Spitfire Shares: Communicating complexity, comfort and kindness
This newsletter is 1,226 words – a 10-minute read.
A message from Spitfire President, Jen Carnig:
At Spitfire, we are curious learners and courageous problem solvers. We share insights, best practices and the latest communication trends among our team, and often through our virtual learning sessions which we call Spitfire U.
While we often open up these online sessions to our clients and friends – some of you may have attended in the past! – we've also decided to create an occasional newsletter to spread these smart thoughts and insights with all of you more directly.
You're reading the very first of these newsletters right now! Welcome to Spitfire Shares.
Please feel free to share this with others, and share your insights with us, so we can feature them in future issues. If you want to put anything on our radar, pass along your own learnings or wonderful work, or simply want to drop a line to say hi, just hit the button below.
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Tell complicated stories that catch on
In the work of communications, we often hear that simple stories gain the most traction. At Spitfire, however, we don't think you need to sacrifice complexity in order to stay captivating.
We're not alone. Journalist and best-selling author Amanda Ripley wrote this about the importance of not shying away from complex issues and complicated narratives:
Need some evidence that acknowledging complexity doesn't preclude telling catchy stories? Enter the Norman Lear Center at USC Annenberg, which released a new report last month, Shifting Minds: Understanding the Development, Representation, and Impact of Mental Health Storylines in Entertainment. The study found that more complex representations of mental health can lead to more responsible, accurate and nuanced mental health storylines in our pop culture. The report notes:
It is paying off to get Hollywood to tell more complicated mental health stories. What other issues need this same treatment?
Deploy strategies to reduce political violence
Our friends over at the Horizons Project share how to use "backfire strategies" to minimize political and hate violence. A new piece by their co-lead and chief organizer Maria J. Stephan, published in Just Security, tells how:
In addition to trying out "backfire" strategies, the team here at Spitfire running our Best-Case Scenario project has tapped conflict resolution experts to showcase seven actions that leaders, who are recognized as pillars of their community, can take to keep civil discourse productive. Both of these approaches – the responsive and the preemptive – are well worth trying out.
To read more about Spitfire's Best-Case Scenario project and our recommended approaches to building safer, healthier civic spaces for everyone, click below.
National Domestic Violence Hotline, a Spitfire client, recently released a report, in collaboration with If/When/How, that highlights the connection between abortion access and intimate partner violence.
The report amplifies important terms that more people need to know about: reproductive coercion and reproductive abuse.
These terms are defined in the report as "behaviors intended to maintain power and control in a relationship by dominating a partner’s reproductive and sexual health," which may include attempts to coerce or force a partner to have unprotected sex, interfere with birth control methods, impregnate a partner against their will or control a partner's pregnancy outcomes. These abuses have become more widespread in a post-Roe world.
The Huffington Post, which covered the report, noted, "Since Roe fell, calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline about reproductive coercion have doubled across the country, according to an October report."
The article quotes Crystal Justice, National Domestic Violence Hotline's chief external affairs officer, as saying:
To solve problems, you first need to clearly and unapologetically name the problem. The Hotline has done just that.
Wake the yucks up, people!
In our work as communicators, we often tend to lean towards the serious, dramatic, and factual. But humor has the power to connect and move people. It starts with a joke and can beautifully go beyond laughter.
On June 20, 2024, Spitfire’s Michael Crawford participated in a session with other public interest communication experts to discuss why using comedy for social change is the best idea you've never considered. You can watch the session here:
It's time for some motherchunkin’ change
Our partners at Ben & Jerry’s, since their founding 45 years ago, have taken on incredibly divisive issues because they understand it to be their moral and ethical obligation to promote justice in the world. They don’t take stands on the justice issues of the day because they think it will sell their ice cream – they sell their ice cream to advance justice and make the world a better place.
In their first brand campaign in nearly a decade, the company is encouraging their fans to lean into their skills and passions and become activists, in whatever form that means.
The new “Make Some Motherchunkin’ Change!” campaign debuts with a 90-second video featuring advocates who have photobombed Congress, surfed for racial justice, planted neighborhood gardens, opened banned book libraries and biked (in the buff) to protest climate change. Check it out!
Have thoughts you'd like to share? Feel free to reach out. We'd love to feature you in our next issue.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 17, 2024 at 09:12 am and is filed under Spitfire culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
courageous problem solvers. We share insights, best practices and the latest communication trends among our team, and often through our virtual learning sessions which we call Spitfire U.
The report amplifies important terms that more people need to know about: reproductive coercion and reproductive abuse.
