St. John’s students, as part of
a national competition, have
developed an advertising campaign
to raise awareness of global
climate change issues among
young people.

The campaign, entitled
“March for the Bears” and centered
around saving the natural
habitats of polar bears through
the reduction of the amount of
carbon dioxide emissions entering
the atmosphere, was created
as part of the National Student
Advertising Competition, an
annual competition promoted by
the American Advertising
Federation. The competition has a
different corporate sponsor each
year, with this year’s competition
sponsored by Coca-Cola.

The polar bear was chosen
both for its role in a famous Coca-
Cola ad campaign and its status
as a vulnerable species as defined
by the World Conservation
Union.

The campaign will culminate
with an event, also called “March
for the Bears,” to take place April
24 on Marillac Terrace.

“A lot of people will be gathering
to support this cause,” said
Veronique Bartley, a member of
Storm Front Agency and an
organizer of the March for the
Bears. “We want to show our support
for it as a community and a
university.”

Aside from offering students
an opportunity to join in the fight
to help the polar bears, Bartley
said, wrist bands will be sold to
raise money for the cause. The
bracelets are red and green; the
red symbolizing Coca-Cola’s
involvement in the campaign and
the green symbolizing the earth.

“The money raised will go to
purchase carbon offsets,” Bartley
said, explaining that the offsets
allow environment harming carbon
dioxide emissions to be
replaced with clean energy.

As part of the campaign competition,
Strom Front Agency also
produced a booklet, containing
facts on the issue of global climate
change and the plight of the
polar bears. Bartley said that the
group will also produce a commercial
as part of the competition.

The project began in
November, when the students had
to decide what issue to base their
ad campaign around.

“It was narrowed down to
AIDS in Africa, Global Warming
and genocide in Darfur,” Bartley
said.

Professor Michael Anglin,
who advised the students,
explained how the issue was chosen
that best appealed to the targeted
demographic, those
between the ages of 13 and 24.
“Based on Quantitative
Research Storm Front identified a
topic of significant interest to the
target audience,” Anglin said.

“One with both emotional and
rationale appeal and one that is on
the top of everyone’s mind these
days.

“We found a strong link
between the target audience, the
client (Coca-Cola) and the worldwide
issue, the plight of the polar
bears,” he continued.

From there, the group began
to plan the campaign, originally
creating an online “virtual
march” to raise money for the
cause, then deciding on the event
to take place on Marillac Terrace.
Bartley emphasized the cause
of the campaign as not only one
that affects animals, but humans
as well.

“[The issue of climate
change] is not just affecting polar
bears, it’s affecting us,” she said.
“50 years from now, humans may
not be able to live in certain
places that they do now.

“I think [the campaign] sends
a message to everyone that we
need to be proactive,” Bartley
continued. “This issue may not be
affecting us now, but it will in
years to come.”

The Storm Front Agency is
made up of students from the
Tobin College of Business and
College of Professional Studies.