Most provincial governments have organized public awareness campaigns — to secure political support for literacy activities, and participation in them, and, one suspects, to advertise their own good works. Campaigns often use slogans, such as Alberta's "The Write Break" or Ontario's "Yes we can." Awareness activities may involve videotapes, radio and television spot announcements, print ads, posters, pamphlets, stickers, and so on. Local programs and national non-government organizations have also staged awareness events, ranging from shopping mall displays to events receiving national media coverage.

The advocacy and awareness efforts of literacy and other education organizations have been immensely strengthened — perhaps even overcome — by the rise of literacy as a media theme. Most notably, in 1987 the Southam newspaper chain's survey of everyday literacy skills formed the background for fifty influential stories and analyses on the issue in English Canadian newspapers.³⁶ Thousands of articles have appeared in local newspapers.³⁷ After years of being ignored, literacy workers are sometimes now interviewed and written up more than they want. Dramatizations and documentaries on the literacy issue have appeared in broadcast media, influenced in part by US programs. Specialist publications — for audiences as diverse as business people, adult educators, and feminist scholars - have featured articles and special editions focusing on the literacy issue.³⁸