(Read in French) One of the first steps in campaign creation, and one of the most critical, is goal definition. Having a strong, clear goal allows for participants to have a unifying message to rally behind and can direct all related actions in the same direction. It can help to ensure that all protests, slogans, letters, and actions done in the name of the campaign are working towards a common goal.

To achieve both impact and longevity, a campaign can use short-term goals that work towards reaching a long-term goal. This allows for participants to have something concrete to work towards, while having a larger aim as the backdrop.

China Labor Watch (CLW), a labor rights group with offices in the US and China, uses this strategy. CLW has the overarching goal of increasing transparency of supply chains and factory labor conditions and acting as advocates for workers’ rights in supporting the Chinese labor movement. They publish reports and assessments about the state of labor conditions in Chinese factories throughout the year, however, and create short-term campaigns that are intended to work towards their overall mission.

The art of balancing impact and longevity

In the summer of 2012, China Labor Watch launched investigations into Samsung’s factories and found evidence of child workers. They subsequently published a report that outlined the abuses uncovered, and began a campaign to bring attention to this issue. CLW used numerous methods to achieve this goal which included creating and disseminating a press release, approaching the company directly, sending out a message through their email list, and setting up a page on their website to introduce the issue. Therefore, when Li Qiang, the founder of CLW, set up a petition on Change.org called “Samsung: Stop Exploiting Child Laborers,” it was just one of the many avenues by which they were trying to spread their message and gain greater awareness on this issue (also read this article on the role of emotional mobilization).

The Change.org petition garnered 159,000+ signatories and the attention of Samsung.  But this success came with a catch.  The petition format of a site like change.org obliged CLW to simplify its short-term goal, in this case “calling on Samsung to stop using child laborers at its Chinese employers.” Thus, they were focusing on a specific labor issue (underage workers), and a specific company (Samsung). This allowed supporters to feel there was a focused area whereby change could take place. Samsung responded in a manner that addressed the “ask” from the petition, however, circumvented the overarching goals of CLW.

As public pressure mounted against Samsung, they responded with a “zero tolerance” policy on child labor. “What that means is that if child labor is confirmed they could pull out all business from a factory,” noted Kevin Slaten the Program Coordinator at CLW in an interview, “and if that happens, as it did in the case of this factory, it would be suicide. It would absolutely devastate [the workers].” By pulling out of the factories, although child labor would be addressed, the jobs and livelihoods of numerous adult employees would end.

Having a simplified “ask” on the petition allowed for Samsung to respond to the demands of the petition while still not acting in accordance with CLW’s ultimate objectives.  This was one case where short-term goals hindered the longer-term goals of a movement.

Goal definition, therefore, needs to be considered carefully in the early stages of a campaign and can be critical in reaching the envisioned outcomes. The use of digital tools can be largely helpful in growing the audience for a cause, and can allow for a goal to get more attention.  However, one must be exceedingly careful in considering how to state a short-term goal to ensure that it works within the bigger picture in creating long-term change. Although CLW got more “ears to their cause” through the use of Change.org, a carefully defined goal could have harnessed the power of their petition to create more meaningful change.