July 14, 2016

The Opportunity Agenda is a social justice communications lab working to promote greater opportunity in America. They've been around for ten years and have recently started a campaign to change the dialogue in mass media regarding race, immigration, gender, and the economy.

In comic book based videos the heroine "Helvetika Bold" battles "The Mindset," a locked blockhead who supresses the poor, women, and minorities in media and advertising.

"Reality Chex" cereal contains the decoder rings that help young people reframe images presented to them that oppress, changing them to messages that empower.

The campaign for "Helvetika Bold vs. The Mindset" debuts at Netroots Nation this weekend:

Using the power of the Racism Decoder Ring to identify and decode racial stereotypes in the media, social justice superhero Helvetika Bold will demonstrate the transformative power of a values-based messaging strategy. This election cycle perfectly demonstrates what our research and experience have long taught us: that people’s underlying beliefs will trump facts every time. So how do we speak about racism across ideology? Join Helvetika Bold, that moxiest maven of media messaging, to learn how to build a messaging strategy that has the power to change hearts, minds and policy. Together, we can not only decode, but dismantle racist messages in the media and build a positive vision for racial justice that appeals to a broad audience. Although we use racial justice as a starting point, this workshop will develop core communications strategy principles that can be used for any issue.

So great to see a group using humor and lively, relate-able narratives to communicate an important message for kids and adults alike.

You can read more about Helvetika Bold and Opportunity Agenda here.

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