JESSICA ALBA LEADS THE CHARGE FOR DECLARE YOURSELF’S PROVOCATIVE NEW CAMPAIGN

“Only You Can Silence Yourself” Aims to Mobilize 18-29 Year Olds to Vote

LOS ANGELES, CA  – September 10, 2008 – Declare Yourself, the national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter initiative is launching a powerful print and viral campaign aimed at energizing young adults to register and vote in the 2008 election. The campaign, entitled, “Only You Can Silence Yourself,” features Jessica Alba (The Fantastic Four, Sin City) in a series of images by renowned photographer Mark Liddell. The striking photographs feature Alba quite literally silenced—with gags and masks stifling her voice as a citizen. The photos are available for download at www.DeclareYourself.com, and can be circulated virally; they will also be featured in national publications this fall.

"I really don’t see the point in not registering to vote,” said Alba. “We sign up for MySpace pages and Facebook pages, and download music off the internet. The least people can do is register to vote online, actually making a difference in their world, not just making their lives a little bit cooler. It makes more sense to spend your time making a change in society—and it actually doesn’t take that much time! It takes more time to make a music playlist than it does to register to vote."

“Young adults are inundated with messages,” said Marc Morgenstern, Declare Yourself Executive Director. “This campaign is designed to break through and inspire young people to seize their role in the future of our country by registering and voting. We are deeply grateful to Jessica for lending her voice to this important movement.”

The campaign, “Only You Can Silence Yourself,” will communicate the importance of voting, reminding young Americans that only they can stop themselves from participating in democracy. Featuring a mix of “real people” and young celebrities, the overall concept of the campaign is anything but subtle. The impactful, unique spots are aimed at making those who see them stop, look, discuss, and, ultimately, become moved to participate. Previous campaigns starred Christina Aguilera and André Benjamin, and were created by David LaChapelle.

ABOUT DECLARE YOURSELF
Declare Yourself is a nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign aiming to empower every eligible American, 18-to-29 years old, to register to vote in the 2008 presidential election. Through the power of strategic media partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, retail outreach, sports and, most importantly, digital technology and social media, Declare Yourself has created a campaign that embraces the landscape of youth peer and popular culture with one key message: register and vote. In 2007, Declare Yourself began its campaign on behalf of the 2008 election. The organization has already brought an additional 750,000 18-29 year olds to the pool of registered voters. It expects to register two million young voters by election day. On September 24, 2008, Declare Yourself will host a “final registration push” party for young Hollywood stars to bring an additional spotlight to the cause.

For the 2004 and 2006 elections, Declare Yourself registered over 1 million young people through their efforts. Information gathered in post-election polls showed 83% of those registrants participated in the national elections. In 2003, Declare Yourself launched its initiative with The Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a nationwide multimedia exhibit and tour of Norman Lear’s original copy of the Declaration. The document remains on tour, and will appear in both the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September. Declare Yourself has also established a relationship with the annual Warped Tour music festival. Led by Norman Lear, Declare Yourself has an advisory board of leaders from the political and media worlds including many influential figures with their fingers on the pulse of the 18-29 demographic, including NBC Entertainment/ NBC Universal Television Studio co-chairmen Ben Silverman, trend specialist Atoosa Rubenstein, online video expert James Kotecki, producer J.J. Abrams and television personality Tyra Banks. The Declare Yourself Advisory Board has the ability to spread the message of the organization to America’s youth. Corporate partners with Declare Yourself include Cricket, Yahoo!, MySpace, Google, AOL, Clear Channel, Comedy Central and American Eagle Outfitters.

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