Argumentative Essay On Kony 2012
The Kony 2012 campaign began in 2003, when Invisible Children's Jason Russel and his fellow San-Diego film-makers traveled to East Africa in search of a story. There they discovered a civil war in Uganda, where Joseph Kony and his rebel army, the lords resistance army or (LRA), were abducting children and forcing them to become soldiers. A war which western civilization didn't know existed. (invisiblechildren.com) The non-profit organization redirected their films focus to Joseph Kony, resulting in the release of the documentary, Invisible Children: The Rough Cut. Within a week of the video's release, the 30 minuet video had gone viral with 112 million views not including traditional media platforms. (Shirley, 3) So what lead Kony 2012 to circulate so effectively through primarily social media and take up a position in my personal life? Invisible children used viral marketing as well as other motivational tactics to attract individuals to their cause, with the intentions of a form of action towards policy makers in the United States. Theres an overarching theme of “ anyone can make a
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difference” which IC uses to appeal to a younger generation, which influenced me especially since I was apart of their target audience at the time. Releasing the documentary through social media made me feel more personally obligated to share, and react to the campaign.
In order to know how Kony 2012 circulated we must understand Invisible Children's digital campaign and the limitations which accompanied this digital platform for activism. In Adam Shirley's Kony 2012: Branding the Enemy..., he discusses the notion of “ iconoclastic branding” which he defines as destruction through a promotion, in this case “aimed at destroying Kony's image while making him famous.”(Shirley, 3) He goes further as he writes iconoclasm is why one destroys, instead of the act of destruction; meaning iconoclasm is more of a motivation than a behaviour. The campaign is focused on, “sabotaging [Kony's] reputation,[or] his brand image. By increasing the notoriety of [his] name and associating his image with themes of rape, mass murder, and injustice through a strategically designed brand campaign, the Invisible Children activists are not merely creating a destructive image, but a context for images associated with Kony...” ( Shirley, pg. 4)
This uses of iconoclastic branding creates strong associations, as well as elicits an emotional response out of the documentary's viewers.
Invisible Children are explicit about its intentions as Jason Russel said, “we are making Kony world news by redefining the propaganda that we see all day every day” (Shirley, pg. 4) It is in this way that the campaign is built on controlling Kony's constructed brand image. Therefore, Invisible Children has the capacity to control the image while creating propaganda to encourage the virility of their message.
As Shirley cites,
“...images have emotional and ideological holds over people and in their acts of iconoclasm, they tacitly consent to this power, “enchanting” the images they oppose (Koerner, 2008, p. 87). The emotional response against the representation (or enchantment of the image) amplifies the images’ power...”
(Shirley, pg
5)
The IC campaign video uses reactive material as aggressors to appeal to ones higher emotions, and further the “spreadability” or shaping of its digital-narrative. Shirley defies spreadability from Bal et al. as, “the extent to which [content] engages audiences and motivates them to share it” ( Shirley,pg.12) Essentially Invisible Children's video appeals to ones feelings of compassion, anger, or sympathy motivating the viewer to share. Bal et al.'s article on viral theory, suggests the campaign's virility took IC by surprise as it, “made for an unexpected viral video because most viral videos are meant for entertainment rather than political purposes and are shorter...[an] average length of the most viewed videos is 3 minutes and 56 seconds” (Bal, Anjali S., et al.,pg.1) Shirley suggests that Invisible Children's roots in the United States are centred around “American evangelical Christianity” (Shirley, pg 2) which also helped the success of the video although it remains unclear to the degree in which religion influenced the campaigns progression. IC produced grassroots within San-Diego sending teams to provide the airing of the documentary in high schools, collages, and churches. In doing so Invisible Children set up their campaign to appealed and empower a younger audience (18-25) especially ones with an “how could I make a difference” attitude. This is due to the fact that the campaign was released primarily online through social media platforms such as Facebook, and Twitter, therefore appealing to digital natives and incorporating “Kony 2012” the brand into a digital-narrative. This can be seen as taming because the campaign takes control over its message by releasing it online first.The speadability of the campaign was influenced by ones motivations to present their best-self online, as well as influence others in their online communities as the campaign relied on its promotion. It appeals to our like-economy in the more a video is shared the more likes it achieves, and therefore the more ground the campaign covers. Social media specifically, “operate[s] both vertically and horizontally (Blanchard, 2011, p. 