evaluation of protest

       Evaluation of Protest

Overall I felt like the performance was successful for a variety of reasons. A number of people came to our section and looked at the different posters we had taped to the window. This made me feel as if people were actually interested in our protest. A lot of people took ours seriously and didn't laugh or try to create havoic so it all went to plan. However a few things didn't go smoothly. It was very crowded in the main reception area due to the variety of people doing protests in the same location but also the fact that it is right next to the canteen where many people go to. This made it very hard to communicate verbally to the interviewee so he/ she may have missunderstood our protest. People's attention span was wide as there was a variety of protest's going on. A few of the people who were interviewed, especially one, seemed to be offended by the questions which were asked. This was most likely to do with the fact that he didn't understand that what we were saying wasn't what we agreed with. So if I were to do it again I would have mentioned it before starting the interview or told him to look at the posters making him understand before hand what exactly our protest is about. On the contrary by doing the protest without him knowing exactly if we're acting or not could have made him relate to the people that gothrough situation's like that.  


Tax on tampons

The protest that I found the most engaging and interesting was the "tax on tampons" as they found many ways of making the audience appealed. First of all they were selling two types of cup cakes one normal and the other with tampons in. The cost of the tampon version was more expensive. This made me think about how something that prevents pain costs more as it is apparently a luxury but something that taste nice isn't. I didn't understand why and double checked by going online to see if it were true. It was! It made me question which is exactly what the aim of the protests was for. Secondly, they were located in the canteen. People eat in that environment so it could put people of their food creating a bigger effect. The canteen was also a space where only two protests were going on so people could actually listen and focus. Thirdly, their message was very clear having sa they used many items to convey. For instance, the cup cake sale, a lot of blood shown through the trousers and a banner saying "CANNOT luxures" with blood splattered across. 


I think they could have improved by making the cake sale more of a reality by reducing the prices of both types of cup cakes so people would actually buy some. Then it would be clear how expensive tampons cost as nobody would buy one. They could have also made the cake sale stand out more so that people would be attracted. They could have also had other types of products that aren't classified as luxury to shock the viewers. I was shocked to learn that razors are VAT free. Other than that their protest was incredible.