"Liking isn't helping", Crisis Relief Campaign from Publicis Singapore
"Liking isn't helping" is an award winning ad campaign for Crisis Relief Singapore by Singaporean advertising company, Publicis Singapore to raise awareness and provide opportunities to serve in crisis relief. The series of photos are a poignant reminder that war, flood, earthquake, famine and other natural disasters and catastrophes continues to plague certain part of the world, encouraging people to take action and be involved in mitigating the aftermath of such tragedy, contributing to society. The image analyzed is part of the series, specifically about earthquake.
At the center of the black and white photo is a small child with a leg amputated. He lays exposed and vulnerable as he looks right at the viewers, there is no joy or innocence that you would expect of a child his age nor is there sadness or pain despite the lost of a limb, his eyes desolated, empty and unfeeling as if he is desensitized from some tragedy that befell him. Yet, around him several people displayed a common gesture, a closed fist and the thumbs up, a symbol of approval.
The jarring image of the young boy suffering from such cataclysmic injury exacerbate the sense of horror as compared to that of a grown man, as in the modern society, children are to be protected, nurtured and cared for. The young boy with emptiness reflected in his eyes had a devastating and traumatic experienced, which based on the title of this specific image — an earthquake. However, the most harmless visuals in the composition, the "thumbs up" gesture framing the child is the most shocking and disturbing as it seems as if the people are teasing the helpless child. The people behind this ad campaign intended to aggravate the sense of guilt of the viewers by referencing the idea of Facebook "likes". The photo denigrates the modern social media obsessed generation who attempt to assuage the guilt and emotions felt upon viewing such horrific imagery of contemporary conflict and disasters through the act of "liking" them on social media which, does not alleviate the pain or suffering of those depicted in the image.
The black and white color, further intensify the sombre atmosphere of the egregious imagery. The text in the advertisement are almost imperceptible, small and white almost merging as part of the image. Both set of text are placed in line with the viewers' vision, "Liking isn't helping", the main message of this campaign is located on the top left section of the image while the second quote "Be a volunteer. Change a life" is at the bottom tight, as if telling viewers what should or could be done after taking in the whole image towards the end. Along with it is the logo of Crisis Relief Singapore and their website of the organization. In the case of this advertisement, the text does not need to be eye-catching for the audience to understand the underlying connotation of the image, the image itself is effective enough for them to seek the source of it, which is conveniently stated at the end of the image.
The "like"gestures are considered one of the paradigmatic elements of this advertisement as it is the most as they are not only strategically arrange to frame the center of the image, it is also one of the most defining element that conveyed the intentions of the organization. The color scheme is arguably seen as a key element, as a colored image may not have the bleak same effect and the slightly disorganized background would not accentuate the main figure as much. However, the "main figure" is considered a syntagmatic element as can be seen from the other photos of the series. The company created a series with the same concept of mimicking the Facebook "likes" on different social crisis, including earthquake, war and flood (both of which are included in the slideshow above) each creating an equally unsettling effect.
The advertisement raises awareness and the importance of volunteering by building on the viewers' sense of guilt by visualizing the "the unembellished truth" behind their attempt in ameliorating such catastrophes. It is a reminder that the bystander are no better than assailants, by clicking on the "like" button, the effort is not only futile but also an oblique act of mockery. The advertisement has gain lots of recognition for being able to successfully get their message across as well as forcing viewers to ruminatively reflect on the modern society and their outlook on things.
References
Landry, W. (2016) "Liking Isn't Helping, An ad campaign for crisis relief in Singapore.", ODYSSEY, February 16. Available at: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/liking-isnt-helping ( Accessed: 8 March 2019 ).
Ritchin, F. (2014) "Why Violent News Images Matter", TIME, September 2. Available at: https://time.com/3705884/why-violent-news-images-matter/ ( Accessed: 8 March 2019 ).
Images
Publicis. (2013) "Earthquake", Ads of the World, June 25. Available at: https://www.adsoftheworld.
com/media/outdoor/crisis_relief_earthquake ( Accessed: 8 March 2019 ).
Publicis. (2013) "War", Ads of the World, June 25. Available at: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/
media/outdoor/crisis_relief_war ( Accessed: 8 March 2019 ).
Publicis. (2013) "Flood", Ads of the World, June 25. Available at: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/
media/outdoor/crisis_relief_flood ( Accessed: 8 March 2019 ).
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