When Miles Scott woke up on November 15, he believed he was making a trip to San Francisco to get a Batman costume so he could dress up like his favorite superhero. Little did he know, Make-A-Wish had a bit more up their sleeve for his day in the city. The Make-A-Wish foundation is a non-profit organization that arranges “wishes” to take place for children with life-threatening medical conditions.
When Miles was 18 months old he was diagnosed with Leukemia and was just recently declared to be in remission at the age of five. Over 11,000 Make-A-Wish volunteers combined their efforts with the city of San Francisco in order to make Miles‘ wish of becoming a superhero come true. Throughout the day Batkid fought crimes in “Gotham City” alongside Batman. While journeying from one crime to the next, the duo traveled in style in their very own Lamborghini Bat-mobile. Miles/Batkid saved a damsel in distress, helped the “Gotham” police finally arrest the Riddler and rescued beloved Giant’s mascot, Lou, from the evil Penguin. After a hard days work, Miles was presented with a key to the city from the San Francisco/Gotham mayor himself.
Make-A-Wish explained that they rarely have the opportunity for the public to be involved in their wishes, however in this wish’s case the public had the power to make all the difference. It was through social media that this event went viral and was such a roaring success. Our team focused on social medias impact on the Make-A-Wish event and the key players that helped gain the support of what seemed like most of the internet.
Our examples come from several media platforms, including Vine, Instagram and Twitter. We also look at the personal social media accounts of Make-A-Wish, Clever Girls Collective, Barack Obama, the SF Giants and Mayor Edward Lee.
The Make-A-Wish foundation’s Batkid campaign involved the use of several public relations theories including: the Social Exchange Theory, Elaboration and Likelihood Theory, Uses and Gratifications Theory and Diffusion of Innovation Theory.
