Hey there! This is my 1st comment here so I ust wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading your blog posts.
Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with
the same subjects? Thank you so much!
We’ve got just a couple of things to do yet, before we can start putting up the billboard posters. We’re waiting for our bank account application to process, and we’ve got a volunteer who’s building a fabulous website to go with the campaign.
It may take a couple of weeks for those things to be ready.
But in the meantime YOU CAN become a member of Inform Scotland: by filling in the form at http://www.inform-scotland.org and paying £10 (or £5 if you’re unwaged). Members will be able to suggest ideas for posters, and vote for their favourites.
The funds raised from membership fees will be used to cover any ongoing costs, or to make up any shortfall in donations when we get to crowdfunding poster campaigns.
We’re still here, as you can see, and not at the new website http://www.inform-scotland.org … the new website’s still under development, but making steady progress.
So for now, this is still the go to place to find out what’s happening.
Not long now, and thanks for your continued patience, support and advice everyone!
Hi Lollysmum, yes I saw your tweet, thanks. I did check out their website. I’m not sure if ‘Inform Scotland’ (as we’re now called) will become involved in Yes Registry – because our focus is on media bias and misinformation, rather than constitutional matters. It might weaken our case to be seen as overtly pro-Yes (even though all of our members and supporters are probably in the Yes camp)
I wasn’t suggesting you get involved but I did think it might be a way to contact all the Yes groups out there so you can get InformScotland’s message out into the communities of Scotland.
Fantastic project, can I suggest home print versions and encourage people to display them in their car windows, this will enable the message to get out quickly, while the bigger Billboard project is being organised.
Also, small is beautiful, small can be left on a table, on a bus, in a crowded place without causing any stramash, where as trying to discretely put a large poster up, in public is much more difficult.
Happy to donate once you’re set up.
Thanks for the support. Yes, I agree that we should do printable/pdf versions of any posters or other literature.
Depending on the amount of donations that can be crowdfunded, we might also want to professionally print some leaflets/flyers too, and supporters could place them in public libraries, community centres, transport hubs, etc for people to browse?
Hi Kennedy, subway posters were discussed. The main argument against that so far, is that Glasgow – and particularly the areas the underground runs to, Central, West End, Govan – have a pro-indy majority already, so it might not be the best use of resources. The main thrust of the project is to alter perceptions of those who rely on MSM in the formation of their opinions. Bus shelter adverts are being investigated as an option
Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, there could be an issue about complaints. I suppose it comes down to getting good advice about being legal and meeting advertising standards.
In some ways, I think (chuckling sleekitly to myself) that somebody complaining could be a bonus for us… as long as we’re well prepared and meet all the standards, it would just mean extra publicity for the campaign.
Does anybody know the full story of the Wings subway adverts. I hadn’t heard about that. What were the grounds for the complaints?
I suggest that such a campaign needs to take seriously research done into how beliefs form and how to change them. Sticking a poster up on a billboard isn’t likely to change anything. Type ‘research into how beliefs form and how to change them’ into Google and start from there.
We’re in the process of setting up a website for the campaign, which will soon (not yet) be visible at http://www.inform-scotland.org
We now have a PayPal account too, so you’ll be able to become a fully paid up member as soon as the website is available (sometime this week).
We still need a couple of volunteers, though, to be on the initial steering committee. There wouldn’t be much time or effort involved. Please Please Please get in touch if you can spare a couple of hours now and then to help take this forward. Email to scunterbunnet@counterpropforum.com if you may be interested in helping out, or if you want to know more about what’s involved. Thanks.
Those of you who’ve already helped out in some way… I’ll be bothering you by email to ask you to take part.
Please see the new page called a modest proposal which gives details of the plan for taking the campaign forward.
As always, your comments, feedback, and words of encouragement or caution will be very welcome.
Regarding sites for posters. During the IRef and again in GE2015 there were a good few sympathetic farmers willing to put huge YES and SNP posters in roadside fields. Would cost nothing to ask.
Great idea, especially if they could go along the trunk roads: m8, m9, a9, a1 etc. I don’t know how we’d contact the landholders though. Maybe local Yes groups could put is in touch with farmers who’d be willing to do it?
I’ve toned down the message on the ‘About’ page, after feedback that some people were being turned off by the angry tone. That’s probably true, I was in a bit of a fizz when I wrote that… it should be a bit more palatable to anyone who arrives here from twitter now.
Many thanks to Hazel for much information about the legalities of advertising, and about how to say what we need to without being accused of destroying anybody’s reputation. The info can be found from the menu above.
There’s a real world meeting of a couple of us who volunteered to draft a constitution and mission statement for the group, this evening. I hope to upload the proposed constitution for your perusal at soem point tomorrow.
I’ve followed various likely supporters on twitter. Now that the About page has been suitably sanitised, I’ll start tweeting at them.
That’s an idea. It would cost nothing no make printable versions that could be downloaded, and it would be great to see. It might even be worth our while printing the posters and sending them out to supporters, or maybe asking The National to put them inside the paper? We can get 1000s of posters printed for the price of a single billboard.
Twitter account now set up. I decided to just use my own moniker for the moment, @scunterbunnet, and set up a campaign Twitter presence once we have a name, and a real plan.
@Lollysmum, if you’re still reading this stuff, could you please email me the list of social media profiles you mentioned, and I’ll tweet at them to publicise this (or you could do it? if you prefer).
Discussions are underway to prepare some sort of organisational structure for the campaign. We’ll post a suggested constitution and mission statement for the group here, as soon as we have one, and respond to comments.
I also plan to phone round some billboard companies, to try to get an indication of pricing, etc.
Great idea. One I’d be happy to contribute a few pounds to, but…to make the proposed revelations in the media, you’d definitely need a good law firm backing you up. The SNP won’t get involved here, too risky. I would also suggest you work hand in hand with other sites eg Wings… Stuart Campbell is one of the best internet investigative reporters (along with excellent analysis).
Plus the Billboard site owners may not allow your posters to be shown…esp if they are criticising MSM, who have huge legals teams ready to act.
I agree with you Brian, we need to be sure about being legally protected, which may mean the message on billboards will have to be carefully selected, and ran past a lawyer.
This is still an exploratory conversation, your words of caution are very welcome. I’m a bit less concerned about the billboard site owners: at the end of the day, we would be the advertisers, and responsible for being fair and legal. We just need to ask the billboard companies and see what they say.
I will contact Stuart Campbell to see if he’s willing to work with us in some way. We can but ask.
