Awareness Campaign Ethics

Greenpeace: Propaganda VS Propagation

Before you read any further, please take a look at the video above. Make up your own mind! 

Let me start off by admitting right off the bat that I am NO avid environmental crusader, in large part due to the lack of discipline I have, and in small part due to lack of communication around this sensitive topic . For both above mentioned reasons, this video really hit home for me and is in my opinion a great display of strategic and mastered communication. 

Communication effects every single person on this plant, as does Global Warming. This awareness campaign uses simple and strong communication to make us aware of an issue we could all benefit from listening to, and yet to my dismay has not received the acclaimed reaction from the viewers I was expecting. So here is my guilt-driven advocacy and somewhat passionate reply. 

Naturally after watching this video I scrolled down to read comment, only to be shocked by what can only be summed up as pathetic and juvenile banter. Epithets such as Youth Brain-washing, Eco-fascism and propaganda were words I would never have associated with a video like this. 

Brain-washing the youth; head’s up idiot's, the message refers to generations to come therefore it’s only fitting that a child be used as a medium to communicate the message- it’s precisely what makes the message effective. Did you miss the part where the child actor read a well written script and did a really good job? 

Eco-fascism; nice word, next time just use it in the right context. Global warming IS a radical environmental issue- thus when it is dealt with radically, not only does it open eye’s of people like myself, but it finally give’s a very important issue a platform for debate. Comparing this video to a group like the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party (who indecently brands themselves with a swastika on a green background- How innovative!) causes your debate to fall short of competent.

Propaganda; hmmm really? No more so that the desperate housewife removing coffee stains from her white blouse with a product that claim’s to “evaporate the stain”. Look around, propaganda has just about filtered into every communication model known to the world of advertising- and one really shouldn't be shocked to find it in NPO’s, it’s the name of the game! P.S. if it were propaganda people like you (the critics) would believe it instead of voicing your accepted yet unappreciated opinion.

Let me know what you think? 

Written by: Roxanne Marais