If the name "Joseph Kony" is unknown to you, then the only explanation is that you have lived in Amish Town for the past year of your life with no access to internet services. This man, who reached stardom from one Youtube, was undoubtedly the most famous in the world....for one month. The Kony campaign offers a different perspective to the stereotypical Internet FAD; this was not driven by humour, or light-heartedness. Instead, this campaign was designed to reveal emotion, tug at the heartstrings, and provide viewers with an air of self-empowerment, to enlighten them that they could make a difference.
However, almost one year on, let us now evaluate the success of the campaign. Well, this may be difficult considering the founder of the Invisible Children charity who began the Kony campaign suffered a mental breakdown last year after failing to deal with the intense scrutiny and criticism of the campaign. I've been searching high and low to find the statistics on the number of views that the Invisible Children website has had in comparison to last year. However, I have a mildly strong feeling that there may be a slight difference in the figures....
Although the Kony campaign was designed to uncover and publicize the tyranny caused by Kony and his army, the LRA, the campaign came under fire due to the fact that only a small percentage of the money spent by consumers on Support Packs and merchandise for the children was actually for the children. The majority of the money spent was actually used for administration and upkeep costs for the charity.
Now, with the greatest gift of hindsight, let's take another look at this video and see if once again, this video can capture our minds and our hearts...not to mention the subtle advertising of it's merchandise and support packs which "benefit the children" who are affected by Kony and the LRA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
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