa.org/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=867874fc541313b7fe76e815c472d841 you will be asked for a password to view the discussion and you need to type in the word action.

If you are still having problems please after that, please post.

Lynn
 

acer2000

Senior Member
Messages
818
I think they are unlikely to run ads that include information that is making explicit claims about a serious public health issue without some outside confirmation that the claims are accurate. This confirmation would have to come from a credible public health source, and since the science isn't sorted out at this moment, I doubt a public health source would confirm it.

I am curious what the WPI would think of this campaign - whether they would think it helpful or whether it would cause a headache for them at a time when they are trying to get support. Has anyone run it by them?
 

Xandoff

Michael
Messages
302
Location
Northern Vermont
MORE WHITE SPACE and a CAPTIVATING and CHALLENGING QUESTION

First off all these ads are great. I also think that all the feedback will be of great help. I understand a little bit about advertising that I will share with you. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory have been used by advertisers since the fifties because they offer insight into what moticates people.

His original five stage model outlines the basic needs we have as humans.

1) Biological and Physiological needs: air, food, drink, water, warth, sex, sleep etc.
2) Safety Needs: protecion from the elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3) Belongingness and Love Needs: work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4) Esteem Needs: self esteem, achievement, mastery, independance, status, dominance, prestige, etc.
5) Self Actuation needs: realising personal potential, self fulfillment, seeking personal growth, etc.


Examples of this might be that you can't motivate a someone to achieve their sales target when they are having problems with thier marriage. Plain and simple we all use this hierachy of needs. If the primary basics Biological and Physiological needs are not met, you can't motivate people to do other things. Advertisers have understood and used this model to sell products that can fulfill these basic needs. I won't spend any more time fleshing out.

Air, food and water, safety and health issues are primary needs for all of us. Since ME/CFS is not a will understood threat to most of our nation I believe that we need to ASK A QUESTION that brings this disease and it's threat to our most primary concerns (needs) home to the readers, whether they be reporters on the man/woman on the street.

We don't need to preach to the choir or those who are ill. We need to ask the reader if they are aware of the impending danger and threat to them perosnally, their famil and community.

Yes we need to scare them. To make a bold statement or Question and ten answer that quesion. and educate them what needs to be done.

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE WE ARE ALL AT RISK FOR A SERIOUS EPEDEMIC THAT HAS BEEN GROWING FOR THIRY YEARS?
response: educate, educate,educate...examples, staistic, real hard evidence (make a case)

DID YOU KNOW THAT OUR NATIONAL BLOOD SUPPLY IS AT RISK?

XMRV etc..

I think all the ads can be rolled into one

I have to run, you can take it from here. I have to get my son to school.

Thank YOU
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Xandoff makes some good points.

I also liked all of the ads but different parts of each of them and I'm not sure any one pressed all the right buttons.

First off you need to get people's attention and they need to feel that they personally, or their nearest and dearest are at risk.

We already have the womens' disease label and should use it. At the same time this label allows men to feel safe - but the association with prostate cancer doesn't.

I agree that we should only use published associations (the demographic and mortality data, the CFS and prostate studies) and shouldn't state any association as yet that has not appeared as published research. But we can allude to these suspicions - e.g. by having the suspected diseases as part of the background pattern (autism?, MS?, GWS?, cancer?, lymphoma? etc).

I'm no copywriter - this is my attempt for what its worth. Please don't feel I'm being flippant with the title - it gets attention and is deadly serious :


HAVE YOU GOT THE 'X' FACTOR?


What would happen if, for 25 years, our government ignored a disease that the World Health Organisation describes as a serious neurological disease"?


By calling it chronic fatigue despite a wide range of symptoms that can be as disabling as heart failure or as devastating as kidney disease.

By dismissing it as a women's disease when the disease doesn't discriminate between male or female, adult or child.

By calling it yuppie flu despite the fact that it disproportionately affects the poor and minorities.

Where the main causes of premature death are cancer, heart failure and suicide.