Agree about perception of stickers etc. as ‘spoiling the look of the place’ No idea if rates for billboards vary according to site but in Perth the ones which get stared at by me while in car ( as opposed to when a pedestrian) are situated at traffic lights and they are at red. Happy to find a fiver now and then from my pension.
I’m having a good feeling about this too! I was reading something earlier and it gave me a thought. What about an advertisement in the cinema, right there in front of people just before they settle down to watch a film. Can we aim that high! Popcorn anyone 😉
We’d need to do the sums – how much it costs versus how many would see it. But I’d love to think of soft no voters sitting down in the cinema, and seeing an exposé of media lies as an advert before the film: done in a cinematic style.
I don’t have the promised twitter account yet – aiming to get that set up by tomorrow evening, and start promoting this forum with it. I’ve had a busy couple of days, then was at the anti-austerity rally in Glasgow today (great turnout and speakers), and I might go to Common Space new media thingymajig tomorrow afternoon to publicise our forum.
Two people have now volunteered to help set up the group with some sort of semi-official structure, so that we can start taking donations and running ad campaigns. The next steps will be:
1) we’ll propose a constitution and a mission statement for the group, and then anyone on here can suggest changes.
2) Once we have a name and agreed goals, we can approach outdoor advertising companies and transport companies for quotes for various forms of publicity (billboards, bus shelters, ads on buses, leaflets by post, etc). We can then have a discussion here about which are most realistic, and will have most impact.
3) Next, a proper website to promote the campaigns, and provide further information and links/resources for anyone who sees the posters. The website will also allow people to subscribe, donate and become ‘members’. All members will have a say about which issues we publicise, and how the campaigns are run.
I’m hopeful that we can get all of that done within a couple of weeks at most. To those who offered immediate donations – thanks, and sorry we can’t accept right away. The formalities are necessary to make sure we’re on a firm footing and everything’s legal.
I’m actually starting to feel kind of excited about this, I really, really hope that it gets off the ground. Education through factual but simple and striking messages on billboards or whatever ultimately will be the key to independence, in just the same (but opposite) way that media bias and lies is what is holding it back.
Yes on reflection I think you’re right Scunterbunnet. This should be carried out independent of the SNP by involving EVERYONE whose main aim is to get the absolute truth out there.
Maybe some supporters could come up with some suggestions for the name of this endeavour such as Inform Scotland. Not too original I know but a start.
Looks as though this may be taking off Scunterbunnet. Fantastic.
I would imagine that a great deal of thought will have to be put into this before you can get it off the ground from costing, the legalities, setting up the fund and so on.
The first decision that will have to be made, I would think, is whether this should be done under the umbrella of the SNP. They used billboards in the lead up to the Referendum so I’d reckon that they have some considerable knowledge of the ins and outs of it all.
I would also consider contacting them initially anyway because the last thing we want to do is to compromise the party in any way at all.
Then of course I know that Rev Stu is extremely busy but would this be something that he would be interested in / organise? He has masses of ‘contradictory’ examples relating to every area under the sun.
I see you’ve mentioned looking for ideas, on WoS, for advertising on the billboards. What about clarifying the Vow (Home Rule, Devomax, Federalism) versus what’s actually on offer now (when this is resolved), listing Scotlands many assets other than oil, informing the Scots that their Parliament isn’t permanent …….. Scottish affairs and issues that are being suppressed (but not saying by whom for legal reasons).
They didn’t tell you this in 1974 … McCrone Report details and they’re not telling you this now … potential oil boom off the West coast of Scotland.
Did you know that 6000sq miles of Scottish Seas and 7 oil fields were secretly handed over to Westminster on the eve of our Scottish Parliament reconvening etc etc.
What you say about contacting the SNP makes sense. They have experience of this kind of stuff. You’re right, we don’t want to make any problems for them. And as you say, we need to understand the legalities and technicalities involved – everything we say in posters has to be cast iron provable fact – we couldn’t compete with big media organisations in a court case (heaven forbid).
But that’s one reason why I think this should be independent of SNP. The campaign doesn’t have to be a specifically ‘nationalist’ one – we want to expose corruption, bias and hidden agendas in the MSM, and then let people make up their own minds about which side is telling the truth. That way, we’re not telling people how to vote, or even telling them to support independence or FFA or anything else… it just so happens that most of the lies and disinformation come from one side of the debate, which includes most of the media.
So for example, we can ask why BBC and Daily Record ignored that the ‘Vow’ was completely broken… when it’s in the public’s interest to know. Similarly, we could do a “Did you know…?” slant on things like the McCrone report, West Coast oil, etc. … without spinning it as anything to do with nationalism or SNP policy? More of indignant “why were we not informed kind of thing”?
This is exactly right imho. It’s got to be about fighting propaganda with cold hard facts, rather than with what those we want to win over might see as more propaganda.
I can’t wait to start proving to people that they can’t trust the MSM to give them those facts.
I’d like to see the Unionists’ economic propaganda challenged in this way. I realise it’s hard to condense complex economic concepts and arguments into a few words on a poster, but maybe some punchy questions would get people thinking. Also, it seems to me that maybe areas that returned a large ‘No’ vote last time, such as Perthshire and Aberdeenshire would be especially worth targeting.
I’d be happy to make a modest financial contribution.
Hi Puzzled Puss. That makes sense to me. I just wonder where would be the best places in Perthshire and Aberdeenshire to advertise for maximum effect? Would bus shelter adverts be seen by enough No voters for example? Thanks of the offer of a contribution.
I have also been trying to look into costs etc on running billboard campaigns and its not good news.
The costs seem to be astronomically huge.
If anyone cares to have a wee look and get a rough idea of the costs involved just Google the following
for starters:- billboard campaign costs.
Perhaps other methods, such as poster campaigns, may be a more appropriate avenue for us to explore,
for placing in windows etc.
I had a look too, and found some that weren’t that expensive: for example £200pw for a single billboard. For the right message in a busy location, I think that could be worth paying.
This needs further discussion. If we did posters for people to put up in windows, how would they be distributed? It could be a very good idea, though. What about an A3 or bigger poster on one side, and a kind of newsletter on the other side, listing some of the complaints about MSM and telling people where to find alternative news. How much would it cost to print a million or so copies (or less, start with one area), and get them distributed in the postal system? I’m sure a lot of the people who had Yes posters in their windows would display the new poster – and every single household in Scotland could be exposed to the facts about media bias, and political lies.
scunnterbunnet,
That £200 pw you quote seems a reasonably decent rate.
Also, can i suggest we avoid motorway areas and stick to busy town centres if we go the billboard route.
