KONY 2012
Illustrated Essay Research Visual Thinking Luke Brown BA (Hons) Graphic Design Arts University Bournemouth
Introduction As part of Unit 2: Visual Thinking, I am required to write a 2,500 word illustrated essay that addresses the following: “With the world’s economy in a slump and the ongoing war on terrorism, there is a heightened awareness in the world community of the numerous issues that both directly and indirectly affect our lives. Increasingly, people are feeling powerless and excluded because they have no voice. Designers, however, do have a voice. They are among the most influential bystanders because their skills enable them to communicate a message easily through the internet or through posters and print. A picture is worth a thousand words, and designers have used this adage to their advantage for years by creating simple, yet powerful designs that immediately convey the message to the viewer.[...].� With this in mind, I began thinking of recent events where propaganda was used. The first thing that came to mind was Kony 2012. Purely because of the effect it had on people over social media. I remember seeing the 30 minute video on Facebook and everybody was talking about it. This book shows my research into the topic in preparation for my essay.
WHAT? –– Campaign run by Invisible Children, Inc. –– Began with a short film produced by the charity that then went viral online –– Over 100 million views on YouTube (as of January 2015) –– Purpose:
“The KONY 2012 campaign started as an experiment. Could an online video make an obscure war criminal famous? And if he was famous, would the world work together to stop him?” http://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012
–– Basically, it was to get Joseph Kony arrested –– Result:
“The experiment yielded the fastest growing viral video of all time. The KONY 2012 film reached 100 million views in 6 days, and 3.7 million people pledged their support for efforts to arrest Joseph Kony.” http://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012/
–– U.S. Senate sent troops by African Union. Film also asked for canvassing campaign on April 20 2012, called ‘Cover the Night’ where people would buy Kony 2012 Action Kits and stick up the posters all over the streets. –– However controversy regarding project’s legitimacy, and people finding out about film director Jason Russell’s psychological instability, interest in movement wanted. –– Kony 2012: Part II - Beyond Famous - 20 minute follow up video - April 2012 - Jason Russell not featured as was in hospital (psychological issues)
WHO? Invisible Children, Inc. –– Invisible Children, Inc. is an organisation founded in 2004 to bring awareness to the activites of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony. –– CEO: Ben Keesey, Founders: Jason Russell, Laren Poole, Bobby Bailey LRA –– LRA is a militant movement which is “Christianist” extremist Christian, operated in northern Uganda and South Sudan. –– Founded in 1987. Its stated goals include ruling Uganda by the Ten Commandments. –– Listed as a terrorist group by US –– Left Uganda in 2006 (2 years after Invisible Children was founded) and went to Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. –– The LRA has been accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, child-sex slavery, and forcing children to participate in hostilities. Joseph Kony –– Leader of LRA –– Been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become sex slaves and child soldiers. –– 66,000 children became soldiers. 2 million people were displaced internally from 1986 to 2009. –– In 2013, Kony was reported to be in poor health by Michel Djotodia (Central African politician, current president of Central African Republic 13-14), claimed he was negotiating for Kony to surrender. Didn’t happen.
WHERE? –– Invisible Children, Inc. are based in San Diego, California –– Campaign was associated with Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan –– Campaign was promoted through social media, 30 minute video went viral on YouTube through the aid of sharing on Facebook and Twitter, but mainly Facebook. –– Action kits were sold worldwide and the April 20 canvassing was supposed to happen all over the world but not a lot came from it.
WHEN? –– Original video uploaded to YouTube on March 5th 2012 –– Follow up video uploaded to YouTube on April 5th 2012 –– Canvassing campaign to take place on April 20th 2012 –– The following diagrams show the view count for the original video (March 5th 2012)
2012
2015
COMPARE –– ALS Ice Bucket Challenge –– Viral video campaign where somebody would pour a bucket of ice water over their head and nominate somebody else to take the challenge –– They would then upload their video to a social network site, majority was on Facebook, some on Instagram and YouTube. –– July - August 2014 –– It started because it gave you the feeling of being numb which is assocaited with the ALS disease (amyotrophix lateral sclerosis) –– Celebrities started doing it which helped it become so popular all over Facebook and resulted in the chairty raising so much money. Kate Moss, Jennifer Aniston, Leonardo DiCaprio and David Beckham even donated $100,000 dollars to the charity. –– ALS organisation managed to raise $98.2 million compared to $2.7 million the year before.
Luke Brown BA (Hons) Graphic Design Arts University Bournemouth