NEWS & PUBLICATIONS

National Parks Conservation Association Presidential Campaign Brings Attention to Park Issues

Parks Group Uses Humorous Campaign Videos to Spread Message About National Parks

Washington, DC – The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association recently launched a political campaign to elect its own candidate for president: Teddy Mather, a bear from Shenandoah National Park. NPCA launched the campaign in hopes of getting the candidates to address national park issues while on the campaign trail. 

NPCA has relied heavily on the use of videos in Teddy’s campaign, hoping to spread his message virally. Y&R Chicago created several pro-bono videos for the campaign. The humorous videos offer testimonials, by people and animals alike, supporting Teddy’s position on the national parks… and urging voters to ignore the fact that he does not wear pants.

While the campaign videos are clearly tongue-in-cheek, the message to make national parks a national priority can be heard throughout each video. NPCA has posted Teddy’s new campaign videos on the candidates’ website, on his MySpace page, and on YouTube. The videos help to engage a younger audience and build support for a continuously growing campaign. 

NPCA is also using the videos as a call for action. There is a “Take Action” link next to each video on Teddy’s site, which encourages visitors to sign a petition asking the candidates to make national parks a national priority. So far, over 45,000 Americans have signed the petition and copies have been mailed to each candidate, along with a questionnaire about the parks. The candidates recently responded to the questions with their plans for restoring the parks before the National Park System centennial in 2016.

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