PR Students Encourage Middle Schoolers to Buckle Up as Part of Annual Bateman Competition

More than 1,000 middle school students and teachers took part in the Big Orange Buckle 2008, a seatbelt usage campaign led by University of Tennessee public relations students during the month of February.

The students created the campaign as part of the Public Relations Student Society of America's (PRSSA) national Bateman competition. The competition requires students to conduct research and complete a month-long campaign with a specific client. This year's client was Chevrolet's Safe Kids Buckle Up in cooperation with General Motors and Chevrolet.

"Our team members work very hard," said Dr. Lisa Fall, Bateman team advisor and associate professor in the School of Advertising and Public Relations. "As a result, two of our UT teams have earned national honorable mention awards during the past four years. This campaign program is very competitive; typically, the Bateman competition attracts about 65 institutions that participate annually. We're anxious to see the results of the competition, which will be released later this spring."

Based on the research conducted throughout the fall semester, the UT team created a campaign that specifically targeted students enrolled at South-Doyle Middle School in Knoxville, Tenn.

The campaign concluded with a special event led by UT public relations students at South-Doyle on Feb. 27. The event, which focused on seatbelt safety, usage and awareness, featured trivia games and "buckle up relay races" in vehicles provided by West Chevrolet. In addition, Lt. Jesse Brooks of the Tennessee Highway Patrol used an on-site crash simulator presentation to show students how passengers who are not buckled properly are affected in a car wreck

The winners from the trivia game and buckle up relay races had their photo taken with Smokey, the UT mascot, and were awarded prizes ranging from autographed items from UT coaches and players to UT pens, posters and stickers. All students were also given a Big Orange Buckle 2008 wristband to serve as a constant reminder to always buckle up every time they get in a car.

The PRSSA Bateman competition is named for J. Carroll Bateman, who was a professor at the University of Tennessee and a faculty advisor to UT's PRSSA chapter. Bateman was also one of the founders of PRSSA and co-chaired the first Commission on Public Relations Education. The inspiration provided by Professor Bateman coupled with UT's unwavering commitment to this competition causes students to do their best work.

For more information about the month-long buckle up campaign or to see photos from the Big Orange Buckle 2008 event, visit the campaign website.

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