The modern motorist is already bombarded with a myriad of various signs and billboards etc along motorway routes.
People don’t have time to stop on a motorway and take in the message, they do in town centres, especially folk who tend to wait outside for someone who’s in the shop.
Pre GE2015 i noticed the SNP billboards, on the bus route from Edinburgh into Glasgow were huge things and very cleverly placed at multi-junction sites just after you enter Glasgow from the east but before you hit the city centre.
With regards to your poster questions, all i can state for certain is my own experience.
Prior to the GE2015 my wife got Vistaprint to knock up a large (3ft X 2ft) window poster for me.
It was largely the SNP’ tartan seats at Westminster campaign with one or two tweaks of her own thrown in.
If i remember correctly it cost her approximately somewhere in the region of £20 – worth every penny as it was very well received by a lot of people and the quality of the poster was top class. However, that sort of
rate (£20 per poster) is a bit steep for our purposes where we would be bulk buying.
Mind you, there will be far cheaper rates available via various outlets.
Finally, yes, it may be good to contact the SNP for advice only but we have to be very careful not to be seen to be aligned with them because, as far as i understand it, that may create problems during election periods with regards to party campaign expenditure declarations etc.
Yes, seeing any pro indy material plastered over various public areas also gives me a wee lift but at the same time it saddens me because it is vandalism.
I agree, anything we do should be done with a bit of class and professionalism, ie: strategically located billboards. We have a serious message to tell and it should be delivered professionally.
Have you considered consulting with the Rev about the possibility of combining your idea with also promoting WOS, a sort of WOS promotional wing/department with all billboard messages also carrying the WOS web address?
Doing things this way may also help considerably with funding for our projects.
I’d be happy to collaborate with WoS (and/or Newsnet/Bella/Common Space etc) if they’re up for it.
I’m planning to get in touch with the Rev soon about maybe getting a permalink from Wings to here (or to our new campaign website) anyway. Someone else suggested that yesterday. I’ll also ask if he’s interested in working together somehow.
For me, the key first step is to get some other people willing to share an active part in running this campaign (whatever shape it eventually takes) – so that it’s a real credible grassroots campaign, and not just the Scunterbunnet show. We need a clearly agreed purpose and goals, and some sort of organisational structure (however informal). I don’t want to take folk’s donations, only for them to be disappointed if the billboards aren’t what they expected. It has to be democratic and transparent… this isn’t the BBC you know!
I’ve had to turn away kind offers of immediate donations today. It’s unfortunate, but we need to start from a solid base.
A couple of people have offered to contribute time to set things up and co-ordinate already… so we’re off to a good start. We’ve established that there is an appetite for this project. I hope to have the ball rolling properly – choosing poster designs and collecting donations – very soon: in days or weeks rather than months. Anybody else who’s willing to volunteer time to help set this up – please email: scunterbunnet@counterpropforum.com
We’ve now got an actual domain name – http://counterpropforum.com (the old wordpress link will still work though)
And an email address: scunterbunnet (at) counterpropforum.com
I’ve been posting links in the comments sections of various sites and blogs today, to try and drum up some interest. Had a great response so far for day zero! 😀 Thanks once again everyone for the offers of support and for lending your imagination about the best ways forward. Particularly, thanks to lollysmum and the other tweeters
*** Can anyone who would be willing to take some kind of an active part in co-ordinating a billboard or poster campaign, and/or the fundraising, please let me know! (either email or comment) ***
I’m willing to do a lot of the spadework of setting up a website, getting quotes from advertising companies, setting up a crowdfunder, or whatever. What I CAN’T do, and don’t want to do, is run the whole thing as a private individual… if people are going to donate money, they need to be sure it will be used in an accountable way. So there needs to be a group of responsible people who can steer things… and pull me up or even sack me if I do a crap job (and hopefully share the work too).
It wouldn’t matter whereabouts in Scotland you live – I think we could go through the process of making the campaign ‘official’ over email, or skype, for example.
Tomorrow’s plan: get twitter and facebook page for this forum, and share to various Yes groups.
I’m happy to help fund this. Their blunt instrument is fear. They used it to win the referendum, then to stay in power by scaring middle England and then again to trash FFA, just to name a few examples. What ever we can do to help folk overcome their fear is worth trying.
When the posters go up – and I agree billboards in towns and bus shelters in rural areas would be a good start – is there a plan to point people at a web address for more info? Somewhere like Wings maybe? Opening people’s eyes might be easier when they see the sheer weight of evidence showing betrayal of the truth.
My suggestion is that this campaign (whatever it ends up being called) should have its own website. There’d be a specific url for each billboard/poster. The website would be brimming with links to Wings, Bella, Newsnet, Common Space, Independence Live, various indie blogs etc … including links to any articles that are specifically relevant to the topic of the billboard.
The key idea is to let the politically unengaged section of the public see that there is a convincing narrative other than that of unionist MSM, and help them to access our already excellent alternative media that proves the point.
re: the Newsnet article: I agree with Ponsonby’s analysis up to a point, except that I think it’s too early for our new media channels to ‘converge’ in the way he’s suggesting. There are lots of green shoots out there, some will thrive in the longer term, and some will wither. Attention and support will naturally go to the ones that prove most effective. Having a single ‘portal’ too early, or a single editorial policy, would kill off a lot of useful contributions imho.
Evening guys. Never posted before. But an avid fan nonetheless. I’ve always thought that a table manned with information, informed people and relevant literature in the town centre every Saturday for example might be a good option. Speaking to people face to face??ps. The work you all do is fantastic
After the world beating success of the SNP in the GE2015 we know what works. Analyze it, understand it and then apply it to this project. Which I presume is to make Scottish voters aware of the truth of how they are being sold down the river and it will not change until we have independence.
I would like to add my support too! Being that I’ve not been out of my house for the last 4 years I’m sorry that I can’t be out there with people. However I’m a keen crafter and I design and print my own greeting cards, so if I can be of any use let me know. I can print up to A3 size , sorry that doesn’t compare to 40 foot billboards but what about leaflets through doors. Asking the National if they would allow a leaflet going loosely in each paper printed. Then there are boots on the ground, all those homes that need the information, pop it in their letterbox.
When I was young, during the run up to elections cars/vans/lorries would go around with someone on a loud hailed. It’s relatively cheap and yet it could be effective. We can’t get the airwaves so let’s shout it 😉
Thanks Cherry, definitely design skills will be in demand!
Not sure about leaflets in the National… preaching to the choir maybe? But something in the post (or in another paper or circular) could be good. Does anybody know how much it costs to get posties delivering leaflets as they do their rounds?