16). Every time an article is published it has the potential of being retweeted, shared, or liked and therefore spread to other users.” (Shirley, pg.11) He goes on to clarify that social media combines both vertical (journalist articles) and horizontal (valued opinions of friends and colleges) meaning it “appeals across multiple categories” (pg.12) This inter-sectionalism allows the message to be assimilated through multiple media platforms, at a faster rate than traditional forms of media such as newspaper, or TV broadcasting. Social media allows IC campaign to gain the promotion in which they needed to make Kony famous. The campaign was also successful at sharing their brand. IC not only educated and introduced young people to their subject matter prior to the release of the video( locally); but also provided ways for individuals to become apart of the spread of their message after its debut. Invisible Children created start up kits equipped with Kony posters and other paraphernalia like shirts, and bracelets for their “Cover the Night” event. (Shirley,pg.3) This was intended to put actions to the videos claim of making Kony famous, and a way to reach policy makers in the United States.(pg.13,14) Shirley expands that,
“ Rather than being overly preoccupied with protecting its identity and fears of dilution or misappropriation of campaign imagery, KONY ...promotes, fan art, parody, and other visual spin-offs of the brand because their end goal is not one of preservation, but promotion of the brand’s notoriety.”(Shirley, pg.13-14)
Shirley is discussing the notion of remix culture here, as IC's campaign is inclusive of a cultural repurposing which allows the campaign's message a higher spreadability rate. Repurposing also lets the viewer become apart of the actions which Invisible Children is striving for, this levels the plain feild as both the viewer and the campaign's organizers are working together. However, Invisible Children's campaign wasn't without its issues which influenced its circulation. The spread of material online managed to prove effective, but it had an anonymity especially for an issue such as child soldiers which resulted in organizational issues for Invisible Children. IC's video creators, “[told] their story in ‘short narratives that [could] be boiled down to 140 characters while still engaging people emotionally” (Bal et al.,pg. 3) Initially that was a strength for the campaign, however once media turned negative there was no distance between the creators and the film. A public relations article by S. Madden et al comments,
“...the video quickly turned negative on social media channels, including questioning the legitimacy of the organization, the efficacy of its methods, and the motivations of the filmmakers (Briones, Madden, & Janoske, 2013). In addition to credibility attacks levelled against the organization, the attacks quickly became personal for ... Jason Russell, whose very public meltdown shortly after the release of Kony 2012 was captured on social media.”
(Madden et al., pg 1) Jason Russel's meltdown consisted of indecent exposure in a public place which resulted in his hospitalization from dehydration and high amounts of stress. (pg.7) Madden et al. attributes social medias redirection of the public from issues in Africa to the organizations legitimacy or “seemingly questionable business practices” (Madden et al., pg.7) ,which only detracted Russell from the organizations original intentions. Madden et al. cites, “[Jason’s breakdown] gave people such an easy excuse to not have to deal with the reality of the LRA” Madden et al also includes that, “Russell’s prominence in the Kony 2012 video left him vulnerable to personal attacks on social media.” (pg.7) Madden et al illustrates a blur between technology and humanity meaning the organizations call to action is disconnected due to its digital form, and therefore there is less motivation to action for the public. This is an analog or physical representation of how digital activism has gaps compared to traditional forms such as a rally group. This is the fundamental issue with using social media for more than a means of awareness. There is a narrative distance from the viewer, and IC message in which the consumer can interact with the material at ones leisure. Leisure allows the public to think and dispute against specific material or opinions in a non-profit organizations campaign such as Invisible Children.
Another disadvantage which Madden et al points to is,
“IC refers to its approach as a social experiment...[but] within this concept of experimenting with ways to raise awareness, there was concern that focusing solely on Joseph Kony as a tactic was problematic because it neglected other important issues.” (Madden et al, pg.6)
Madden et al. suggests the tactic of focusing on Kony became one sided, and was framed to appeal to Western Americans which Madden et al acknowledges as, “A common narrative in humanitarian crisis discourse targeted toward Western audiences [as]... the “heroic savior,” with [a] presumption that the international community is largely absent from the humanitarian violence until that community arrives to save the day” (pg.2) This is an effective tool for activist campaign's especially for western societies however it is also based on oversimplifying Africa's involvement in their own crisis and political issues. Madden et al writes that the main source of struggle for IC was the speed in which the message extended, resulting in IC being,
