Evaluation report - BUZZ OFF campaign 2008/9

Name of Programme: BUZZ OFF!

Budget: £3,000 including VAT

Timeframe: (Continuation from November 2007 - March 2008)

Start Date: 1 April 2008

End Date: 31 March 2009

Objective: .

Objective:

To gain support for a national halt to use of ultra-sonic dispersal devices.

Results:

Two corporates have changed policy

70 (out of 82 that responded) local authorities don't use or have banned the mosquito

Outcome Indicators - results again plan

Output Indicators - results against plan

DETAILED PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

MEDIA

TV/Radio/Online - (see appendix 1 for further information).

The campaign received widespread coverage across all forms of media. Sir Al and other members of the BUZZ OFF campaign team did numerous TV and radio interviews and the campaign was reported in all the national newspapers, a large number of local newspapers, online, as well as the trade press.

The campaign was reported and discussed in all of the main daily national newspapers.

There were over 550 mentions of the campaign in regional newspapers.

Members of the campaign team were interviewed across all of the main UK TV and radio stations

The campaign was also covered widely in the trade press and general news magazines.

All the major national and regional newspapers covered the story, as well as major news outlets like Reuters, PA and Associated Press. The campaign was extensively covered on the BBC website, where an online debate invited over 6000 emails. It was also covered on Google news, where it was the top story and on other major websites including MSN and Yahoo. The campaign also initiated countless blogs and opinions from internet users from around the world.

The campaign was covered extensively around the world. Sir Al and Rob Williams, former 11 MILLION Chief Executive did interviews with various TV.Radio stations from countries, including France, Finland, Australia and Canada.

Media evaluation of the campaign showed that key campaign messages reached

Example coverage

14 June 2009

Kent bans high-pitch Mosquito which targets youths (The Guardian)

'Anti-teen' security device ban. (BBC Online)

8th July 2008

A top city councillor has refused to receive a petition from six schoolboys who are campaigning against ultra-sonic 'child-scarers'.(The Plymouth Herald)

27th August 2009

Mosquito under scrutiny. (Plymouth Herald)

27th October 2009

Mosquito buzzer could be banned for discriminating against teenagers. (The Daily Telegraph)

11 MILLION Website

Over 90 children and young people shared their views on the device with 11 MILLION via our website. Here are some of the things they said

“I made this shape because that is how i feel about the devices, they are dreadful and make people feel upset and angry. young people shouldnt be made to feel like this.” Lyndsay, 15

“Every rose has it's thorns...as does the mosquito. It may get rid of bad kids, but what about us who've done no wrong? What about people over 18, who are legal adults and still suffer? Ban the Mosquito-Ban age discrimination. Emily, 15

“Us teenagers arent all bad, by using mosquito devices your treating us like pests! When most of us are nice warm harted people. With dreams that could change the society we live in!” Katlyn, 14

Over 200 people contacted the office via email or through the post with their thoughts and views on the campaign.

Online

Over 600 people signed up to a Facebook group online.

Over 600 people signed an online petition on the No.10 website.

The project team were able to map the locations of over 300 of the devices by collating information from the sources listed above.

Director's of Children's Services and local authorities

All directors of children's services received letters about the campaign and were asked for their feedback on three questions.

Out of 150 authorities 82 responded. Out of the 82 that responded 70 do not use them and ten have formally banned them. For more information, see annex 2

There are a number of other local authorities who are currently working with local youth councils to look at introducing a formal ban. The responses to the letter also highlighted some of the excellent ways in which local authorities are engaging with children and young people to explore more positive ways of tackling the problems of anti-social behaviour.

Parliamentary

All MPs and Peers received information about the campaign.

The use of the device was highlighted in the concluding observations of the UNCRC report on the state of children's rights in the UK.

Young people from Corby met regularly throughout the year with Phil Hope, their local MP.

13 parliamentarians requested further information about the campaign.

Participation

Eight young people from Corby Young People Friendly Neighbourhoods were involved with the project from the start. This core group were the driving force behind the campaign. Their work included:

11 MILLION met with the group six times during the duration of the project, in a number of different locations. During September, the young people were given the opportunity to talk about their work with young people from Halton Youth Council.

