How easily is it for the youth of today to be manipulated? It’s easier than it seems, as in Amanda Lai’s blog https://blogs.ubc.ca/inspiredmarketing/2012/03/12/the-we-generation-a-call-for-change-or-the-manipulation-of-youth/ details how Gen Y can easily be manipulated by the Media. She talks about how the Kony 2012 video made by the organization the “Invisible Children” uses social media, which Gen Y is based around for communication, to rally around the belief that Kony must be stopped at all costs. However is this goal worthwhile or even necessary? I completely agree with her that our generation can easily be tricked into believing things without doing proper research first, and also not realizing that there are always two sides to a coin. Showing only one side of a coin is a very deceiving marketing tactic, as the Invisible Children organization does, and in my opinion is blatant propaganda.

I would even go one step further and call the Invisible Children’s on their bluff and that they are deliberately scamming people for their money. It’s easy to see that the fact of the matter is with over 86 million views on their video, they are going to have a lot of people going to their store and buying an “action kit”.  This $30 “action kit”, is composed of a wristband, posters, as well as other accessories that will supposedly “help the cause”. This form of slacktivism will surely make North American consumers feel good about themselves, but does not create any practical effects in actually finding Kony. I could write a whole essay on why I think the Kony 2012 is a scam, but I will say this: there are other warlords out there just as if not way more dangerous than Kony(i.e in Africa) so capturing him will not necessarily solve anything, the Invisible Children is not a charity(not certified by Better Business Bureau), and only 30% of Invisible Children’s donations actually go towards helping those in Uganda. Compare this with an organization like the Salvation’s Army, a certified charity by the Better Business Bureau, where 85 cents of every dollar goes towards charitable donations, and one can see why I think the Invisible Children is a really shady organization with a hidden agenda.

The youth of today needs to be wary of these marketing tactics because I can see it being a very big problem in the future. It is easy to prey on the ignorant, as I think the Kony 2012 very cleverly does with slick movie production and filming. This will probably not be the last viral video we will see that calls for herd mentality and hopping on the bandwagon because it is the “right” thing to do. Being a part of Gen Y, I can honestly say the most important thing I have learned is to keep an open mind on everything, and not hop on the bandwagon just because someone tells you to do so. It is extremely important to be a healthy skeptic so as to not be taken advantage of, and only believe what you think is right after weighing both sides of a story. Don’t get me wrong Kony is definitely a very evil person, however calling for more United States military intervention is not the answer. Given the US’s current reputation overseas, I would say this is probably the last thing they would want.