Noah Johnson

Qin Huang

COMM 360

09/20/2023

Reflection Paper 2

Reading about the infestations of zebra mussels was very interesting. Living in North

Dakota, I don’t hear much if at all any news on things like wildlife or things adjacent to it.

Throughout my entire life, I have known people who own, or their family owns a lake place. I

feel that it is very common amongst for the middle to middle-upper class to own a lake place and

visit it during the summer and warm months, especially for residents close to Minnesota. With

this in mind, I think the people who should know about this specific scientific finding are

outdoorsy people. People who fish often and use lakes for recreation are the most important

people to intake this information.

In more specific terms I think this group is defined by mostly male between the ages of

25-65. When looking at the Claritas zip code data, I noticed that the most populated age group

was 25-34 and gradually increases in popularity as the age increases. With this in mind, it is safe

to assume most people who are in a position to be using a lake will not be between the ages of 0-

20. Another crucial thing to note about this specific problem, is that the goal is to limit the spread

of these mussels, so people who often bring their boat to a lake and move it to another, are the

absolute most important that need to understand this problem. These people are likely to be avid

fisherman who bring their boat in and take it out when they are done and move it to another lake.

Many of the restrictions and checks they’ve been doing have been dealing with boats entering
and exiting the lake and entering a new lake. When considering the VALS survey and its’ types,

and to further classify this group of people, I would place them firmly within the “Makers”

group. This group is classified by their distrust in the government, interest in automotives, strong

outdoors interests, and appears to others as “anti-intellectual.” I feel this is a perfect

categorization of this group of people due to the context of the issue. Many people who go to

their one lake around 5-10 times a year don’t pose much of a threat in spreading this infestation,

but rather the outdoor enthusiasts and professionals are more likely to bring their boat, take it

out, and take it to another lake later. If I had to categorize this group further with the VALS

types, I would put the secondary group as “Achievers.” This group fits good because I they have

a “me first, family first” attitude, hardworking, they are committed to their family and job, and

are goal oriented.

When it comes to traditional media vs social media and which would be the most

effective method to reach this group, I think there is a clear choice in which to prioritize or

completely focus on. Considering the earlier classification of this group of people being “Makers

and Achievers,” social media would most likely not be the correct choice. Some the of the

defining characteristics of “makers and achievers” are that they are distrustful of the government,

which then we could assume extends to many faucets of social media as well. When it comes to

resistances surrounding this problem and issues like it within wildlife and habitat protection, I

would be confident in saying that most Makers would disregard the information entirely.

Although there may be a silver lining. One of the “makers” key interests in anything to do with

the outdoors and automotive vehicles. With this interest being a big part of this group, it may

override their opinions of being distrustful of government information. If they are avid fishers

and outdoorsman’s, they are very likely to see messaging about this problem and support it,
because they know how important a lake’s ecosystem is. I think a key point to take into account

when messaging around this topic and targeting this group, is to frame the message away from

government bodies. If people within the target group are avid fisherman and outdoorsmen, I

doubt this will matter as the North Dakota fish and game department, as I assume they would see

this body as a credible source due to their interests. In this case, TV ads would be very effective

since most “makers and achievers” with this interest. Radio ads also are a very good idea due to

the specific people who would be listening. People who are driving up to their lake most likely

have their radio on while driving. Many boats have radios built in as well so the radio ad could

be heard by fisherman on channels that have a big outdoors audience. Fishermen are probably

the most important people to get this messaging across to, so radio ads may be the best option to

reach this group.