“We can’t get the airwaves…” Aye we can, I think. Not something I would be up for running, but I think there are strict ofcom rules about setting up a radio station. As I understand it, you can get a local MW band on request pretty much, and then FM/DAB if you can prove you’ve got enough listeners. Can anybody confirm that? Any budding indy djs out there?
Thanks everybody for the support and suggestions so far.
I’ll be making a nuisance of myself on pro-Indy blogs and alternative media for the next couple of days, spreading the word that this thing exists.
Mibbe getting carried away with myself, but I’m starting to picture a 40 foot wide video screen hanging somewhere on the royal mile, constantly repeating the message of how we’re being conned. That would really scunner the zoomers, slabbers and hacks when they’re at the festival in August! 😉
Aye count me in for a regular contribution too. Would be good to be doing something to help the cause.
You also need to post this on Yes Facebook /Twitter accounts too. I created a spreadsheet of their web addresses just after the referendum just in case they were needed again. If anyone wants it give me a shout-it will be easier to use that rather than starting from scratch.
agree with this approach wholeheartedly andhope this project gets up and running. I’m not in a position at present to do much to help or to donate much, but will try to donate the occasional fiver where possible and hopefully will get to a position of being able to do more. Best luck!
ps, if anyone would care to follow my own blog – nothing to do with politics, but disability and dogs, it could help me to get myself into a position where I can begin to earn a living income through writing, and thus donate more.
Also, if writing skills are required by this project, I am happy to donate these, although I know there are very many skilled writers around.
Happy to contribute financially when the time comes, but to succeed, this forum will need constant publicity in order to stay current and secure meaningful support.
My own feeling is that this should be independent of SNP and party politics, for various reasons.
ScotGov are constrained in what they can say in various legal and political ways. A publicity campaign run separately doesn’t have those issues.
Also, it’s good to accept support from the wider pro-Scottish/Yes movement. Don’t want to alienate Green or SSP or non-aligned people, especially with an election next year.
I don’t have a problem speaking to SNP publicity people, though. They might be able to advise or give the benefit of experience.
Also what could we do to promote this message beyond of the big towns? Could we advertise in the local or regional papers (later, if we get a decent fund)? Would they even let us … I know a lot of the local press are controlled by big media groups. Ideas, anybody?
I’m up for helping with a monthly donation of a fiver to help with a rolling pot for the billboard campaign, I think its a good (and cheap) way to put the yes campaign back into the public domain, when you look at the number of cars (including mine) who still have the YES sticker on a window the passion is still there and wont take much to fan into roaring flames of desire again.
If you do get started with the Billboards or posters. Can I suggest a good place for them would be near train stations or bus stations shopping centres or sport venues. a lot of people use these facilities. so if you have something bright or eye catching a lot more people are likely to notice it. Good luck to you all in this Endeavour. Yours in Hope. Michael McCabe.
Thanks Michael. I’m starting to warm to the idea of targeting bus shelters, and buses (and train stations), more than billboards.
Bus shelter adverts are a wee bit pricier than billboards (surprisingly), from the tiny bit of research I’ve done into this stuff.
But I’m guessing that bus passengers may well include a lot of the people who are underexposed to the online pro-Indy message: pensioners and recent immigrants for example. If they see that there are people going to the bother of actually exposing media lies in this way – it could have a big impact on how they relate to those media.
Also, some of the islands and smaller towns have bus shelters with advertising, but not many billboards. A bus shelter advert might be the only visible challenge to the MSM narrative in some places.
There is an indy group already targetting bus stops in Glasgow-they were the ones with the posters outside Labour’s office in Bathgate 🙂 Can’t remember their name but recall it was Gaelic-one of their posters was doing the rounds on Twitter 2-3 days ago. If we can find them might be worth talking to them.
Thanks for that. If anybody from that group reads this please email me, or post a comment, maybe we can collaborate.
A lot of the bus shelters, bins and so on near me had “Yes”, “Red Tories Out”, and ” U KOK … still think we’re better together?” stickers plastered over them recently. While I applaud the sentiments, and they cheer me up every time I walk past, I think a lot of people see stickers and posters on lampposts as one step up from vandalism. That’s partly why I like the billboards idea – people see it as more ‘official’ and ‘respectable’/reliable.
counterpropforum 
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**** UPDATE 13/7/15 — JOIN INFORM SCOTLAND ******************
Hi,
We’ve got just a couple of things to do yet, before we can start putting up the billboard posters. We’re waiting for our bank account application to process, and we’ve got a volunteer who’s building a fabulous website to go with the campaign.
It may take a couple of weeks for those things to be ready.
But in the meantime YOU CAN become a member of Inform Scotland: by filling in the form at http://www.inform-scotland.org and paying £10 (or £5 if you’re unwaged). Members will be able to suggest ideas for posters, and vote for their favourites.
The funds raised from membership fees will be used to cover any ongoing costs, or to make up any shortfall in donations when we get to crowdfunding poster campaigns.
Cheers
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*************** UPDATE 6/7/15 ***************************************
Hi,
We’re still here, as you can see, and not at the new website http://www.inform-scotland.org … the new website’s still under development, but making steady progress.
So for now, this is still the go to place to find out what’s happening.
Not long now, and thanks for your continued patience, support and advice everyone!
*************************************************************
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Sent you a tweet a couple of days ago about Yes Registry, you might want to check it out.
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Hi Lollysmum, yes I saw your tweet, thanks. I did check out their website. I’m not sure if ‘Inform Scotland’ (as we’re now called) will become involved in Yes Registry – because our focus is on media bias and misinformation, rather than constitutional matters. It might weaken our case to be seen as overtly pro-Yes (even though all of our members and supporters are probably in the Yes camp)
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I wasn’t suggesting you get involved but I did think it might be a way to contact all the Yes groups out there so you can get InformScotland’s message out into the communities of Scotland.
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Yes, good idea! Thanks 🙂
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Fantastic project, can I suggest home print versions and encourage people to display them in their car windows, this will enable the message to get out quickly, while the bigger Billboard project is being organised.
Also, small is beautiful, small can be left on a table, on a bus, in a crowded place without causing any stramash, where as trying to discretely put a large poster up, in public is much more difficult.
Happy to donate once you’re set up.
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Thanks for the support. Yes, I agree that we should do printable/pdf versions of any posters or other literature.
Depending on the amount of donations that can be crowdfunded, we might also want to professionally print some leaflets/flyers too, and supporters could place them in public libraries, community centres, transport hubs, etc for people to browse?