The young people also independently continued their work on the project. They spoke at a number of events, including a Liberty conference and an event at Liverpool University, and were asked by Northamptonshire police to help provide training for new Police Community Support Officers in how to build better relationships with young people.

In June, one of the young people did work experience at 11 MILLION and The National Youth Agency, where they helped map the locations of the devices and worked on content for the BUZZ OFF pages on the 11 MILLION website.

Health and legal advice/issues

In the lead up to the launch of the campaign, advice was sought from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health about the possible medical implications on children and young people who have been exposed to the device. As there has been no medical research any possible effects exposure are unclear. Consequently it was agreed that the campaign team would not cite medical issues as a reason for wanting to ban the device.

The BUZZ OFF campaign was wholeheartedly supported by the National Autistic Society, their backing of the campaign received widespread media coverage.

Throughout the campaign, Liberty provided legal advice and support.

Private sector

The Co-op chain of supermarkets stopped using the devices outside its stores - citing the impact of the BUZZ OFF campaign as a contributing factor in this decision.

During June, Sir Al spoke at the Association of Convenience Store Owners Annual Crime Reduction Conference in Birmingham where he met the inventor of the mosquito device.

Sir Al also spoke at the Annual ACPO Youth Conference where we highlighted the issues surrounding mosquito devices.

Appendix 1

National Newspaper Coverage

The campaign was reported in the following daily national newspapers:

The Times

Daily Express

Mirror

Daily Mail

Daily Star

The Independent

The Daily Telegraph

The Guardian

It was also covered in the following the Sundays:

The Sunday Mirror

The Sunday Express

The Sunday Telegraph

The Sunday Times

Regional Newspapers

There were over 500 mentions of the campaign in regional newspapers. It received extensive coverage in:

The Manchester Evening News

Leicester Mercury

The Express & Star Group (West Midlands)

Gloucester Citizen

Northern Echo

The Star (Sheffield)

Sunderland Echo

The Journal (Newcastle)

Yorkshire Post

The following map illustrates the spread of coverage with the blue dots indicate a local newspaper which covered the campaign

Broadcast

Members of the campaign team were interviewed on:

BBC Breakfast

BBC News 24

ITV News

Sky News Sunrise

Sky News

Channel 4 News

Newsround

BBC 1 O'clock News

BBC 6 O'clock News

Newsnight

Radio 4 Today Programme

Radio 5live Breakfast Show

Radio 1 Newsbeat

BBC World Service

BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine Show

BBC Radio York

BBC Radio Tees

BBC Radio Wales

Ocean FM

Syndicated radio news which feeds into Classic FM, Capital and a broad range of regional commercial stations

The news story ran all day on BBC News 24 and Sky News.

Trade/Magazines

The campaign was also covered widely in the trade press and general news magazines. These included:

Web coverage

The campaign was extensively covered on the BBC website, where an online debate invited over 6000 emails, Google news, where it was the top story, and other major websites including MSN and Yahoo. The campaign also initiated a number of blogs and opinions from internet users from around the world.

Online reporting included coverage on the following sites:

ITV.com

MSN.co.uk

BBC Online

Politics.co.uk

Tech.co.uk

Virgin Online

Tiscali Online

Reuters

PA

Associated Press

Google News

International coverage

The campaign was covered extensively around the world. Sir Al and Rob, the deputy commissioner, did interviews with various TV and radio stations from including from France, Finland, Australia and Canada. International press covering the story included:

Taipei Times

Boston Herald

Gulf Daily News

Seattle Times

San Francisco Chronicle

Denver Post

Houston Chronicle

ABC News (Australia)

Washington Post

CNN

USA Today

Los Angeles Times

The Canadian Press

Melbourne Herald Sun

CNBC Online

To see some of the coverage and some screen grabs from interviews please click here.

Appendix 2

Councils who have formally banned the mosquito

[Author ID1: at Thu Apr 30 14:55:00 2009 ]