effectiveness of methods

• This involves getting members to write letters to elected officials or companies trying to persuade them to support a particular cause. For example, the Surfers Against Sewage pressure group has organised a letter writing campaign to promote a bottle deposit scheme to reduce pollution to MSPs. In 2017 the Scottish government ordered a scheme to study its introduction and in 2018 announced plans to bring it in This can be effective because it shows someone like an MSP the amount of support an issue has from voters in their constituency and they may be worried they would lose votes in the next election if they do not do something about it. However, not very many letters might be written and they could be ignored. This method can be expensive and not a lot of people take par
• A petition is a collection of signatures from people who feel strongly about a particular issue. For example the Fans Against Criminalisation submitted to a petition with 6,400 signatures to the Scottish Parliament to have the Offensive Behaviour at Football act repealed and now the law has been successfully repealed by all the oppositions MSPs. This is effective because it shows how many people support the pressure group, and may persuade representatives to take action or risk losing votes. However, there have been over 1600 petitions since 1999. Many are considered then closed. Some only have 1 signatu
• Protesting (demonstrating) can also be an effective method used by pressure groups. This often involves people marching, gathering in large crowds and making their feelings known. Sometimes groups break the law when they do this but it can be effective as the media attention it attracts can also put pressure on the government to act. For example, after the Climate Extinction group organised protests to shut down cities and for students to walk out of class, the Scottish Government declared a climate emergency and changed some of its policies.