Advertisements are typically used to showcase a brand, to even brand a brand, and to seize the time of the consumer and persuade them to consume their product. Agencies use provocative scenarios and meticulously choose the placement and time of their advertisement to target their ideal consumer. Often, companies can be overly dramatic in order to sell more products, making for a more successful business. We, as consumers, are accustomed to people trying to sell us anything, however, when we see or hear a commercial asking for donations, we feel upset or uncomfortable but rarely take action.
We live in an age where “liking” a post on social media is nearly as good as making that donation. However, Amnesty International’s Not here, but now campaign offers a refreshing visual, which is simplistic while simultaneously thought provoking. Not here, but now asks not for any monetary aid but rather only the time of its’ viewers; to raise awareness and initiate debates regarding the preservation of civil rights. In 2006, the Amnesty International campaign team released another riveting advertisement projecting their staple human rights involvement to the world.
Amnesty prides themselves in raising global awareness of those denied liberty, and to avow social issues. Accordingly, Walker Advertising Agency, established in Zurich, Switzerland, showcased the campaign with enthralling simplicity. Pius Walker, the creative director at Walker Advertising, proposed to a journalist from D&AD that, “Advertising for touchy subjects doesn’t profit from exaggeration. What was needed here was the simplest truth being told in the simplest way. Something no one can argue with is harder to ignore. , this is exactly what the team at Walker accomplished with Not here, but now, undoubtedly (Amnesty International: It’s Not Happening Here, But It’s Happening Now, D&AD). You’re making your way downtown, rushing along with the constant hum of human noise and the electric city. Striding through your concrete jungle, with the familiar scenery of traffic lights, towering buildings, and cars whizzing past.
You’re checking off your mental to do list and trying to decide whether to go out for dinner tonight or to stay in and order pizza while phazardly brushing past the people who are always walking too slow. However, you glance over and see something so incongruous that it makes you do a double take. You see the extrinsic sight of a young child clothed only in dirt, crouched over with a homemade clay bowl in his left hand. His hollow face is emotionless, as his bony fingers attentively pick up grains from the pavement. It is apparent that he is in a foreign place and does not belong. The boy’s malnourished body, and lack of proper first world apparel, indicates that he must be from a third world country.
The contrasting worlds of differing progression clash together and the fallout is arduous to comprehend. Your heart aches for the boy since there is no reason for someone to be living like that in a place of numerous opportunity. Your confusion is infused with being perturbed and having sympathetic feelings towards the child. As you wonder, you glance upwards to the seemingly transparent billboard and read the all-capped font, “It’s Not Happening Here. But It Is Happening Now.
The nearly transparent poster hangs between two poles, acting as a kind of twisted crystal ball that exhibits two polar opposites. From the image arises such a shock factor that it hit you in the face. Confused and dazed, as you become embarrassingly aware of the raw truth that is beheld in the crystal ball poster. The contrast of the wealth of the city to the poverty stricken boy promotes the struggle of a less fortunate culture and the ignorance of more fortunate ones.
The unavoidable disturbed feeling adds to the compelling nature of this work of art, “… art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something. ” (Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park, 27. 60). There is a story to be told here, and it is screaming to be heard. When people think of a world of abuse and unjustness we tend to picture a fictional planet of wrongness than taking the responsibility to fully recognize, and realize, the situation. The Walker team victoriously depicted human rights violations using juxtaposing camera shots.
Seemingly transparent billboards were produced with the alarming images overlapping a still of the surrounding area, hence the effect of transparency. Furthermore, the pictures were taken by reporters who witnessed the cruelty first hand, and were later photoshopped onto the posters. This means that the boy shown in this ad, along with the other 200 customized ads presenting people from all around the world, is not an actor; he is a real person experiencing the very real struggles of his daily life. Moreover, the aids to thoroughly enforce the tangibleness of the cause, and it worked.
The posters, perfectly suited to their environment with differentiating images of haunting, and unfortunately very real occurrences, were able to sensitize the public to real-world, real-time happenings. Overall, Amnesty International witnessed an increase in discussions of the violations of human rights happening globally and a vast increase in visits of their website. The campaign itself received awards from the New York and Cannes Art Directors Clubs, and the Corbis Creativity for Social Justice Award, which consisted of a $20,000 prize to Amnesty International Switzerland.
The advertisement brought to light the atrocities of the endangerment of human rights, regardless of where it is being endangered. Human rights is not just a matter for the governing country but rather a matter for people everywhere to be aware of and to take action. This was a marvelous and brilliant example of how advertising influences the emotions of people, along with their responses. Not here, but now has shown the world that advertisements are not solely for raising a company’s income but also to raise awareness in a world where so much is taken for granted.