“...unable to retain control of their original, intended message. Because so many of the responses were increasingly negative, the organizational legitimacy of IC was threatened, and the organization was forced to take action and launch its own crisis management practices.” (Madden et al, pg. 8)
Both Madden et al and Shirley reach a similar conclusion in, although Invisible Children was successful in promoting their message, they “missed expressing the complexities of an international humanitarian issue. Sharing stories through persuasive, and pervasive, social media channels allowed IC to reach unprecedented numbers of people, but it also allowed those unprecedented numbers of people the time and space to comment on the campaign, the organization, and the goal of stopping Joseph Kony” (Madden et al, pg. 9)
Shirley expands that ,
“...in practice [campaign's] do not always work in the ways intended by their creators (Moor, 2007, p. 153). [The] [e]fforts directed at managing them may impact their material forms, but cultural, behavioral, and environmental factors are also constantly reshaping and redefining them[,] meaning that control is also located outside of them.” (Shirley, pg. 15)
Invisible Children did not consider how fast outside factors such as public opinion would divert their campaign's original intentions, which resulted in the campaign's organization to become more focused on saving the company's reputable image instead of its original humanitarian motivations. As a means of conclusion I will look at how Invisible Children's video affected me. I was in high school during the release of IC's documentary, which left me vulnerable to the campaign's aggregators such as appealing to a western way of thinking ( the saviour), or simply appealing to the humanity in its viewers. The video's narrative triggers the compassion and empathy in a viewer such as myself. However, despite the intentions of IC the video translates past target age groups. IC created this video for younger people, specifically in how it was released online meaning the generations main influencers are located in that age group. I did not buy the organizations start up kit, but I actively supported and still support Invisible Children, and their quest to bring peace to a long waged war in Africa. This comes from how effectively the video communicates the inherently human concern of bringing “bad guys” to justice. Media coverage on IC was quickly re-trafficked towards Jason Russell's public meltdown, shifting the focus to the new exposure in which Russell had attained, instead of the impact of commonality in which the organization was striving for. Invisible Children efficiently embraced the social network, which strengthened the virility and speadabiliy of their campaign. The value of being apart of social media grows as humanitarian organizations such as IC use media as a means of spreading a campaigns message. This value of being apart of social media made it so enticing for me and other people my age during the release of the documentary it made me feel equally apart of the organizations successes. Despite the downfalls of IC campaign's organization, the humanitarian intentions remain honest, which IC is still working towards today.
difference” which IC uses to appeal to a younger generation, which influenced me especially since I was apart of their target audience at the time. Releasing the documentary through social media made me feel more personally obligated to share, and react to the campaign.
In order to know how Kony 2012 circulated we must understand Invisible Children's digital campaign and the limitations which accompanied this digital platform for activism. In Adam Shirley's Kony 2012: Branding the Enemy..., he discusses the notion of “ iconoclastic branding” which he defines as destruction through a promotion, in this case “aimed at destroying Kony's image while making him famous.”(Shirley, 3) He goes further as he writes iconoclasm is why one destroys, instead of the act of destruction; meaning iconoclasm is more of a motivation than a behaviour. The campaign is focused on, “sabotaging [Kony's] reputation,[or] his brand image. By increasing the notoriety of [his] name and associating his image with themes of rape, mass murder, and injustice through a strategically designed brand campaign, the Invisible Children activists are not merely creating a destructive image, but a context for images associated with Kony...” ( Shirley, pg. 4)
This uses of iconoclastic branding creates strong associations, as well as elicits an emotional response out of the documentary's viewers.
Invisible Children are explicit about its intentions as Jason Russel said, “we are making Kony world news by redefining the propaganda that we see all day every day” (Shirley, pg. 4) It is in this way that the campaign is built on controlling Kony's constructed brand image. Therefore, Invisible Children has the capacity to control the image while creating propaganda to encourage the virility of their message.
As Shirley cites,
“...images have emotional and ideological holds over people and in their acts of iconoclasm, they tacitly consent to this power, “enchanting” the images they oppose (Koerner, 2008, p. 87). The emotional response against the representation (or enchantment of the image) amplifies the images’ power...”
