Positive Publicity = Positive Perceptions

Positive for Youth was exciting; an event for about 150 young people to be heard and try to rectify the Department for Education’s slightly less than perfect draft Positive for Youth statement. One word was thrown around a lot on the day…publicity!

The power the media has to shape the way society thinks is immense. It was unanimously decided that young people need to be publicised more positively to be able to shake off all the negative stereotypes that follow us more closely than our shadows.

It’s not that there is no official recognition of young people’s great efforts and contributions – I must admit I felt proud when others at the event commended v’s efforts to promote young people’s achievements – rather that this recognition is not present in mainstream media.

Discussions revealed the simplicity of the solution, but how difficult it may be to get there…we have to infiltrate national newspapers and radio stations to promote our successes in order to reconstruct positive perceptions of young people in the eyes of the masses.