One
of the major difficulties with the local food movement is persuading people to join
the movement. As of now food that is not
produced locally is cheaper and can be conveniently found at Wal-Mart, Target,
Shoprite, as well as many other stores. In South Deerfield, Massachusetts there
is a nonprofit organization, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA),
which has begun campaigning to convince consumers to buy locally. Their slogan is “Be a Local Hero.” Finding a good campaigning strategy most have
been a difficult,
“Campaigns
that dwell too much on guilt – the horrors of factory farming or the pollution
associated with 18-wheelers – can turn people off. At the same time, campaigns that dwell on
pleasures – can turn people off. At the
same time, campaigns that dwell on pleasures – face-to-face contact with
neighbors who grow your food or unrivaled flavor of a ripe peach – can be
overly abstract” (Halweil 143).
So
instead the CISA decided to use human pride as to further their cause. This campaign has been unquestionably
successful. “A research firm found that
87 percent of the people surveyed knew about the campaign. ‘The firm was astonished,’ Lattanizi
says. ‘In marketing, that’s gold’” (Haweil
143-144). The CISA works to raise awareness
about local foods so consumers can play their own part in saving the Earth.
Halweil,
Brian. Eat Here; Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Market. New
York: W W Norton & Company, 2004. Print.
