The Campaign Company specialises in social research and behaviour change. This is your guide to what we’ve been reading. Here’s what’s coming up this week:
This week we look, in our Engagement Hub, at the Ukraine invasion a year on. How have Zelensky and other decision-makers prevented ‘fatigue’ setting in, and what does this tell us about sustaining engagement among audiences elsewhere?
And of course, speaking of charismatic underdogs we bring you Charlie’s Attic, this week including the super-smart pigs invading America.
Ukraine: 12 months after the invasion
24 February 2023 marked 12 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, a huge event which has caused immense pain and suffering, and has had major political and economic repercussions. With the anniversary passing, we were interested in this polling by YouGov, about how people in Britain view the conflict, and whether this has changed over the past year.
One of the interesting elements of this is the concept of ‘fatigue’ – that is, the point at which people begin to ‘dial out’, when a news item has been covered extensively and begins to feel insurmountable. The concept of fatigue, in relation to Ukraine, is something warned of by the WSJ, Politico website, and the New Statesman, in recent months.
Yet the YouGov polling suggests that it has not necessarily kicked in, at least in the UK. More than half of Brits still think not enough is being done to support Ukraine. This is despite the fact, as the chart below shows, that people increasingly see the situation as a stalemate – with no clear winner likely to emerge.
Why has fatigue not set in? One reason may be the relatively clear-cut nature of the conflict. Unlike in more complex geopolitical struggles, there is a clear aggressor. Another element is Zelensky’s personality, which has won people over and created regular injections of energy and momentum. The biggest risk is that, even with these factors warding off Ukraine fatigue, the lack of a clear end in sight means that observers lose interest. Demonstrating progress will be important in addressing this, as is giving people agency. (See, for example, the work of the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre).
These questions of ‘fatigue’ are applied here to a huge political question of our era – a war on mainland Europe. But they also apply to more everyday engagement and communications questions. How do you sustain support for pro-social campaigns, around issues which feel too big to solve – be it homelessness, vigilance on public transport or the fostering of children?
With campaigns or causes like these, audiences can also ‘dial out’, feeling impotent or overwhelmed. There is no one clear way of stopping this. But the story of the Ukraine conflict represents a useful case study, for how interest and support can be sustained.
And finally Charlie’s Attic, where hyperactivity and fatigue do battle each Friday:
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