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I would consider a small monthly donation for the cause.
Remember Wings advertised on the Glasgow metro but the adverts were taken down when some killjoy complained. Have you considered this?
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Hi Kennedy, subway posters were discussed. The main argument against that so far, is that Glasgow – and particularly the areas the underground runs to, Central, West End, Govan – have a pro-indy majority already, so it might not be the best use of resources. The main thrust of the project is to alter perceptions of those who rely on MSM in the formation of their opinions. Bus shelter adverts are being investigated as an option
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Thank for the reply. I Understand that would be singing to the choir and its not the choir we need to sing to.
The point I was trying to make was can some unionist complain and have the poster/billboard removed?
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Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, there could be an issue about complaints. I suppose it comes down to getting good advice about being legal and meeting advertising standards.
In some ways, I think (chuckling sleekitly to myself) that somebody complaining could be a bonus for us… as long as we’re well prepared and meet all the standards, it would just mean extra publicity for the campaign.
Does anybody know the full story of the Wings subway adverts. I hadn’t heard about that. What were the grounds for the complaints?
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I suggest that such a campaign needs to take seriously research done into how beliefs form and how to change them. Sticking a poster up on a billboard isn’t likely to change anything. Type ‘research into how beliefs form and how to change them’ into Google and start from there.
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So, what do you suggest?
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*********** UPDATE 29/6/15 ********************************
We’re getting there!
We’re in the process of setting up a website for the campaign, which will soon (not yet) be visible at http://www.inform-scotland.org
We now have a PayPal account too, so you’ll be able to become a fully paid up member as soon as the website is available (sometime this week).
We still need a couple of volunteers, though, to be on the initial steering committee. There wouldn’t be much time or effort involved. Please Please Please get in touch if you can spare a couple of hours now and then to help take this forward. Email to scunterbunnet@counterpropforum.com if you may be interested in helping out, or if you want to know more about what’s involved. Thanks.
Those of you who’ve already helped out in some way… I’ll be bothering you by email to ask you to take part.
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********* UPDATE 23/6/15 *****************
Please see the new page called a modest proposal which gives details of the plan for taking the campaign forward.
As always, your comments, feedback, and words of encouragement or caution will be very welcome.
Cheers
******************************************
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Why does the article state that the Scottish Independence referendum campaign took place in 2015 instead of 2014?
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oops! Will fix that
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Regarding sites for posters. During the IRef and again in GE2015 there were a good few sympathetic farmers willing to put huge YES and SNP posters in roadside fields. Would cost nothing to ask.
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Great idea, especially if they could go along the trunk roads: m8, m9, a9, a1 etc. I don’t know how we’d contact the landholders though. Maybe local Yes groups could put is in touch with farmers who’d be willing to do it?
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**** UPDATE 24/06/15 *******************
I’ve toned down the message on the ‘About’ page, after feedback that some people were being turned off by the angry tone. That’s probably true, I was in a bit of a fizz when I wrote that… it should be a bit more palatable to anyone who arrives here from twitter now.
Many thanks to Hazel for much information about the legalities of advertising, and about how to say what we need to without being accused of destroying anybody’s reputation. The info can be found from the menu above.
There’s a real world meeting of a couple of us who volunteered to draft a constitution and mission statement for the group, this evening. I hope to upload the proposed constitution for your perusal at soem point tomorrow.
I’ve followed various likely supporters on twitter. Now that the About page has been suitably sanitised, I’ll start tweeting at them.
Cheers
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Maybe Brian Souter would allow posters on his buses?.
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Can we also get printable version’s of each poster for windows ect
Like you do in an election?
So every time the bill board changes we all mirror it
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That’s an idea. It would cost nothing no make printable versions that could be downloaded, and it would be great to see. It might even be worth our while printing the posters and sending them out to supporters, or maybe asking The National to put them inside the paper? We can get 1000s of posters printed for the price of a single billboard.
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********** UPDATE 22/6/15 ****************************
Hi All,
Twitter account now set up. I decided to just use my own moniker for the moment, @scunterbunnet, and set up a campaign Twitter presence once we have a name, and a real plan.
@Lollysmum, if you’re still reading this stuff, could you please email me the list of social media profiles you mentioned, and I’ll tweet at them to publicise this (or you could do it? if you prefer).
Discussions are underway to prepare some sort of organisational structure for the campaign. We’ll post a suggested constitution and mission statement for the group here, as soon as we have one, and respond to comments.
I also plan to phone round some billboard companies, to try to get an indication of pricing, etc.
Will update again tomorrow.
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Great idea. One I’d be happy to contribute a few pounds to, but…to make the proposed revelations in the media, you’d definitely need a good law firm backing you up. The SNP won’t get involved here, too risky. I would also suggest you work hand in hand with other sites eg Wings… Stuart Campbell is one of the best internet investigative reporters (along with excellent analysis).
Plus the Billboard site owners may not allow your posters to be shown…esp if they are criticising MSM, who have huge legals teams ready to act.
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I agree with you Brian, we need to be sure about being legally protected, which may mean the message on billboards will have to be carefully selected, and ran past a lawyer.
This is still an exploratory conversation, your words of caution are very welcome. I’m a bit less concerned about the billboard site owners: at the end of the day, we would be the advertisers, and responsible for being fair and legal. We just need to ask the billboard companies and see what they say.
I will contact Stuart Campbell to see if he’s willing to work with us in some way. We can but ask.
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Agree about perception of stickers etc. as ‘spoiling the look of the place’ No idea if rates for billboards vary according to site but in Perth the ones which get stared at by me while in car ( as opposed to when a pedestrian) are situated at traffic lights and they are at red. Happy to find a fiver now and then from my pension.
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I’m having a good feeling about this too! I was reading something earlier and it gave me a thought. What about an advertisement in the cinema, right there in front of people just before they settle down to watch a film. Can we aim that high! Popcorn anyone 😉
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Wow! That’s a peach of an idea!
We’d need to do the sums – how much it costs versus how many would see it. But I’d love to think of soft no voters sitting down in the cinema, and seeing an exposé of media lies as an advert before the film: done in a cinematic style.
Duly added to the list! 😉
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********* UPDATE 20/6/15 ************************
Thanks again for the continued support everyone.
I don’t have the promised twitter account yet – aiming to get that set up by tomorrow evening, and start promoting this forum with it. I’ve had a busy couple of days, then was at the anti-austerity rally in Glasgow today (great turnout and speakers), and I might go to Common Space new media thingymajig tomorrow afternoon to publicise our forum.
