Kony 2012

Greenwashing or great brand marketing?

Rudy OwensLeave a comment

The Rainforest Alliance‘s Follow the Frog viral video now boats more than 3.8 million views. If you have not seen it, the now-viral video is a made-for-YouTube brand promotion for the organization’s efforts to save the rainforest through preservation and collaboration with corporate partners, who put a cute little frog logo on their products.  (The organization’s actual mission statement is here; and wow, they publish slick annual reports too.)

The video itself mocks what I could only presume to be do-good, liberal-guilt-drenched, white, middle-class YouTube users that direct action, person-to-person contact with other cultures, and global-minded activism are failed and meaningless strategies for dupes like the star of this video. The moral? Why quit your job? Why learn about things first hand and be involved in meaningful efforts overseas? Most importantly, why stop shopping? Instead, sit back, relax, and buy more stuff with a little frog. And, by doing that, you can save the forest ecosystems and those charismatic critters and natives you care so passionately about.

That, in a nutshell, is the storyline. Oh, and if you do participate in failed efforts abroad, your wife might leave you for another man who is, yes, not white. (No, I am not making this up. This race element is integral to the “follow the Kermit” story. Please tell me this was not intentional, please, OK?)

Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl at work with the Nazis during the making of Triumph of the WIll.
Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl at work with the Nazis during the making of Triumph of the WIll.

Clearly, the Rainforest Alliance’s brand managers and media team hit pay dirt with this one. Be one of us, sport tattoos, be cool, and be a froggy consumer. (These brand managers need to consult in public health, which lacks a hip frog right now.)

Does that mean they are not just, as some critics claim, “greenwashing” consumerism? This creepily somewhat reminds me of the wildly successful Kony 2012 phenomenon, itself the artistic step-child of Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl’s seductive 1934 film Triumph of the Will. That acclaimed masterpiece of filmmaking, by nearly all metrics, ultimately celebrates the virtues of the National Socialist Party led by dictator Adolf Hitler, a year after he peacefully seized control of the German state.

A scene of the Nazis during a rally filmed by Leni Riefenstahl for Triumph of the Will, one the most successful propaganda films ever.
A scene of the Nazis during a rally filmed by Leni Riefenstahl for Triumph of the Will, one the most successful propaganda films ever.

Do not get me wrong. I buy certified organic coffee. I love cat videos and Jimmy Kimmel’s infamous twerking video as much as the next YouTube user. But, ouh la la, there really is nothing more powerful than a good story, a clever media product, and the right artist to sell just about anything, from armchair activism to strong-arm fascism.

Sadly, I do not think you can teach this stuff. The best and the brightest will inevitably also work with the nastiest, wealthiest, and the worst, sometimes more than with the “virtuous.”

So, what do you think about following the frog? Good for forests? Or, something completely different?

Being SMART about feel-good social media sensations

Rudy OwensLeave a comment

Like many people, I have very mixed feelings about the media phenomenon that is the super viral video known as Kony 2012. It has a sexy opening line: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea”–something that is a two-edged sword.  This can be terribly awful if applied by those promoting “evil agendas” (explained below). The video is produced by a group called Invisible Children, itself a major recipient of corporate giving (JP Chase Morgan Bank is a huge supporter of this group, according to the company’s web site). This itself gives one pause.

The moment I saw it, I was screaming out loud: “manipulative,” “scam,” “cliche,” “heroic white saviors,” “powerless Africans with only one name,” “exploitative.” I actually have followed this story for more than a decade, and I have been to northern Uganda in 1997, where the Lord’s Resistance Army wrought havoc on innocent Ugandans. This is a long, complex story involving several African nations, ethnic groups, geopolitics, and more. This video, while bringing a horrible human rights offender to the attention of the public, disregarded many historic realities that I found deeply troubling as a former journalist. For instance, the main villain, Joseph Kony, is no longer in Uganda committing crimes; he reportedly was last seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So what are we to do when we see how emotionally manipulative media products can gain one instant notoriety and fame, itself a goal of many scraping to make it in media production, photography, and storytelling.  (Recall “performance artist,” but definitely not a journalist, Mike Daisy and the factually inaccurate story he pushed about Apple’s suppliers in China that compromised his career and brought disgrace to the radio show This American Life.)

I can never disassociate the message from the person. Remember Leni Riefenstahl and her hypnotically seductive Triumph of the Will, a  scary masterpiece of fascist propaganda released in 1935 (when concentration camps were not quite operationalized) that helped the cause of one of the greatest murdering madmen of human history, Adolf Hitler? Riefenstahl latter downplayed her Nazi sympathies and attempted to justify her work as merely the output of an artist doing a job, without moral consideration for the outcome. And she was a brilliant photographer and filmmaker, who even after being associated with a genocidal regime, revitalized her career with images of Sudan (The Last of the Nuba) that many would think of today as “progressive” in its orientation. (See the stunning photo below.)

Leni Riefenstahl’s photos of the Nuba, seen here, are brilliant images in their own right, but should they be viewed as distinct from her ties to a genocidal regime from her more youthful days?

I just stumbled on a promotional page for a group called International League of Conservation Photographers. I immediately smelled the conflict between huge egos involved in their media/photographic work and their worthwhile “cause.” The video creates an image of heroic warriors, backed by their own orchestral score. Or, are they just talented photographers trying to make a living too as photographers. What do you all think?

I am always going to suspect self-promotion if I do not see a clearly defined goal that accompanies the promotion. This organization states what many would believe to be a worthy goal: “The ILCP seeks to empower conservation photographers by creating an organizational structure that allows them to focus on the creative aspects of their work while at the same time finding venues that allow their images to make a significant contribution to the understanding and caring of the environment.” But is this truly a clear roadmap?

In public health, they teach us that the best interventions have SMART objectives because they provide the clearest guidelines for developing measurable, achievable actions. SMART stands for:
-Specific
-Measurable
-Attainable
-Relevant
-Time Bound

Whether SMART objectives actually lead to change, or themselves become watered down by their clever wording, is another topic. But in general, I believe this is a relevant way for looking at groups who promote social change. Is what they are offering SMART, or is something more akin to Triumph of the Will, dressed in clever social media marketing. That really is the job of the viewer, but also those who can also use social media to call attention to Triumph of the Will’s and Kony 2012’s viral step-children.