1. 2 years ago 

   Landmines

   Due to the nature of our increasingly infinitesimal attention spans and continual desensitization to violence, humanitarian initiatives must exercise some serious marketing savvy. We have to fight hard to get people’s attention and compel them to act.

   Check out the image (below) of the Landmine Removal Campaign designed by Publicis Mojo. This is what they had to say: “Using a ketchup sachet, we demonstrated the horrific nature of living in a land mine affected country and how much a part of everyday life that horror is. The idea is simple: as you tear open the sachet you also rip through the child’s leg and the ketchup inside pours out like blood.”Many would view this as extremely vulgar and offensive. But many of those same people have no qualms about watching a brutally violent TV show or movie. Why is it ok to make up violence to a point where you condition society to be desensitized to it, but it’s not acceptable to reveal true life images and stories for the purpose of sensitizing and educating people?
   
   Is this campaign something I would recommend in a perfect world? Absolutely not. But we certainly don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a violent, desensitized world. And it’s edgy ad campaigns like this that tend to compel people to actually get involved. Otherwise it doesn’t even register on their radar.
   
   We’re going to have to be creative and market savvy in order to compete with Hollywood. So when we do it, don’t say we’re “offensive and over the top”. Revel in the fact that we’re savvy enough to get your attention now.
   
   NOTE: This blog post refers to advocacy and awareness campaigns, not to organizations like KEZA where we are building businesses. Business and advocacy require very different tactics.

2. Notes

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These are my thoughts, and more likely my agendas. Let’s call a spade a spade. I want to inspire people to treat each other with love and respect, and to live each second as if it were our last.

At the end of the day, I appreciate the journey, good and bad. I believe there is purpose in everything; literally everything. And the more I embrace that, the more I truly live; the more peace I have.

I believe in the social entrepreneur model, as opposed to the traditional forms of aid that have crippled developing nations for decades. And on top of that, I believe the fashion industry is one of the best industries to leverage as a tool to combat poverty and help restore dignity to developing nations. So that's my thing. If that's not appealing, you might want to read a different blog.

I believe in the power and importance of ubuntu. I aspire to do more…more than I have to. I won’t "change the whole world", but I intend to make some significant improvements along the way as I try. And I’ll fight for all sorts of justice, up to the day they throw dirt on me.

I thank God that I get to live this life. Carpe diem.

+ Comments are welcome. I'd love for this to be a two way conversation. +

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