While there are lots of places to link to, I'll give you The Road to the Horizon for an excellent collection of related links and an interesting position on the ad (more on my take on that after you've had a chance to see the thing for yourself).
And here's the ad...
My first introduction to this ad was via a tweet by @geroter, co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada. I was intrigued by George's concern that the ad "further entrenches the typical story of "Africa" in the media." After watching the ad, I tweeted something snippy to the effect of "Are you sure that's Africa? MSF didn't specify the country, so is the entrenchment of "Africa's" story here yours or theirs?" (Sorry George - the dangers of unedited instant internet communiques).
I left it at that. At first. But George's concerns buried themselves in the back of my mind along with some of my own that I had totally ignored, waiting for a chance to strike.
That chance came today, when a friend sent me a story in The Ottawa Citizen about the experiences of two longtime MSF volunteers.
I watched the ad again.
It's powerful - there's no denying that. Who wouldn't be moved to do something (anything, really) to spare that child from the suffering you can hear in his voice?
And someone is soliciting feedback in a big way about this ad (I say "someone" because I'm not sure if it's MSF or if it's Pete their web guy not operating in an 100% official capacity), so my hat is tipped to them for trying to engage with their 'audience' in the world of web 2.0.
But...well, where do I start with the 'buts?'
I don't like it when ads reinforce the collective superficiality of the West by giving us 10 seconds of emotional connection and a sleek, simple solution at the end. This ad is that. Our heartstrings are pulled, and we are told that this little boy needs us to donate to MSF. It doesn't matter where he is, or whether or not MSF would have stopped the militias from orphaning him (which they could not have - that's not the kind of work that MSF does), or the fact that 'fixing' the problems of wherever that poor child is are far more complex than a monthly donation will solve. 'What you can do' is made easy.
There are more 'buts,' like how the desperation of this ad leaves me feeling empty and hopeless, or how I am uncomfortable with how the anonymity of the ad makes me feel like MSF is complicit in this child's powerlessness instead of working to change it, or that, some part of me feels like the tone of this ad is a betrayal of the optimism that attracts at least some of MSF's volunteers to the work that they do.
Basically, I don't like the ad, and it would take me an essay to explain why. So instead of an essay, I turn to poetry.
Many years ago, a poet named T.S. Eliot wrote a long poem called The Wasteland. Eliot's not for everyone. He is for me though. I find myself drawn to his poetry often, wrestling to unlock what he was saying that speaks to me so and seems so much to offer a wrenching and chilling insight into this world of mine. With regards to this ad a quote from part 2 (the game of chess)...
‘My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
‘Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.
‘What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
‘I never know what you are thinking. Think.’
'Africa' never speaks to us because we seem to only want to listen when they are screaming.
We never know what we are thinking because really, we aren't.
I think that we need to do better at both if we really want to help - ads like this aren't really helping.
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3 comments:
In defense of the ad, there's only so much that can be done in 60 seconds. One of the "rules" of fundraising is that emotion does more than an intellectual argument: most people already know the intellectual argument; they need to be made to care enough (at least temporarily) to donate.
I'm not implying that I like the ad—I don't like ads in general. I think MSF is just being pragmatic here.
- Mustafa Hirji
Fair enough. I still expect that there ought be be away to get an emotional response in 60 seconds or less that still pushes the respondent to be a bit more reflective AND doesn't turn a child (who is a human being just like the rest of us) into a disembodied scream.
-A
"One of the "rules" of fundraising is that emotion does more than an intellectual argument: most people already know the intellectual argument; they need to be made to care enough (at least temporarily) to donate."
And that's the problem. Should MSF's work - including its media profile - be defined by its fundraising needs, or its self-avowed principle of solidarity? I would suggest the latter, but this advert suggests the former. You can't have your HDR and eat it too.
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