Two people have now volunteered to help set up the group with some sort of semi-official structure, so that we can start taking donations and running ad campaigns. The next steps will be:
1) we’ll propose a constitution and a mission statement for the group, and then anyone on here can suggest changes.
2) Once we have a name and agreed goals, we can approach outdoor advertising companies and transport companies for quotes for various forms of publicity (billboards, bus shelters, ads on buses, leaflets by post, etc). We can then have a discussion here about which are most realistic, and will have most impact.
3) Next, a proper website to promote the campaigns, and provide further information and links/resources for anyone who sees the posters. The website will also allow people to subscribe, donate and become ‘members’. All members will have a say about which issues we publicise, and how the campaigns are run.
I’m hopeful that we can get all of that done within a couple of weeks at most. To those who offered immediate donations – thanks, and sorry we can’t accept right away. The formalities are necessary to make sure we’re on a firm footing and everything’s legal.
And after that, who knows how far it can go!
Cheers
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I’m actually starting to feel kind of excited about this, I really, really hope that it gets off the ground. Education through factual but simple and striking messages on billboards or whatever ultimately will be the key to independence, in just the same (but opposite) way that media bias and lies is what is holding it back.
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Yes on reflection I think you’re right Scunterbunnet. This should be carried out independent of the SNP by involving EVERYONE whose main aim is to get the absolute truth out there.
Maybe some supporters could come up with some suggestions for the name of this endeavour such as Inform Scotland. Not too original I know but a start.
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I really like “Inform Scotland” as a name.
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Looks as though this may be taking off Scunterbunnet. Fantastic.
I would imagine that a great deal of thought will have to be put into this before you can get it off the ground from costing, the legalities, setting up the fund and so on.
The first decision that will have to be made, I would think, is whether this should be done under the umbrella of the SNP. They used billboards in the lead up to the Referendum so I’d reckon that they have some considerable knowledge of the ins and outs of it all.
I would also consider contacting them initially anyway because the last thing we want to do is to compromise the party in any way at all.
Then of course I know that Rev Stu is extremely busy but would this be something that he would be interested in / organise? He has masses of ‘contradictory’ examples relating to every area under the sun.
I see you’ve mentioned looking for ideas, on WoS, for advertising on the billboards. What about clarifying the Vow (Home Rule, Devomax, Federalism) versus what’s actually on offer now (when this is resolved), listing Scotlands many assets other than oil, informing the Scots that their Parliament isn’t permanent …….. Scottish affairs and issues that are being suppressed (but not saying by whom for legal reasons).
They didn’t tell you this in 1974 … McCrone Report details and they’re not telling you this now … potential oil boom off the West coast of Scotland.
Did you know that 6000sq miles of Scottish Seas and 7 oil fields were secretly handed over to Westminster on the eve of our Scottish Parliament reconvening etc etc.
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Hi Petra,
What you say about contacting the SNP makes sense. They have experience of this kind of stuff. You’re right, we don’t want to make any problems for them. And as you say, we need to understand the legalities and technicalities involved – everything we say in posters has to be cast iron provable fact – we couldn’t compete with big media organisations in a court case (heaven forbid).
But that’s one reason why I think this should be independent of SNP. The campaign doesn’t have to be a specifically ‘nationalist’ one – we want to expose corruption, bias and hidden agendas in the MSM, and then let people make up their own minds about which side is telling the truth. That way, we’re not telling people how to vote, or even telling them to support independence or FFA or anything else… it just so happens that most of the lies and disinformation come from one side of the debate, which includes most of the media.
So for example, we can ask why BBC and Daily Record ignored that the ‘Vow’ was completely broken… when it’s in the public’s interest to know. Similarly, we could do a “Did you know…?” slant on things like the McCrone report, West Coast oil, etc. … without spinning it as anything to do with nationalism or SNP policy? More of indignant “why were we not informed kind of thing”?
What do you think?
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This is exactly right imho. It’s got to be about fighting propaganda with cold hard facts, rather than with what those we want to win over might see as more propaganda.
I can’t wait to start proving to people that they can’t trust the MSM to give them those facts.
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I’d like to see the Unionists’ economic propaganda challenged in this way. I realise it’s hard to condense complex economic concepts and arguments into a few words on a poster, but maybe some punchy questions would get people thinking. Also, it seems to me that maybe areas that returned a large ‘No’ vote last time, such as Perthshire and Aberdeenshire would be especially worth targeting.
I’d be happy to make a modest financial contribution.
Wishing you well with your efforts.
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Hi Puzzled Puss. That makes sense to me. I just wonder where would be the best places in Perthshire and Aberdeenshire to advertise for maximum effect? Would bus shelter adverts be seen by enough No voters for example? Thanks of the offer of a contribution.
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I have also been trying to look into costs etc on running billboard campaigns and its not good news.
The costs seem to be astronomically huge.
If anyone cares to have a wee look and get a rough idea of the costs involved just Google the following
for starters:- billboard campaign costs.
Perhaps other methods, such as poster campaigns, may be a more appropriate avenue for us to explore,
for placing in windows etc.
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I had a look too, and found some that weren’t that expensive: for example £200pw for a single billboard. For the right message in a busy location, I think that could be worth paying.
This needs further discussion. If we did posters for people to put up in windows, how would they be distributed? It could be a very good idea, though. What about an A3 or bigger poster on one side, and a kind of newsletter on the other side, listing some of the complaints about MSM and telling people where to find alternative news. How much would it cost to print a million or so copies (or less, start with one area), and get them distributed in the postal system? I’m sure a lot of the people who had Yes posters in their windows would display the new poster – and every single household in Scotland could be exposed to the facts about media bias, and political lies.
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scunnterbunnet,
That £200 pw you quote seems a reasonably decent rate.
Also, can i suggest we avoid motorway areas and stick to busy town centres if we go the billboard route.
The modern motorist is already bombarded with a myriad of various signs and billboards etc along motorway routes.
People don’t have time to stop on a motorway and take in the message, they do in town centres, especially folk who tend to wait outside for someone who’s in the shop.
Pre GE2015 i noticed the SNP billboards, on the bus route from Edinburgh into Glasgow were huge things and very cleverly placed at multi-junction sites just after you enter Glasgow from the east but before you hit the city centre.
With regards to your poster questions, all i can state for certain is my own experience.
Prior to the GE2015 my wife got Vistaprint to knock up a large (3ft X 2ft) window poster for me.
It was largely the SNP’ tartan seats at Westminster campaign with one or two tweaks of her own thrown in.
