TACTIC:
Creative petition delivery
COMMON USES
To translate online outcry into
offline action; to make mass
public opposition unavoidably
visible to a campaign target.
PRACTITIONERS
Avaaz.org
MoveOn.org
Greenpeace
FURTHER INSIGHT
Creative Petition: Bags of Grain to the
White House to Prevent War, 1955
http://trb.la/wceMpx
Avaaz, Highlights
http://www.avaaz.org/en/highlights.php
CONTRIBUTED BY
Duncan Meisel, with help from
Pascal Vollenweider @ Avaaz
22
Online petitions are an effective way of spreading informa-
tion, raising an outcry or putting pressure on a target. But
online actions alone are easily ignored by targets. To translate
virtual signatures into real-world action, a number of netroots
organizations have developed the art of creative petition
delivery. While publicizing your message and the support it has
garnered, creative petition deliveries put public pressure on
your target.
Its helpful to find creative ways to physically quantify the
number of petition signatures. A number of well-labeled boxes
rolled into a targets office is a tried and true approach, but
other tactics can be effective as well. For a petition asking the
World Health Organization to investigate and regulate factory
farms, the international multi-issue campaign organization
Avaaz set up 200 cardboard pigs each representing 1,000
petition signers in front of the WHO building in Geneva,
providing the media with a visual hook on which to peg stories
about factory farms and swine flu.
But you dont have to physically occupy the same space as
your target. Attracting media attention can be an effective way
to reach a target as well. Avaaz sometimes places ads in news-
papers that both their target and supporters are likely to read.
In one instance, to deliver a petition against nuclear energy to
German Chancellor Andrea Merkel, they purchased an ad in
Der Spiegel, the German paper of record.
Or try a more outlandish media stunt. To deliver a petition
against deepwater oil drilling in the Arctic, Greenpeace Inter-
national sent its executive director to a controversial oil rig in
the middle of the ocean, where he trespassed onto the rig to
deliver the petition to the ships captain at which point he
was arrested and held for four days. Between the unusual way
it was delivered and the media coverage that resulted, the peti-
tion was difficult for the target to ignore.
Sometimes less public tactics can be equally effective: to
deliver a petition about cluster bombs to a UN conference de-
bating arms munitions treaties, Avaaz first digitally delivered
600,000 petition signatures to the head of the conference, and
then quietly distributed 1,000 fliers to conference attendees,
describing the issue and listing the number of people whod
TACTIC: Creative petition delivery
signed the petition. Even the subtle hint of public pressure cre- Related:
ated a stir in the often obscure world of UN diplomats. The
delivery had a big impact on the eventual outcome of the con- TACTICS
Distributed action p. 36
ference, which did not adopt a draft treaty to allow stockpiling
Artistic vigil p. 10
of cluster bombs. Advanced leafleting p. 8

THEORIES
Action logic p. 208
Points of intervention p. 250
Ethical spectacle p. 230

38 Degrees members deliver a petition of over 410,000 names to the NHS. Their message: Save Our NHS. Photo
by 38 Degrees.

Creative petition deliveries allow organizers to turn online

outcry into offline action. By becoming unavoidably visible to
a campaign target, creative deliveries make sure the voices of
thousands of petition signers are publicly heard.

MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE: Creative petition deliveries give an KEY PRINCIPLE
abstract issue a physical and visual presence. Public figures at work
and decision-makers can afford to avoid listening to public
outcry as long as it remains distant and exclusively online. OTHER PRINCIPLES AT WORK:
By bringing the voices of petition signers to a target (and the Create online-offline synergy web
media) in a way that makes them impossible to ignore, cre- Show, dont tell p. 174
ative petition deliveries amplify the effectiveness of online Bring the issue home p. 106
Consider your audience p. 118
organizing efforts. Choose your target wisely 114
Put your target in a decision dilemma p. 166
Play to the audience that isnt there p. 160

TACTIC: Creative petition delivery 23