BSA's sticky situation

[Zahnada]

Note: This thread may have more of a home in Issues and Politics. I'll leave that for a moderator to decide.

 

Anyway, this is kind of a spinoff of the "Promoting Scouting" thread.

 

I know that many of us are angered and discouraged by the constant barrage of anti-BSA action and rhetoric these days. There seem to be more negative stories than positive now. And what has National done? Well, for the most part, they seem to be smiling and taking it. It's upsetting, it's discouraging... it's all they can do.

 

Here's the problem:

 

1. It's often unwise to respond to negative press (which is often generated by ACLU and other groups with deep pockets). Think of negative political advertising. Why is there so much? Because it works. If you respond to negative advertising, you're essentially drawing increased attention to the message of the ad. It takes away from any other message you're trying to convey. For instance, Kerry couldn't spend the last months of his campaign promoting himself or attacking President Bush because he had to spend so much time defending himself against "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." It ultimately sunk him.

 

So, BSA is trying to ignore the negative press and therefore draw more attention to their positive press. This leads to problem #2

 

2. There is more negative press than positive press. Negative press is also more "newsworthy". It's a shame that the coverage of even a huge display like Jamboree focused on "Thousands pass out from heat stroke!" So, the public is receiving a very negative image of scouting from recent years.

 

3. Boy scouts cannot afford to launch a massive PR campaign. Commercials are effective, that's why we use them. But they're also expensive. Expensive to produce and expensive to air. Boy Scout's problems have caused a membership and donation drop. Money is tight. There's just not enough cash to launch a marketing blitz to raise their image. This puts BSA's marketing at the mercy of media coverage, which leads us back to problems #1 and #2.

 

 

So, what's the solution?

 

There's no grand solution or anything novel. Just run a good program. Teach your boys and make sure they have fun in your troop. Fill your local newspapers and news broadcasts with stories of "Eagle Scout fixes up park" "Boy Scouts collect donations for charity" "Scouting is fun".

 

And don't be afraid to speak up to friends, neighbors, coworkers about what you honestly feel are the benefits to be gained from Boy Scouting.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Politics is not horseshoes or hand grenades but Kerry and Gore both came close to winning despite all of the muck that could be thrown. It is now time to dump the load right back where it belongs.

 

I also vote on Running a good program. FB

 

[packsaddle]

There is a solution but BSA refuses to try it. If politics is local, as I've often heard, then locally we're doing just fine.

Therein lies the solution that has been stated many times in these threads. Decentralize. Allow some local discretion/options on those policies that draw the fire now. Let people decide for themselves locally. That way the LDS/fundamentalist majority can still have their restrictive policies and the rest of us can open things up to our own standards. It would remove the need for the kinds of actions that make some of those negative headlines. But BSA won't do it. They won't do this for the same reason they don't aggressively respond to the headlines - they are locked into a policy that feeds on fear and they are themselves afraid to change. They lack the fortitude to let members decide for themselves. And therefore they get to stand and take it.

[Eamonn]

Hi Zahnada

Last week I watched the new TV show Friday Night Lights. It's all about a high school football team in a small town in Texas.

I know nothing about small towns in Texas, but this show portrayed the town as being fanatical about the HS football team and it seemed that when the team wasn't playing they were praying.In many ways the show reminded me of Bleachers by John Grisham, but I don't remember Grisham writing about the praying.

Of course this is only a TV show and I don't know how true to life it really is?

Lord knows our high school football team could do with a few prayers, they have managed to win only three games in the past three seasons. I don't see them spending any time praying.

This got me thinking about the "Blue and the Red States". I couldn't help thinking that maybe I had or was missing something?

Later that night I was watching PBS,Charlie Rose was on, unfortunately I missed the start of the show, so I'm not sure who the guest was!! He was a republican and a ordained Presbyterian Minister. He was saying how he feared that the Republican Party had been or was in danger of being taken over by the religious fundamentalist right.

Where I live I don't see any evidence of the religious right wing. While the daily paper is owned by the group that Hilary Clinton referred to as the right wing in Pennsylvania a few years back, it seems to me people in the area don't vote along party lines. Historically, trade unions were very big, but the industries that had big union membership are no longer in business.

The Scout District and most of the Council is very much a blue collar area. While of course there are groups that are very Left or Right Wing. For the most part people are busy trying to do what they can to get by. The young people are trying to find good jobs, the middle aged people are trying to raise a family and the old people are worried about health care.