If i remember correctly it cost her approximately somewhere in the region of £20 – worth every penny as it was very well received by a lot of people and the quality of the poster was top class. However, that sort of
rate (£20 per poster) is a bit steep for our purposes where we would be bulk buying.
Mind you, there will be far cheaper rates available via various outlets.
Finally, yes, it may be good to contact the SNP for advice only but we have to be very careful not to be seen to be aligned with them because, as far as i understand it, that may create problems during election periods with regards to party campaign expenditure declarations etc.
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Yes, seeing any pro indy material plastered over various public areas also gives me a wee lift but at the same time it saddens me because it is vandalism.
I agree, anything we do should be done with a bit of class and professionalism, ie: strategically located billboards. We have a serious message to tell and it should be delivered professionally.
Have you considered consulting with the Rev about the possibility of combining your idea with also promoting WOS, a sort of WOS promotional wing/department with all billboard messages also carrying the WOS web address?
Doing things this way may also help considerably with funding for our projects.
Just a couple of thoughts!
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I’d be happy to collaborate with WoS (and/or Newsnet/Bella/Common Space etc) if they’re up for it.
I’m planning to get in touch with the Rev soon about maybe getting a permalink from Wings to here (or to our new campaign website) anyway. Someone else suggested that yesterday. I’ll also ask if he’s interested in working together somehow.
For me, the key first step is to get some other people willing to share an active part in running this campaign (whatever shape it eventually takes) – so that it’s a real credible grassroots campaign, and not just the Scunterbunnet show. We need a clearly agreed purpose and goals, and some sort of organisational structure (however informal). I don’t want to take folk’s donations, only for them to be disappointed if the billboards aren’t what they expected. It has to be democratic and transparent… this isn’t the BBC you know!
I’ve had to turn away kind offers of immediate donations today. It’s unfortunate, but we need to start from a solid base.
A couple of people have offered to contribute time to set things up and co-ordinate already… so we’re off to a good start. We’ve established that there is an appetite for this project. I hope to have the ball rolling properly – choosing poster designs and collecting donations – very soon: in days or weeks rather than months. Anybody else who’s willing to volunteer time to help set this up – please email: scunterbunnet@counterpropforum.com
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i am willing to contribute , money at the very least.
I love the idea of billboards and on sides of bus shelters, buses too if possible
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*********************** UPDATE: 19/06/2015 *************************
We’ve now got an actual domain name – http://counterpropforum.com (the old wordpress link will still work though)
And an email address: scunterbunnet (at) counterpropforum.com
I’ve been posting links in the comments sections of various sites and blogs today, to try and drum up some interest. Had a great response so far for day zero! 😀 Thanks once again everyone for the offers of support and for lending your imagination about the best ways forward. Particularly, thanks to lollysmum and the other tweeters
*** Can anyone who would be willing to take some kind of an active part in co-ordinating a billboard or poster campaign, and/or the fundraising, please let me know! (either email or comment) ***
I’m willing to do a lot of the spadework of setting up a website, getting quotes from advertising companies, setting up a crowdfunder, or whatever. What I CAN’T do, and don’t want to do, is run the whole thing as a private individual… if people are going to donate money, they need to be sure it will be used in an accountable way. So there needs to be a group of responsible people who can steer things… and pull me up or even sack me if I do a crap job (and hopefully share the work too).
It wouldn’t matter whereabouts in Scotland you live – I think we could go through the process of making the campaign ‘official’ over email, or skype, for example.
Tomorrow’s plan: get twitter and facebook page for this forum, and share to various Yes groups.
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I’m happy to help fund this. Their blunt instrument is fear. They used it to win the referendum, then to stay in power by scaring middle England and then again to trash FFA, just to name a few examples. What ever we can do to help folk overcome their fear is worth trying.
When the posters go up – and I agree billboards in towns and bus shelters in rural areas would be a good start – is there a plan to point people at a web address for more info? Somewhere like Wings maybe? Opening people’s eyes might be easier when they see the sheer weight of evidence showing betrayal of the truth.
I think Derek Bateman’s suggestion here http://newsnet.scot/2015/06/scotlands-alternative-media-has-a-long-way-to-go-if-it-is-to-succeed/ could also be helpful in the longer term.
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Thanks Simoh, couldn’t agree more.
My suggestion is that this campaign (whatever it ends up being called) should have its own website. There’d be a specific url for each billboard/poster. The website would be brimming with links to Wings, Bella, Newsnet, Common Space, Independence Live, various indie blogs etc … including links to any articles that are specifically relevant to the topic of the billboard.
The key idea is to let the politically unengaged section of the public see that there is a convincing narrative other than that of unionist MSM, and help them to access our already excellent alternative media that proves the point.
re: the Newsnet article: I agree with Ponsonby’s analysis up to a point, except that I think it’s too early for our new media channels to ‘converge’ in the way he’s suggesting. There are lots of green shoots out there, some will thrive in the longer term, and some will wither. Attention and support will naturally go to the ones that prove most effective. Having a single ‘portal’ too early, or a single editorial policy, would kill off a lot of useful contributions imho.
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There is a Facebook page here
http://www.m.facebook.com/Radio.Free.Scotland?refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Furl&_rdr
It’s Free Scotland Radio I don’t know if they are still active as I closed my Facebook page. Maybe get in touch. Also I Googled free radio Scotland have a look there are others out there lol…we are not alone…dododododaah !!
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Evening guys. Never posted before. But an avid fan nonetheless. I’ve always thought that a table manned with information, informed people and relevant literature in the town centre every Saturday for example might be a good option. Speaking to people face to face??ps. The work you all do is fantastic
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After the world beating success of the SNP in the GE2015 we know what works. Analyze it, understand it and then apply it to this project. Which I presume is to make Scottish voters aware of the truth of how they are being sold down the river and it will not change until we have independence.
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I would like to add my support too! Being that I’ve not been out of my house for the last 4 years I’m sorry that I can’t be out there with people. However I’m a keen crafter and I design and print my own greeting cards, so if I can be of any use let me know. I can print up to A3 size , sorry that doesn’t compare to 40 foot billboards but what about leaflets through doors. Asking the National if they would allow a leaflet going loosely in each paper printed. Then there are boots on the ground, all those homes that need the information, pop it in their letterbox.
When I was young, during the run up to elections cars/vans/lorries would go around with someone on a loud hailed. It’s relatively cheap and yet it could be effective. We can’t get the airwaves so let’s shout it 😉
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Thanks Cherry, definitely design skills will be in demand!
