I am sure everyone has seen those “don’t mess with karma” commercials where an innocent looking stick man gets squished by something after failing to recycle his empty plastic bottle. For those who haven’t, here is an example:
Fear of the Supernatural … Augmented
Playing on people’s fears of supernatural forces in order to mold their behavior isn’t a new concept. The Christian Church was infamous for utilizing this method to extract donations from citizens in the medieval ages. According to priests at the time, anyone who sinned had to come to church and pay a “penance” and the priest would grand them forgiveness. This would lead the sinner to cease feeling guilty and relieve him/her of the fear of the impending punishment and the church would get a cut in the process.
The following ad has taken the same concept except instead of playing on fear of supernatural forces, the following ad takes on a more “direct” approach. It suggests that if you choose not to join the sustainability movement, whether you’re a celebrity, an office worker, or a student, your life will be abruptly ended by someone around you in a gruesome way. It was quite effective at reaching a wide audience by targeting people from different walks of life in the ads. It included planting the idea into future generations and notified celebrities that they are no exception.
An aspect of the ad which I thought could be improved is having someone who didn’t put up their hand explode. This would expose group-think dynamics and show that the “button sees through your lies.” We all know that even if we haven’t fully committed to sustainability, in any particular situation where we are asked for a show of hands of who did, most of us would put up our hands.