Extension of our video about Ocean Wise-reply to the comment

First of all, thanks for all of the comments. They are really useful for our group. Here are some main ideas we overthought and would like to add to our blog:

In our video, we have only mentioned how to help to protect the ocean better. However didn't took into consideration to include the government force. Actually, the Environmental Protection Department in Hong Kong is already a strong force to restrict people to do something. 

http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/eindex.html

People feel that protecting the ocean is a really serious problem which government also pay attention on. And this is also can be seen as establish credibility (Jay A. Conger, 1998). 

One principle of persuading people is using the principle of authority. That means people defer to experts, so we have to expose our expertise (Robert B. Cialdini, 2001). So we came up with the idea to invite a professor who major in Oceanography. We can have a short interview with him or her, and talk about the serious problem of our ocean. And ask him to give us some advice, which people can do in their daily life to protect the ocean and ocean seafood.

Furthermore we can actually do more things to help to protect the ocean. We could encourage people not pollute the ocean. We all know HONG KONG is a country famous by Tourism industry. It tourism industry is well developed. But due to the more and more travels, problem also become more and more serious. When people appreciate the scenery of ocean, they throw rubbish to the ocean. If ocean is polluted by tourists, it can be an additional way to kill animal.

Actually Ocean Wise only consists in America and Canada. What we anticipated with this video was to bring this label to HONG KONG. However there are already other similar labels like WWF Seafood Guide.

We also considered to show this label in the video but then there would come up the question why we are not supporting this label instead of WWF Seafood Guide. We wanted to introduce Ocean Wise to Hong Kong so it is spreading over the world. We may go to a restaurant and introduce this label to them and ask them to sign a commitment or to join this campaign. As we mentioned in our blog, social proof is a way to persuade people. If we influence friends around us, they can influence their friends also, and then it will expand. In the end, an increasing people will participate with us.

Moreover in order to adapt our video and blog more to the culture and habits of Hong Kong people we would include pictures of fishing species that are often consumed and eaten in Hong Kong (like baby fish), the scenes of rare ocean fishes being sold on the market and people eat a various of fishes on the table into the video so that Hong Kong people can recall and rethink their own related behaviors profoundly. Through this way, people can be more touched and have more sympathy for these scenes. Maybe these pictures can help us to get a better effect on persuading people to pay attention to Ocean Wise. However, showing pictures of killing whales and dolphins mainly is to present the current situation of overfishing and tell audiences the ocean species are suffering from these kinds of behaviors globally and not only specifically in HONG KONG. It is an intensive shocking for the audiences that the ocean suffers from overfishing. Further they will be more aware of the urgency and importance of protecting ocean species. If we wouldn’t have these pictures in the video, audiences would not be impressed and touched as much as they are now.  

In the first part of the video we try to get the audiences attention and awareness of the current situation, which is underlined with scary pictures and sad music. In the second part we present the ecological label with nice pictures of the ocean and good mood music. This sudden change of music and pictures reflects the change that we wanted our audience to do/follow to stop overfishing and protecting ocean species. Too many subtitles would weaken the effects of our intended contrast.

The number of Ocean Wise partners is limited and still many people are not aware about this label which is probably because it is more famous in America and Canada. We should also consider how to publicize and enlarge the influence of Ocean Wise label here in Hong Kong. We shouldn't  only persuade people to consume ocean food at restaurants and markets with Ocean Wise label, but also encourage them to introduce Ocean Wise label to their relatives and friends so that more attention could be paid to this label and getting more consumers known this label can reach our goal of stop overfishing more effectively. This could be done by including a link/icon which says: email it to your friend or include a facebook like icon.