The small town I live in has less than 5,000 people but 14 churches. If you are not ten minutes early for Sunday Mass you are not going to get a seat.

I think people are becoming a little less anti-gay. But they don't feel that a gay man is a good choice for a Boy Scout leader.

Send a cute little Cub Scout out selling popcorn and they will buy a box, ask them for a $100.00 and they will tell you to get a life!

The Scouts are very visible in the town, without them the Memorial Day Parade would be very small, when the kids march in the other parades it seems everyone is willing to give them a cheer.

Again while there are the people who are very pro Scouting and for the BSA, there is probably a group who are don't care very much for Scouting and the BSA.

To be honest, I have never ran into that group.

Every time I go for a haircut (Still only $6.00!!) the barber tells me what a great job I'm doing and how lucky the local kids are that we have Scouts in our area (He is a $50.00 a year FOS contributor, but will donate free haircuts for almost any reason.) The local paper which has strong ties to the Mennonite church offered me a Scouting Page. I wanted different units to use it but they wouldn't commit, so I turned down the offer as I didn't want it to be Eamonn's view on Scouting.

We have local support but we are not very good at using it.

Not far from where I live they have installed a new electronic bill board. The board is owned by the people who own the local cement company, they donate the sand for the Ship's luminary sale. I called and asked if they would place a Sea Scout ad on the board. They couldn't have been more helpful. We have a super nice ad on the board.

But where was the District?

Why didn't they (The DE?) think of this. The company was honored at a Council dinner for their support of Scouting.

I think that there are so many adults in Scouting who know or can influence people into doing almost anything?? That while we might not be able to mount a nation-wide advertising campaign we could do a lot more at the local and even the regional level.

I'm a little unsure who at the National level is in charge of Marketing? It seems to come up in every Annual Report and is in all the Strategic Plans. But I don't know who is in charge? It may come under the Relationships Division?

Some of the material that the BSA has is really first class, it just doesn't seem to see the light of day.

I have had our local cable company show the ads that the BSA has produced. But again why is it up to me? Surely this should be the job for the Pros?

I have sat through a few years of meetings, where the main item on the agenda has been how local Councils are doing. The two things that were used to judge this were membership and finance. Sadly for the past couple of years, nearly all the reports have been not that great.

We fool ourselves by using end of year numbers and not look at the rechartering numbers, we include LFL numbers, we don't look at five or ten year trends instead we use what percentage we are down from last year.

When things look bad the blame is placed on the Council key 3. Which is where it should be placed. But when we look at our Council Executive Boards, more and more it seems we have Boards that are out of touch with what is really happening at the grass roots and it seems that Scout Executives are so worried about losing their jobs that they don't tell the Board what is really happening until it reaches a crisis.

I am a hard and fast believer in Program.

But it's time we as a Organization took a long hard look at:

What we are selling (the product)

Who we are selling it to.

"On My Honor; Timeless Values." was the theme of our 2002-2005 Strategic Plan .

Sure it has a nice ring to it but somehow I can't see any kid ever getting excited about it.

Venturing and the OA seem to have a good idea, they have youth members who promote what they are doing. We need to look at a kid friendly marketing campaign.

Goals need to be placed on the desk of each and every Scout Executive to get the word out.

I don't see this as being Red, blue, right or left. The people where I live don't care about that.

The kids don't care about that.

We need to sell the program and make sure we deliver the goods.

Eamonn.

 

[mtm25653]

'Boy scouts cannot afford to launch a massive PR campaign"

 

But local units can notify their local papers about every positive thing they do - scouting for food, special trips, Eagle projects and awards, adult awards, parades. Ask your local paper to come out to day camp or a camporee to take pictures. Volunteer to lead the flag ceremony to open the county fair, or at a town council meeting, or other civic event, or serve as ushers at the interfaith Thanksgiving service.

 

Do positive things to get noticed in your local community - that's the best PR there is.

[mmhardy]

I'll go one step further then local newspapers and point out the positive goodwill that our district's units have recieved by placing stories in there own Chartered Organization's newsletter.

 

This ensures that what should be your biggest supporter, your CO, knows what your doing. It also offers targeted coverage of a group that may offer greater support to you in the future.

 

Appoint one committee person to oversee the publication of one story a quarter in any newsletter. I promise you will see results in terms of membership, support and goodwill.

 

In addition you may be contacted by larger newspapers who want to follow up on your great efforts.