Reframing the Issue
As a 501©3, CMT was couldn’t directly advocate for the transit tax, but it decided to withdraw $300,000 from its endowment for an educational campaign to lay the groundwork for such advocacy by others. Later, the transit district for neighboring St. Clair County, Illinois, which contracts with Metro for services, gave an additional $100,000 to the educational campaign, which ultimately cost about $525,000, including in-kind contributions.
Transit advocates faced a tough challenge: Only about 3 percent of people in the region (about 84,000 out of 2.8 million) take public transit to work. How do you persuade voters who do not ride transit that they should care about it? They reframed the issue by stressing indirect benefits of transit. Even though most people do not ride transit, almost everyone depends on workers who do.
So the centerpiece of the campaign became the slogan: “Some of us ride it. All of us need it.” Television ads showed people on the street pointing out that the nurses who take care of us and those who serve us coffee depend on public transit to get to work.
The campaign also identified “transit champions,” trusted public figures who could deliver the pro-transit message. Bypassing politicians and Metro itself, it highlighted local civic leaders such as University City Loop developer Joe Edwards, sports broadcasters Mike Shannon and Al Hrabosky, and African-American pastor Tommie Pierson. All were shown declaring “I love transit.”
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