The petition idea came up together with the drinking fountain issue. We decided to create petition lists stating our issue and giving fellow students and profs the chance to sign our petition and thereby support our cause. At first, the lists were used at the taste test event where mobilisation was easiest. 121 signatures could be collected there.
Furthermore, some of us spoke about our campaign in their seminars, distributed flyers and stickers and collected signatures. The overall reactions were interested and positive, two team members were able to collect 81 signatures that way.
Later on, we decided to create an e-petition linked to our Facebook page to make it easier for us to mobilise further support. The e-petition has generated another 9 signatures so far.
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/tap-tops-bottles/
Conclusions
- The most effective way to collect signatures was direct communication during the taste test event = higher social pressure / zero anonymity.
- Collecting signatures in our other seminars also worked well = campaign presented by one of the team members –> identification / relative anonymity / lower social pressure (depending on number of attendants).
- The e-petition has so far generated only a few signatures = no social pressure, but e-mail address / Facebook username required, this might make people hesitate.