Amnesty ad compares arms trade to tsunami disasters

(Cross-posted at Osocio)


Oh, dear. Remember this fiasco?

Created by DDB Brazil for WWF Brazil, it ignited a firestorm of protest, which WWF's international office first disavowed, then admitted may have been the approved regionally. On this year's September 11th anniversary, Buzzfeed's Copyranter named it #1 in his list of "The Five Worst 9/11 Exploitation Ads".

You could say that it simply tells an inconvenient truth about inconsistent cultural attitudes towards tragedy and death. But that point would be made at the expense of causing further hurt to the families of the World Trade Centre attack, as well as to those deeply affected by it.

Now, strangely, the 2005 tsunami tragedy that is being exploited to make a point about war and the arms trade:

The ad is by TBWA, Paris, for Amnesty International.


This brings the saga of over-produced, tragedy-exploiting ads full circle: "an epic and tragic natural disaster killed more people than an infamous terrorist act, but the arms trade is even worse."

(Admittedly, it could also be a reference to the more recent Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.)

Once again, creatives go for maximum impact to make one message of human loss at the cost of trivializing another. This kind of trade-off is a devil's bargain, in my opinion. It's all bad. You don't need to get into a comparison of which is worse. From my perspective this looks like lazy strategy and the elaborate (yet derivative) execution is blatant award-bait.

And I say this as a member of Amnesty. You can do better than this. You often do.


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Responding to disaster at the speed of social

(Image borrowed from http://msalatv.blogspot.com)

The massive earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan are all over the news right now. But who waits for the news to tell them the what, where, when, how, who and why anymore? We're all getting up-to-the minute reports on our social networks.

And just as with other recent events, the opportunities for everyone to get involved in helping the victims are instant and unprecedented.

For example, with hundreds missing (so far), Google has set up a Google Person Finder for friends and relatives abroad, as well as a Google Crisis Response centre with every type of emergency info imaginable. (As an adman, I can't help but also be impressed by how they've either removed or greyed out their branding on these tools.)

Likewise, current tsunami warning info from NOAA is being passed around as fast as lightning, where it will hopefully save lives in coastal areas:

And as the Red Cross/Red Crescent springs into action (along with governments around the world) to provide rescue and relief, it activates a worldwide network of volunteers and benefactors who can donate — instantly — online. (That's the international link. If you prefer to deal with Red Cross in Canada, go here.)

Say what you will about "slacktivism", but this is one of those days when the medium of concerned, connected human beings can actually make a difference and even save lives.

Please share.