 

Conger, J. A. (1998, May). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 76, 84-95. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227803202?accountid=10134

Cialdini, R. B. (2001, 10).  Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 79,72-79.Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227763045?accountid=10134

 

Ocean Wise-Sustainable Fishing

The Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-GaFam4yEQ&feature=youtu.be

With the development of society and technology, there are increasingly global ecological problems around us. At the same time, there are many global ecological labels, the function of these labels attracts people’s attention and restrict people's behavior. Ecology labels have the power to certificate and identify products, which are of more benefit considering to protect environment, ecology and human health than other products without these labels but which can be actual similar in terms of the product. It drives the industry to continue improving the ecology functions of their commodities by guiding consumers to purchase these kind of goods so that the ecology products have more competition advantages in the market. In the following paragraphs, our group will focus on one ecological label and give some introductions about it. We will explain how a label works through examine its social causes, impact and workings. Also, we provide a video in order to persuade people of our chosen ecological label. Last part, we use ethos, pathos and logos of persuasion to explain and analysis why we use these rhetorical strategies in our video to help us in cross-cultural persuasion.

The truth – sustainable fishing

The global ecological label we choose is Ocean Wise. Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program created to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood. The main purpose of this organization is to get more ocean species buyer to make ocean-friendly decisions. Overfishing has been the greatest threat to our oceans today. The biological chain of the ocean is intercepted because an extinction of one species can cause the unbalance of this biologic chain, which then threatens the environment of the whole ocean. It gets more and more important for us human beings to consume seafood in a sustainable manner. Ocean Wise recommend species that are caught or farmed in a way that ensures the log-term health and stability of that species, as well as the greater marine ecosystem. Ocean Wise has four criteria after which they select the sustainable species:

1. Abundant and resilient to fishing pressures.

2. Well managed with a comprehensive management plan based on current research.

3. Harvested in a method that ensures limited bycatch on non-target and endangered species.

4. Harvested in ways that limit damage to marine or aquatic habitats and negative interactions with other species.

The symbol of Ocean Wise appears on menus, display cases and products. Anyone who wants to join Ocean Wise has to submit an application request on the website and ocean wise will reply via e-mail the required steps to become a partner of Ocean Wise. Up until now, 634 partners have joined Ocean Wise, including restaurants, markets, suppliers, culinary schools, an educational institute and a sports/entertainment arena. Moreover, projects are conducted by Ocean Wise, as for example one of them is The Movement For Sustainable Seafood At Vancouver Aquarium’s 2014 Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown. Top Ocean Wise chefs compete head-to-head in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto for the title of 2014 Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown Champion in each city. Tasting all the delectable original chowders, paired with local craft beer and vote for the favorite, all in support of sustainable seafood. It’s obvious that the method of Ocean Wise can help to save the endangered species, protect the balance of the ocean system and maintain the good state of the ecological environment.

http://www.oceanwise.ca

The purpose of our group is to persuade people (relevant to Hong Kong) to protect the sea animals and being aware of the Ocean Wise label. As a result they will go to restaurants who have this label or even become a partner. Persuasion is widely seen as a skill served for selling products and closing deals, but it indeed helps to change people’s mind, involve moving people to a position they don't currently hold.

CHANGE

1. Use the four phases of a persuasion campaign to do some explanation.(David A.Garvin,Michael A. Roberto. 2005)

In our video, we use persuasion to make audience feel comfortable and willing to change their view.

•        Convince audiences that radical change is imperative and demonstrate why the new direction is right.

WE NEED CHANGE

We show pictures about the ways of people fishing which is illegal, compared with beautiful ocean, the purpose is to let people know our appetite for fish is threatening to overwhelm the ocean’s ecology, while the slaughter of whales and industrial fishing methods are destroying endangered species. We need to change.

•        Position and frame preliminary plan

YOU CAN HELP CHANGING

In the video, we show recommendation of what to do if you are aware of this problem. We encourage people to help.

When was the last time you ate fish?