That is estimated to cost the American economy between $18 and 23 Billion annually but receives less government research funding than hay fever.

A disease that affects at least one million Americans but allows them to continue giving and receiving blood despite the majority of patients describing the onset of their illness as post viral.


What might happen is this :

XMRV

BIG SCARY PHOTO OF THE VIRUS

The third human retrovirus found after HIV and HTLV.

Found in 67% of patients with CFS;
Found in % of patients with aggressive prostate cancer;
Found in 4-7% of the currently healthy general population;
Found to be infectious in animal studies;
Suspected of being linked to many other poorly understood diseases;
Already in the blood supply
?​
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
How to register?


I checked and the links are working fine on my computer. There are a couple of steps to get on the discussion page.
1. You must be registered with your own personal password.
2. Then when you click on this link http://www.forum.mcwpa.org/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=867874fc541313b7fe76e815c472d841 you will be asked for a password to view the discussion and you need to type in the word action.

If you are still having problems please after that, please post.

Lynn


Hi Lynn,

On the main page it says "If you have not registered on the forum, please do so", but doesn't say where or how. All I could find was a 'log in' link. Perhaps they could put in a hyperlink or add something explaining how to register.

p.s. I agree with Marco, Xandoff makes some excellent points.
 

Lynn

Senior Member
Messages
366
Hi Lynn,

On the main page it says "If you have not registered on the forum, please do so", but doesn't say where or how. All I could find was a 'log in' link. Perhaps they could put in a hyperlink or add something explaining how to register.

p.s. I agree with Marco, Xandoff makes some excellent points.

Hi Danny,
Here is link to the register page. http://www.forum.mcwpa.org/ucp.php?mode=register

Yes we are getting a lot of great comments. Thanks to everybody for their input.

Lynn
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Just to add.

I also don't think its a good idea to bombard the audience with all the facts.

The key, I think, is to get others, particularly reporters, sufficiently hooked that they are motivated to seek out the answers for themselves.
 

muffin

Senior Member
Messages
940
BEG: I can email them to you. Or I wonder if I can upload them somewhere for you to see. WE do NOT want these ADS out in the public past the website. But I will email them to you. You do need to see them and we do need to get you onto the website. Again, I apologize for this. They are working on this odd issue.
 

muffin

Senior Member
Messages
940
Noted: It is not clear on the first page where/how to Register. This will be fixed.
To register for the site please do the following:
http://forum.mcwpa.org/ucp.php?mode=register
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://forum.mcwpa.org/
http://forum.mcwpa.org/ucp.php?mode=register&sid=29b5a802a5d08faed1decc419b3b41fd
http://forum.mcwpa.org/ucp.php?mode=register
Fill in the information. Remember, for access to some of the forums you must use the password: action.


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hensue

Senior Member
Messages
269
I like Ad number 3 it is eye catching

You put a bunch of words on a page people are not going to read it!
 

muffin

Senior Member
Messages
940
REMEMBER: YOU HAVE UNTIL 31 OCTOBER TO VIEW THE ADS AND MAKE COMMENTS.

After this period, it goes back to the Advisors for modifications from your comments, then put back out for a vote.

Add your comments and thoughts. This is YOUR VOICE to the very senior policy makers (President, VP, Congress, and all the rest of the usual suspects), journalists, public, and so on. What do you want them to know about???
 

Tony

Still working on it all..
Messages
363
Location
Melbourne, Australia
I prefer Ad 3. It's big, bold and easy to read. A good simple message. I'd like to see the statement "6.7% of healthy blood donors...." in as big a font as the CFS 86% statement. It's a big reason to do something about investigating xmrv.

Ad 3 is also a good "call to arms" to get the facts and asking for research. I'd also like to see an extra call on the reader as in one of the other ads. Ask the reader to contact their political representative or the Secretary of Health or someone to ask for research. We should ask the reader to respond with action.

I'm in Aus, but I did donate...:)