Occupy Vancouver Fails on Message

Occupy Vancouver | BCBusiness
The Occupy Vancouver protest camp outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver

Occupy Vancouver had popular support when it launched, but movement leaders have failed the fundamentals of PR: define and deliver your message.

The Occupy movement had a powerful message going in. The disparate group was protesting corporate greed, collusion between governments and corporations, and corruption. And there aren’t many of us (besides the guy in the movie Wall Street) who wouldn’t get behind that rallying cry.

But the message was lost as the movement became increasingly messy and disorganized, with the same weary signs being waved each day. After so much repetition and a lack of specifics, the movement lost its audience – and its chance of successfully lobbying for real change.

The Occupy Vancouver movement should have focused on communicating one clear and definitive message each day. For example, on Monday, the participants could have focused on protesting corporate environmental destruction. That way, media and other messengers could have more easily picked up on the single theme and helped the movement spread the word. 

Instead, its messages – so important to all of us, at this critical point in our economic and environmental health – were lost in the clutter of the mucky Occupy Movement site, and its increasingly disheveled protestors.