2. Use ethos, pathos and logos of persuasion and influence to explain and analysis.

(1) Ethos

Ethos means the characteristics of the messenger. It focuses on how the persuader works. If you want to persuade someone, you need some characteristics. We will analysis several we used in our video.

a. Credibility. We are more likely to be persuaded (even without the inclination to do so) by someone who is perceived to be an authority. This is also one of the four essential steps of effective persuasion. We see from one reading (Conger, J. A. 1998) which said credibility grows out of two sources: expertise and relationship.  About relationship it talks about build good relationship with audiences, actually it is easy to achieve if audiences are our classmates, but if audiences are all Hong Kong residents, it could be hard to achieve. By using two types of music we reflect the mood- one dramatic for realizing the problems/causes and one happy song to encourage for help. Our group focuses on expertise. In our video, all pictures and information come from authorities and professional newspaper or website, people can trust. Furthermore we provide information about statistics. Hong Kong people are the second largest per-capita consumers of seafood in Asia, with every person consuming an average of 71.6kg of seafood per year. The popularity of seafood in Hong Kong places large demands on both local and overseas fisheries, to the extent that certain species are in danger of being wiped out forever and marine ecosystems around the world are deteriorating.

b. Frame for common ground. This is the second step of effective persuasion, which means identify shared benefits. In our video, we express that if we don't protect the Ocean now the consequences will be severe. In 50 years time we will have no fishes anymore due to the overfishing. Fish is supposed to be healthy food and since we have no fishes “left” the availability of healthy food shrinks. This is win-win strategy for our audience because you can benefit from seafood as healthy food and furthermore it will have impact to protect the ocean.

You still wan to enjoy the beauty of the ocean in 50 years time?

(2)Logos

a. Contrast. Contrast emphasizes on comparison. In our video, we often use comparison. We show pictures of the beauty from the ocean and then after that a big fishing boat. Further we use pictures of typical seafood platter and then pictures of whales which got killed. We illustrate some successful examples about protect ocean and then the ecology become well. So by using this strategy we make people feel how important a beautiful ocean is. We also put an example about WWF which is already used in Hong Kong to catch people eyes. To raise awareness about the need for sustainable seafood consumption, WWF-Hong Kong announced the results of a sustainable seafood survey and launched an updated version of our popular Seafood Guide.

b. Provide evidence. Don’t use ordinary evidence, most effective persuaders use language in a particular way. We ask questions in order to make our audience thinking. 

Commit to change

(3)Pathos

a. Connect emotionally. Good persuaders are aware of the primacy of emotions. On the one hand, our group thinks that we have to let our audiences know our commitment to protect seafood, which is not just in our mind but also in our heart and gut as well. In our video, you can see our group member sign a commitment of protect seafood, and we want to connect with our audiences. We build a role model so audience can learn from us. On the other hand, we ask people to think about two questions: how often they eat fish and how the fish ended up on the platter? This is also kind of emotion connected.

b. Know the audience and context. This means we need to use all available resources to know the audiences. We will introduce relevant Hong Kong cultural into our analysis. We all know Hong Kong is one of the world's most liberal economies and is a major international center of finance and trade. The characteristic of cultural is more international. The pace of life is quite fast. If we know this background, when we persuade people in Hong Kong, we should pay attention on use simply and critical information in our video to catch people’s eyes, because they are busy and don't have too much time.

c. Social proof (Cialdini, R. B. 2001). People are often persuaded to change their attitudes or behavior in response to real or imagined group pressure. So we can use peer power whenever it's available.

We all know Hong Kong has many harbors and fishing is also developing. Seafood is also one of people’s habits, overfishing is a permanent phenomena, so our video may have a positive influence on our audiences.

Articles interesting to read about this topic:

http://www.wwf.org.hk/en/?9680/WWF-Launches-Seafood-Guide-2013

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/evidence-challenges-japans-humane-whale-killing/2008/02/07/1202234066496.html

http://www.news24.com/Columnists/GeorginaGuedes/Why-the-dolphin-killing-should-stop-20140123

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7-b3Q-dLbA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VNoMwB5Rqo

https://www.youtube.com/user/OceanWiseSeafood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HTQ4x5rUls

1. Garvin, D. A., & Roberto, M. A. (2005, 02). Change through persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 83,104-112. http://search.proquest.com/docview/227816351?accountid=10134

 2. Conger, J. A. (1998, May). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 76, 84-95. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227803202?accountid=10134

3. Cialdini, R. B. (2001, 10).  Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 79, 72-79. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227763045?accountid=10134