UPDATED, April 26: A PSA produced by the Mystic Valley Area NAACP and McGoldrick Marketing has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious Rosoff Award, InsideMedford has reported.
“Statistic” has been the subject of thought-provoking articles in The Boston Globe and CNN.com, among others. National Public Radio’s Robin Young (WBUR) conducted an on-air interview with Neil Osborne, NAACP Mystic Valley Area branch president; Jack McGoldrick, president of McGoldrick Marketing; and Medford High School students Max Tilus and Tyler Holness, two of the students in the video.
Now “Statistic” has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious Rosoff Awards in the “Marketing to Promote Inclusion” category. The award, presented by the Ad Club, the trade association for the New England marketing and communications industry, recognizes brands and their marketing partners who have created campaigns promoting acceptance and inclusion, with the purpose of changing perceptions or behavior, and ultimately creating a conversation around topics of diversity and inclusion. The PSA, along with all the stories it has generated in the local and national press, has certainly been part of an important nationwide conversation regarding race and acceptance.
Feb. 9 Globe feature provides background
An eye-opening TV commercial features nearly 20 Medford High School students who are the collective face of a powerful message, says Neil Osborne, president of the Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP.
The black-and-white commercial called “Statistic” begins with an unexpected opening line. While three African-American young men look directly at the camera, one says, “I am a statistic.” He continues with, “I am the one out of three who will go to college.”
Next we see four young African-American men. Three of them say, “I am the three out of four who don’t do drugs. The commercial continues with progressively larger groups of young African- American men articulating other positive statistics about their demographic.
The goal is to increase self-confidence in young African-American men while dispelling some preconceived opinions that may exist in the general public. All of the statistics quoted are factual and have been obtained from sources such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education, among others.
“When asked if the branch could support this type of public-service announcement project, we responded immediately, yes,” Osborne said. “At a time when too many negative images of young African-American men flood our airways, we are ecstatic to have commissioned this high quality factually accurate positive image of young black men.”
The commercial was produced by Jack McGoldrick, president and chief creative officer of McGoldrick Marketing of Medford.
“You can’t argue with cold hard facts, and that’s what this commercial is about … using the truth as evidence that young black men are important,” said McGoldrick. “And it took a village. This commercial would never have happened without all the young men who came forward to act in the spot, and more than a dozen other dedicated Medfordites doing what it took to make it happen.”
He gave a special thanks to Nick Tucci, assistant principal at Medford High School, who was instrumental in getting the word out to the student actors.
Team Medford, an initiative of the Health Department with offices at Medford City Hall, also played a big role in the production by providing research assistance and organizational help during and after the shoot, with Jemima Valdouin wearing several hats.
Osbourne participated in December at the Black Lives rally in Arlington Center that drew an estimated 400 people.
This announcement was originally published at InsideMedford and was republished here Jan. 26, 2015, because that site and YourArlington are partners. It was updated April 26 to add award angle.
