One of the Adweek’s latest blogs addressed that several companies in the last years have tried to use Adolf Hitler for their advance. For example, a German Anti-HIV campaign has promoted the use of condoms by displaying pretty women having intercourse with Hitler, Mussolini and Co. Now, a TV commercial in Turkey has launched a campaign to increase their sales revenue by addressing Adolf Hitler’s convincing communication skills and how passionate he spoke in public:

Summing it up, the video basically claims that if you are a real man, you should not be using women’s shampoo, but a real men’s one.

Well, here’s the point. Is it really going to increase sales revenue, since Hitler had terrible hair himself? Also, how on Earth does the campaign believe that it can create a positive impression in their consumer’s mind and encourage buying the product?

Aren’t there any other ways to make an add successful, maybe without linking the brand’s product to national socialism? To my mind, these Hitler campaigns go against all rules and I doubt they work. After all, I believe that even our simple COMM 296 class has taught us skills that can create a more effective campaign than any association of a product with Adolf Hitler.

YOU BETTER READ THIS POST, IF YOU HAVE WATCHED THE KONY 2012 CAMPAIGN

Timothy Scott Cheong, as well as approximately 100 Million others, have watched the KONY 2012 video in the last month and have been moved by it. Most viewers believe many facts that are actually significantly contrasting reality. Ugandans, as well as many other Africans, who are aware of the situation, believe that this video is a huge offense, as Invisible Children distorts the current situation in Uganda. If you get more familiar with Uganda, the LRA, KONY and Invisible Children, you will be surprised by how bad this video is and how much it differs from the present state in the country.

After having watched the KONY 2012 campaign video, I informed myself further, watched other videos, read other articles and attended panel discussions at UBC with speakers, who had been directly affected by the war against the LRA. Given this second source of information, I am strictly opposing the KONY 2012 campaign and anyone, who supports it.

Here are some facts that are reality and not based on the deceptions of the Invisible Children organization:

1. Uganda is currently not at war.
2. Many Ugandans are deeply offended by the video, who – after all – should be the ones to evaluate and judge the true state and situation.
3. Although nobody is certain, Joseph Kony is believed to be either in the DRC or Sudan, but not in Uganda.
4. Joseph Kony and the LRA officially left Uganda in 2006. Today, his followers are believed to be less than 200.
5. The video totally disregards the fact that the LRA is deeply fundamentally Christian. If that had been mentioned in the video, I am 100% sure that its effect would not had the same effect, especially in the U.S. and Canada.
6. The campaign claims that Joseph Kony is the worst war criminal in the world. Actually, this past Saturday, a major Ugandan newspaper published a list of currently nationally chased war criminals – Joseph Kony was not on that list.
7. The publication date of the viral video was badly chosen. The same weekend the campaign was published, the Ugandan Health Minister went to visit children suffering from a terrible disease that is believed to be a late effect of the past war. More than 3,000 kids have died of it in the last three years. Instead of hunting down Joseph Kony with the millions of sales revenue that the campaign generated, these funds could be used more efficiently to fight the disease.
8. Etc. etc. etc.

Despite all this, EVERYONE AGREES that Joseph KONY needs to be STOPPED. The campaign of the for-profit organization Invisible Children is, however, not the right way of doing it. If you want to help, ask Uganda first. I am sure that by the end of the year, Joseph Kony will be caught, but what will that change?! Thousands of western citizens will feel like they have paid committed $30 and engaged global citizenship by posting Joseph Kony’s face everywhere – but how much will that really change Uganda?

Here is a response video from the Ugandan president Amama Mbabazi. Although, not as well done as the KONY 2012 video, its content is 100% correct and every person that watched KONY should watch this as well:

Actually, as indicated in this speech, most effects will be negative. The downturn of this summer’s tourism will cause a dangerous and intense economic downturn in Uganda, as many tourists cancelled their vacations already, because they are now convinced that the country is at war.

After all, this is UBC and we are supposed to think critically. It is really disappointing that, even though students go to this world-class university, they cannot even judge critically by basing decisions and judgments on an entire country on this simple half-hour video!

I am disappointed.

(I am sorry that this post went way over the word limit, but I did not see this only as an assignment anymore. This is not the right situation to be short on information, as the KONY 2012 itself already is.)