During Operation Desert Storm, the Department of Defense required American soldiers to take investigational drugs as pretreatment antidotes to Iraqi chemical and biological weapons. Although these drugs had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the Pentagon did not obtain the soldiers' informed consent before administering the drugs. It determines that Congress meant to adopt the definition of research formulated by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Corporations may be more vulnerable to advocacy campaigns than they realize. Image often is a corporation's major asset, and billions of industry dollars are spent on advertising and public relations to create and protect a positive identity.
Effective advocates study the realities and ambiguities of the public they seek to influence.
They find sub-issues that are winnable, that is, the issues are personal enough to generate public energy while incrementally moving the larger issue toward a broad resolution. Pragmatic activists set priorities, maintain credibility, develop realistic campaign blueprints, seek dialogue and joint efforts to solve problems, suggest viable alternatives, and are prepared for relentless confrontation if there is no response through accepted channels. Activist case studies are discussed in this article, based on personal experiences of the author, that range from working partnerships to escalating confrontation. 1000 Vermont Ave.