I am not Canadian. Not American. I am Italian. I. And I promise that it is the last time that the word “I” is written here. The power of one is nothing against the power of one plus one plus millions of one. And this is what the Kony 2012 campaign would like to achieve. A we-awareness.
Since the first 30-minutes documentary was launched on YouTube, the Kony 2012 campaign has reached millions of ears, eyes and hearts. A huge deal. However, this post doesn’t deal with what the campaign tells. The purpose here is to understand ‘why’ and ‘how’. Why have we been attracted in the movement? How are they were able to influence us?
The product is “Make Kony famous”. And “Act together”. It’s something strange because being part of a group influences our purchases, but here being part of a group is the good they wanna sell. And we are the customers who buy their product, their kit, who become their sellers. The issue is that most of us didn’t know anything about Kony. But (and this is a huge but!) we have needs. The interaction is a need and the chance to challenge ourselves in acting is another need. Self-actualization. And Kony 2012 seems to give us this chance.
It seems to give. A 30-minutes video?
It is the Internet and the marketing. Totally. This video is a sort of long commercial where things are told in a simple way, like a tale: a good purpose, an enemy (Kony), the helpers (20 celebrities and 12 politicians). And like kids we are fascinated. Our perception is overwhelmed. Then their promotion is great. They’ve worked on colors, pictures, logos, kits. And on their events where we are the main characters. Customers who act.
The campaign give us that chance to satisfy our needs of not being a ‘single’, but a ‘We’. Yes, it is a campaign. But surprise! It had a phenomenal impact in one day. They worked for years before, we became conscious in 30 minutes. From nothing. It is the marketers’ ability to go deep into potential customers’ need.
And if Kony 2012 is just a huge lie? We would be deceived customers. I would be sad.
Here the links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
http://www.kony2012.com/ [website]
Dear Aby,
“I” am here to unfortunately attempt to burst your “we” bubble 🙂 Five years ago, the Invisible Children charity came to visit my school. I, just like millions of other people, was left shocked and disgusted about how this tragedy could continue to be taking place in the world without much previous media coverage at all. The Invisible Children’s charity is revolutionary in the way that it has used media to promote and advocate for their cause and should definitely recognized for their good intentions. However, their means of accomplishing their goals are quite controversial and unfortunately, is something that they quietly omit from their marketing to the masses.
Firstly, the organization oversimplifies an issue that is much more complex than they let on. Bringing all people responsible for child soldiers in the region would require much more than bringing Kony down. Also, sending American troops to the rescue should be kept a secret and not broadcasted to the region. Instead, the loud approach has allowed Kony to prepare for the troops.
Sadly, marketing a good intention can sometimes lead to devastating consequences. Marketing to the masses sometimes does more harm than good. Invisible Children is yet another example of humanitarian organizations that must be careful with how much money they devote to advertising and media when that money could be going straight to the children who need it the most.
And if that weren’t enough to convince you:
“-To get to Kony you’d have to ultimately kill some of his army…which consists of children soldiers…..
-Only 32% of money raised went to direct services (if you support the issue you may want to choose a more worthwhile charity).
-Their accountability and transparency is a 2 out of 4 stars on charity navigator.
-The group is in favor of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces.”
(http://keepittrill.com/online/2012/03/kony-2012-scam-stop-supporting-invisible-children/)
Interestingly enough, when I first heard about the scandal behind it, after having donated to their charity, I was willing to let it slide and assume that the invisible children board members were simply trying to do the right thing. However, if a non-profit organization is providing false or incomplete information to the public in order to collect more money, should they be held responsible as companies would?
What do you think?
-Samantha Walsh
Dear Samantha,
first of all thank you for the way you started your comment and how you used the word “I”.
I might agree with you about the whole thing, definitely. You showed me enough data and your personal experience is a proof. What I think is that the campaign is a huge thing as a diamond with its thousands of faces and 300 words were not enough to deal with all those faces. Hence I decided to focus on a different aspect.
Certainly I strongly deny a kind of marketing which relies on lies. So I acknowledge that I should have checked the situation in depth. A second mistake could be that I just focused on my own experience of Kony2012. However, I was aware about all those things and what I wanted to highlight was how people who was completely ignorant about InvisileChildren and Kony’s existence went on YouTube just to watch the video.
And why? Because the promoters were able to tell a story like a fable with a main character the enemy etc..and this is what most people are fascinated by, this is the better way to sell their product. And I think that who watched the documentary for the first time felt a desire of action, of giving its own little help. And you was fascinated too the first time you hear about it. I didn’t want to write my opinion about the truth or the lies of this campaign, I didn’t want to face what was their way to act or whether or not Kony was alive. I know that this kind of marketing is not fair, but my purpose was just to see how they were able to use their promotion, their communication. Certainly, you hear about the event “Cover the night”: there you printed the poster, one friend cut it, another one taped it on the wall, etc..
Kony2012 is like any other campaign in which it is fundamental that people act together as a “we” because if you give money to a campaign/foundation you expects the others give their money too and the promoters use the amount for the announced objectives. And you cannot think as an “I”. Actually today the Kony-effects seems to have not too much energy, but in my opinion the promoters were able to create a movement or a prototype of movement in a very short time. Kony2012 was (or is) eye-catching.
However, I’m sure you’ve noticed how my post ends. If there are all lies or unfair motives, the “we” bubble wouldn’t exist, because every “I” would feel betrayed. And alone.
P.S. thank you for your comment.