The Afterschool Alliance (www.afterschoolnow.org), supported by the Ad Council and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, are running a public service ad campaign that appears to ridicule Masters swimmers. According to Alliance’s website, “These PSAs use humor to communicate the importance of taking action to support afterschool programs. The campaign includes TV and radio spots, newspaper ads, billboards, web banners and more.”
One print ad has a facial portrait of a smiling, senior gentleman in a pool, obviously a happy swimmer, with swimming goggles on. Superimposed over the portrait are the following words: “There’s nothing more REFRESHING than neglecting our nation’s YOUTH.” At the bottom, the ad continues to say: “When I don’t support afterschool programs, I feel so relaxed and carefree. It’s like I’m doing nothing at all! Unless you call depriving 15 million kids something…”
You can download a copy of the ad from the following website:
www.afterschoolnow.org/print_ads.cfm
Parents
Former Member
I agree with the above posts, the message is unclear, is it effective (well it did get the attention of someone, and has caused some discussion).
The one question remains are we guilty of what the Afterschool Alliance is sarcastically potraying. I'm not talikng about USMS as a whole but as individuals, as part of a community (or several different communities) and even your work (check out the Nike Go program at www.nikebiz.com). I'm sure people are aware of the situation in Oregon (Lampooned in the Doonesbury comic a while back) especially in the Portland area, and I'm sure other areas of the country are faced with some of the same dilemas maybe not as drastic. Several school districts in the Portland area are looking at cutting back days in the school year and also eliminating afterschool sports because of financial shortfalls. To make things worse a lot of the afterschool programs supported by Parks and Recreation Depts are dealing with the same problem, dwindling financial resources compounded with a higher demand because of fewer days that kids are in school.
Which brings me back to the original question, what are we doing about it ? People can volunteer (most noble) but even making yourself available to help out, has anyone offered to help (a swimmer or a high school swim team) just a little bit even 1 hour a week, just a little mentoring could make a big difference in the quality of programming. Even those that make a difference and receive some kind of compensation are at least helping to provide something for those kids and should be commended - sorry for the soap box and like I have said I don't agree with the ads or the potrayals, but look at the facts they were losing ground (programs and money) so if this ad campaign gets even one person to act its done its job.
Jeff
(as an afterthought, since it seems I may have cast the first stone, yes I do make a differnece in the community for kids both professionaly as a Program manager and sometimes volunteering my time with swimmers/swim teams and in other areas - not just paying my taxes).
I agree with the above posts, the message is unclear, is it effective (well it did get the attention of someone, and has caused some discussion).
The one question remains are we guilty of what the Afterschool Alliance is sarcastically potraying. I'm not talikng about USMS as a whole but as individuals, as part of a community (or several different communities) and even your work (check out the Nike Go program at www.nikebiz.com). I'm sure people are aware of the situation in Oregon (Lampooned in the Doonesbury comic a while back) especially in the Portland area, and I'm sure other areas of the country are faced with some of the same dilemas maybe not as drastic. Several school districts in the Portland area are looking at cutting back days in the school year and also eliminating afterschool sports because of financial shortfalls. To make things worse a lot of the afterschool programs supported by Parks and Recreation Depts are dealing with the same problem, dwindling financial resources compounded with a higher demand because of fewer days that kids are in school.
Which brings me back to the original question, what are we doing about it ? People can volunteer (most noble) but even making yourself available to help out, has anyone offered to help (a swimmer or a high school swim team) just a little bit even 1 hour a week, just a little mentoring could make a big difference in the quality of programming. Even those that make a difference and receive some kind of compensation are at least helping to provide something for those kids and should be commended - sorry for the soap box and like I have said I don't agree with the ads or the potrayals, but look at the facts they were losing ground (programs and money) so if this ad campaign gets even one person to act its done its job.
Jeff
(as an afterthought, since it seems I may have cast the first stone, yes I do make a differnece in the community for kids both professionaly as a Program manager and sometimes volunteering my time with swimmers/swim teams and in other areas - not just paying my taxes).
