Baby Jail

Brand for Change Proposal

Executive Summary

I am going to build the BABY JAIL brand for the purpose of partnering with lawyers and like-minded associations to help people targeted by the prison-industrial-complex. I will produce animations, comics, infographics, and products that spread knowledge about systemic racism, while reaching out to groups such as ACLU and BlackLivesMatter to gain traction and influence. BABY JAIL will be a recognizable, galvanizing symbol of resistance for its patrons.

Why the Sudden Switch from Animated Series, BUSTthePipeline?

By limiting my medium to animation, I limit my audience, product, and scope. The word “series” implies episodes and seasons, which live on a linear business model that will not succeed if its pilot episode does not maximize its potential. A brand is a voice, a mindset, a lifestyle, a perception. BABY JAIL is for people who want to make actual change in our country’s attitude about criminality happen, and its various products will accommodate its subscribers’ different abilities.

Background

For the past four months, I've been researching capitalism, racism, and the school-to-prison-pipeline, along with mass media's role in shaping society, how people learn cruelty, and design for social change. I looked through state legislature and Common Core Curriculum, picking up little pieces of evidence of this gargantuan monster I had just discovered. This monster is ancient and known by everyone, but to some it is just a fable rather than the living, predatory reality it is for others. I draw cartoons and animations with the intent of closing the gap in mass media that shifts our attention from issues that are happening right now and all around us.

I want to dedicate the next six months to educating people about systemic racism and what we can all do to help each other. I want to eradicate the need for words like "slacktivism" by designing action-avenues for people who want to join forces to make real change. This means breaking down complex systems into digestible chunks that people of all ages can understand, which, according to last quarter's research, is best done with cartoons. If I can teach effectively enough to strike a nerve in someone, if that person is ignited with an eagerness to make change, and if I provide them with the tools they need, we will all have accelerated the process of spreading awareness, which is step one of any cause.

This past summer, I successfully and singularly wrote, illustrated, colored, printed, assembled, and distributed a thirty-six page comic book. I was able to organize my time and stay on task because I was passionate about the work. The amount of fervor I felt for that imaginary story is just a fraction of the drive I feel to put this project into the real world.

Why Should This Brand Exist?

Our government does not have our children’s best interests in mind. Kids coming from financially disadvantaged, minority families are born into slavery in 2019 just like they were in 1776, and mass media hides this scheme behind dramatization of crime, criminalization of minorities and young people, and misleading reports. This information is overwhelming and even unbelievable to a person who has lived their entire life blissfully unaware or in denial of our systemic racism, so the head-on attack-strategy that activist groups commonly use often fails. BABY JAIL is a provocative term that instantly hits the “this is wrong” nerve in our brains. With a bold logo, clever inventory and clear mission statement, the BABY JAIL brand has the potential to start conversations, bring people together, and stimulate action.

What Do I Need?

I need partnerships and sponsorships from organizations and companies that share my objection of our criminal justice system. Currently I flip vegan burgers while not in class to pay rent, and all those hours I spend standing at a grill could be spent fighting for human rights and designing a better future for humankind.

What is my Final Deliverable?

BABY JAIL in its final form will be a clear symbol of opposition against systemic racism. It will adorn posts on your news feed, t-shirts on your classmates, and stationary sent to state representatives. I will deliver a brand that enables sympathizers to become activists.

Do I Have Time for This?

Thurs, Jan 24: Today, proposal signed.

Fri, Jan 25: Meet with Carl about partnering / sound production

Sat, Jan 26: Define color scheme

Sun, Jan 27: Assign font

Mon, Jan 28: Opening night art show

Tues, Jan 29: New logo

Wed, Jan 30: Start re-branding thus products

Thur, Jan 31: Start re-sending proposals to possible partners

Fri, Feb 1: Come up with tagline

Sat, Feb 2: Upload first video to YouTube

Sun, Feb 3: Create stationary that makes writing your representatives easy

Mon, Feb 4: Distribute stationary to people who haven’t written them before

Tues, Feb 5: Begin designing political baseball cards to gamify politics

Wed, Feb 6: Twitter management

Fri, Feb 8: Follow-up with letter-writers and synthesize takeaways

Sat, Feb 9: Upload second video to YouTube

Wed, Mar 6: FREEZE designs

Thur, Mar 7: Tie up loose ends and prepare for final

Wed, Mar 20: Final Board Presentation

Summary

There are too many problems in the world. In the US we have baby jail. Kids serving life sentences. We've militarized education and policed childcare. We never abolished slavery, just gave it a new name. The prison-industrial-complex keeps children of color unhealthy, uneducated, disadvantaged in every way so they grow up to be poor, addicted, jobless, and locked up. Racism is so systemically engrained into the way this country runs that the only way to dig it out is a total up-rooting of almost every branch of government.

Total abolition is the ultimate goal, so we need to act as though it is achievable despite how inferior activism may seem against our giant hate-machine of a government. In order to create change, we first need to gain power in numbers; BABY JAIL is our recruitment letter.