Not sure about leaflets in the National… preaching to the choir maybe? But something in the post (or in another paper or circular) could be good. Does anybody know how much it costs to get posties delivering leaflets as they do their rounds?
“We can’t get the airwaves…” Aye we can, I think. Not something I would be up for running, but I think there are strict ofcom rules about setting up a radio station. As I understand it, you can get a local MW band on request pretty much, and then FM/DAB if you can prove you’ve got enough listeners. Can anybody confirm that? Any budding indy djs out there?
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Thanks everybody for the support and suggestions so far.
I’ll be making a nuisance of myself on pro-Indy blogs and alternative media for the next couple of days, spreading the word that this thing exists.
Mibbe getting carried away with myself, but I’m starting to picture a 40 foot wide video screen hanging somewhere on the royal mile, constantly repeating the message of how we’re being conned. That would really scunner the zoomers, slabbers and hacks when they’re at the festival in August! 😉
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Steady on scunter bunnet-no need to run before we can walk. We need a build up to any action to ensure we get it right 🙂
I’ve been teeting this web address this morning to make a start.
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Your computer clock appears to be an hour early!!
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This site refuses to recognise the imperialist imposition of British Summer Time … We use Greenock Mean Time all year round. ;P
LOL, naw, I think I picked the wrong timezone when setting up the site. Will try to fix it. Cheers
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Wee Ginger Dugs clock is the same. Noticed it earlier so it must be WordPress clock set on wrong regional time!
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Anyone pally wally with Brian Souter? If so, and you had a word with him, maybe he would consider advertising on his buses.
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I don’t move in those circles, but it would be great if anybody knows how to get in touch with a request!
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Aye count me in for a regular contribution too. Would be good to be doing something to help the cause.
You also need to post this on Yes Facebook /Twitter accounts too. I created a spreadsheet of their web addresses just after the referendum just in case they were needed again. If anyone wants it give me a shout-it will be easier to use that rather than starting from scratch.
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Shared this on Twitter-it’s a start!
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I’m up for it. Will be happy to make a monthly contribution.
I think the billboarding is a great idea and can get the truth out there to a wider audience.
Keep us all posted Scunterbunnet.
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agree with this approach wholeheartedly andhope this project gets up and running. I’m not in a position at present to do much to help or to donate much, but will try to donate the occasional fiver where possible and hopefully will get to a position of being able to do more. Best luck!
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ps, if anyone would care to follow my own blog – nothing to do with politics, but disability and dogs, it could help me to get myself into a position where I can begin to earn a living income through writing, and thus donate more.
Also, if writing skills are required by this project, I am happy to donate these, although I know there are very many skilled writers around.
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Having a wee shufty at your blog now
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Good luck.Im ready to contribute / donate.
The project needs a thought as how to get the best out of a limited budget .
Perhalps being un-connected to SNP would leave you free from any constraints ?
However perhaps it may be wise to run the idea past them , they may have some useful advice.
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Great Idea, I’m ok for a fiver a month when the time comes.
A perma link to here on Wings etc. would be good.
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I’ll ask Rev Stu for a link … in a week or so, if we’re looking likely to be a fixture and not a flash in the pan!
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Happy to contribute financially when the time comes, but to succeed, this forum will need constant publicity in order to stay current and secure meaningful support.
Good luck.
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Great idea. Will come back to check for updates. Propagating the web address to other indie sites would help too.
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Just thinking if we are going to do this we can’t do it on behalf of the SNP unless we get their permission. Do they have a publicity department?
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My own feeling is that this should be independent of SNP and party politics, for various reasons.
ScotGov are constrained in what they can say in various legal and political ways. A publicity campaign run separately doesn’t have those issues.
Also, it’s good to accept support from the wider pro-Scottish/Yes movement. Don’t want to alienate Green or SSP or non-aligned people, especially with an election next year.
I don’t have a problem speaking to SNP publicity people, though. They might be able to advise or give the benefit of experience.
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Well done Scunterbunnet. Count me in.
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Count me in for a monthly sub… still say we need to get boots on the ground though.
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Boots on the ground for sure.
Also what could we do to promote this message beyond of the big towns? Could we advertise in the local or regional papers (later, if we get a decent fund)? Would they even let us … I know a lot of the local press are controlled by big media groups. Ideas, anybody?
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You can buy advertising space in some of the auction marts I think. They can be pretty busy places in rural areas so mibbies worth a thought.
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Count me in. I envisage every sheltered bus-stop in the land, sporting a pro-indi poster. I’ve never lacked ambition. 🙂
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I’m up for helping with a monthly donation of a fiver to help with a rolling pot for the billboard campaign, I think its a good (and cheap) way to put the yes campaign back into the public domain, when you look at the number of cars (including mine) who still have the YES sticker on a window the passion is still there and wont take much to fan into roaring flames of desire again.
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If you do get started with the Billboards or posters. Can I suggest a good place for them would be near train stations or bus stations shopping centres or sport venues. a lot of people use these facilities. so if you have something bright or eye catching a lot more people are likely to notice it. Good luck to you all in this Endeavour. Yours in Hope. Michael McCabe.
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Thanks Michael. I’m starting to warm to the idea of targeting bus shelters, and buses (and train stations), more than billboards.
Bus shelter adverts are a wee bit pricier than billboards (surprisingly), from the tiny bit of research I’ve done into this stuff.
But I’m guessing that bus passengers may well include a lot of the people who are underexposed to the online pro-Indy message: pensioners and recent immigrants for example. If they see that there are people going to the bother of actually exposing media lies in this way – it could have a big impact on how they relate to those media.
Also, some of the islands and smaller towns have bus shelters with advertising, but not many billboards. A bus shelter advert might be the only visible challenge to the MSM narrative in some places.
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There is an indy group already targetting bus stops in Glasgow-they were the ones with the posters outside Labour’s office in Bathgate 🙂 Can’t remember their name but recall it was Gaelic-one of their posters was doing the rounds on Twitter 2-3 days ago. If we can find them might be worth talking to them.
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Hi Lollysmum.
Thanks for that. If anybody from that group reads this please email me, or post a comment, maybe we can collaborate.
A lot of the bus shelters, bins and so on near me had “Yes”, “Red Tories Out”, and ” U KOK … still think we’re better together?” stickers plastered over them recently. While I applaud the sentiments, and they cheer me up every time I walk past, I think a lot of people see stickers and posters on lampposts as one step up from vandalism. That’s partly why I like the billboards idea – people see it as more ‘official’ and ‘respectable’/reliable.
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