Double Take campaign team presents in Washington, D.C.

Advertising students who presented the Double Take campaign in Washington, D.C., were (left right right): Jane McCaffrie, Haley Bartley, Katherine Benton, with Associate Professor Tricia Farwell.

A campaign to fight stereotypes in the community, created by four advertising students in the School of Journalism, received an honorable mention in an international competition. The students and their professor, Dr. Tricia Farwell, enjoyed an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to present their work on Feb. 3.

Advertising majors Kate Benton, Jane McCaffrie, Haley Bartley and Danny Jones started the campaign “Double Take” as part of a global competition Peer 2 Peer (P2P): Challenging Extremism initiative, sponsored by marketing and advertising firm EdVenture Partners and the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The P2P program asks student teams across the globe to create a digital product, tool, or initiative to counter violent extremism on their campus and in their communities.

The MTSU students decided to focus on stereotypes after seeing the negative impact the Murfreesboro community suffered during the recent Islamic Center controversy. Hundreds marched in protest after Rutherford County officials approved plans for a new mosque on Bradyville Pike near South Rutherford Boulevard in 2010. In 2012, mosque opponents filed a suit against Rutherford County seeking to block construction of the worship space. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2014.

Benton, McCaffrie, Bartley presented their local campaign to a group of their peers plus Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Through programs and partnerships such as P2P: Challenging Extremism, we have the ability to reach out and connect with individuals and groups to which our Department might not usually have access,” said Deputy Secretary Mayorkas. “I congratulate all of the teams for their hard work and innovative ideas, and for challenging their peers to raise their voices and push back against violence and hate in our communities. Over the last year the Department of Homeland Security has worked to build trust and relationships across the country and to find innovative ways to support those seeking to discourage violent extremism in our communities. We look forward to building on partnerships such as those made through P2P: Challenging Extremism.”

Double Take has been applied to multiple social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest) plus the team distributed yard signs, posters and flyers throughout MTSU’s campus. For more information about the campaign, click here.

To learn more about P2P, click here.