Global Media Journal

B. Pınar Özdemir

Advocacy has been one of the main fields of study in public relations and is established amongst the main functions of public relations. The strong need of non-governmental organizations for public support in order to reach their goals locates public relations and advocacy at a central position for these organizations. Social media, which have been introduced by the further development of Internet technology, especially Web 2.0, has had a significant impact upon public relations and advocacy activities of non-governmental organizations in particular. This development also led non-governmental organizations towards online advocacy campaigns that promote active participation of supporters with more cost effective methods that can easily become widespread. The aim of this study is to place the advocacy campaigns of non-governmental organizations into the context of public relations and to discuss how social media can be utilized in online advocacy through the case study of the Yemezler! (We do not buy it!) campaign by Greenpeace Mediterranean that has been significantly successful in a short period in Turkey. The Dragonfly Effect model developed by Aaker and Smith (2010) is employed as a framework in the analysis of the Yemezler! campaign.