(Shirley, pg
5)
The IC campaign video uses reactive material as aggressors to appeal to ones higher emotions, and further the “spreadability” or shaping of its digital-narrative. Shirley defies spreadability from Bal et al. as, “the extent to which [content] engages audiences and motivates them to share it” ( Shirley,pg.12) Essentially Invisible Children's video appeals to ones feelings of compassion, anger, or sympathy motivating the viewer to share. Bal et al.'s article on viral theory, suggests the campaign's virility took IC by surprise as it, “made for an unexpected viral video because most viral videos are meant for entertainment rather than political purposes and are shorter...[an] average length of the most viewed videos is 3 minutes and 56 seconds” (Bal, Anjali S., et al.,pg.1) Shirley suggests that Invisible Children's roots in the United States are centred around “American evangelical Christianity” (Shirley, pg 2) which also helped the success of the video although it remains unclear to the degree in which religion influenced the campaigns progression. IC produced grassroots within San-Diego sending teams to provide the airing of the documentary in high schools, collages, and churches. In doing so Invisible Children set up their campaign to appealed and empower a younger audience (18-25) especially ones with an “how could I make a difference” attitude. This is due to the fact that the campaign was released primarily online through social media platforms such as Facebook, and Twitter, therefore appealing to digital natives and incorporating “Kony 2012” the brand into a digital-narrative. This can be seen as taming because the campaign takes control over its message by releasing it online first.The speadability of the campaign was influenced by ones motivations to present their best-self online, as well as influence others in their online communities as the campaign relied on its promotion. It appeals to our like-economy in the more a video is shared the more likes it achieves, and therefore the more ground the campaign covers. Social media specifically, “operate[s] both vertically and horizontally (Blanchard, 2011, p. 16). Every time an article is published it has the potential of being retweeted, shared, or liked and therefore spread to other users.” (Shirley, pg.11) He goes on to clarify that social media combines both vertical (journalist articles) and horizontal (valued opinions of friends and colleges) meaning it “appeals across multiple categories” (pg.12) This inter-sectionalism allows the message to be assimilated through multiple media platforms, at a faster rate than traditional forms of media such as newspaper, or TV broadcasting. Social media allows IC campaign to gain the promotion in which they needed to make Kony famous. The campaign was also successful at sharing their brand. IC not only educated and introduced young people to their subject matter prior to the release of the video( locally); but also provided ways for individuals to become apart of the spread of their message after its debut. Invisible Children created start up kits equipped with Kony posters and other paraphernalia like shirts, and bracelets for their “Cover the Night” event. (Shirley,pg.3) This was intended to put actions to the videos claim of making Kony famous, and a way to reach policy makers in the United States.(pg.13,14) Shirley expands that,
“ Rather than being overly preoccupied with protecting its identity and fears of dilution or misappropriation of campaign imagery, KONY ...promotes, fan art, parody, and other visual spin-offs of the brand because their end goal is not one of preservation, but promotion of the brand’s notoriety.”(Shirley, pg.13-14)
Shirley is discussing the notion of remix culture here, as IC's campaign is inclusive of a cultural repurposing which allows the campaign's message a higher spreadability rate. Repurposing also lets the viewer become apart of the actions which Invisible Children is striving for, this levels the plain feild as both the viewer and the campaign's organizers are working together. However, Invisible Children's campaign wasn't without its issues which influenced its circulation. The spread of material online managed to prove effective, but it had an anonymity especially for an issue such as child soldiers which resulted in organizational issues for Invisible Children. IC's video creators, “[told] their story in ‘short narratives that [could] be boiled down to 140 characters while still engaging people emotionally” (Bal et al.,pg. 3) Initially that was a strength for the campaign, however once media turned negative there was no distance between the creators and the film. A public relations article by S. Madden et al comments,
“...the video quickly turned negative on social media channels, including questioning the legitimacy of the organization, the efficacy of its methods, and the motivations of the filmmakers (Briones, Madden, & Janoske, 2013). In addition to credibility attacks levelled against the organization, the attacks quickly became personal for ... Jason Russell, whose very public meltdown shortly after the release of Kony 2012 was captured on social media.”
(Madden et al., pg 1) Jason Russel's meltdown consisted of indecent exposure in a public place which resulted in his hospitalization from dehydration and high amounts of stress. (pg.7) Madden et al. attributes social medias redirection of the public from issues in Africa to the organizations legitimacy or “seemingly questionable business practices” (Madden et al., pg.7) ,which only detracted Russell from the organizations original intentions. Madden et al. cites, “[Jason’s breakdown] gave people such an easy excuse to not have to deal with the reality of the LRA” Madden et al also includes that, “Russell’s prominence in the Kony 2012 video left him vulnerable to personal attacks on social media.” (pg.7) Madden et al illustrates a blur between technology and humanity meaning the organizations call to action is disconnected due to its digital form, and therefore there is less motivation to action for the public. This is an analog or physical representation of how digital activism has gaps compared to traditional forms such as a rally group. This is the fundamental issue with using social media for more than a means of awareness. There is a narrative distance from the viewer, and IC message in which the consumer can interact with the material at ones leisure. Leisure allows the public to think and dispute against specific material or opinions in a non-profit organizations campaign such as Invisible Children.
Another disadvantage which Madden et al points to is,
“IC refers to its approach as a social experiment...[but] within this concept of experimenting with ways to raise awareness, there was concern that focusing solely on Joseph Kony as a tactic was problematic because it neglected other important issues.” (Madden et al, pg.6)
Madden et al. suggests the tactic of focusing on Kony became one sided, and was framed to appeal to Western Americans which Madden et al acknowledges as, “A common narrative in humanitarian crisis discourse targeted toward Western audiences [as]... the “heroic savior,” with [a] presumption that the international community is largely absent from the humanitarian violence until that community arrives to save the day” (pg.2) This is an effective tool for activist campaign's especially for western societies however it is also based on oversimplifying Africa's involvement in their own crisis and political issues. Madden et al writes that the main source of struggle for IC was the speed in which the message extended, resulting in IC being,
“...unable to retain control of their original, intended message. Because so many of the responses were increasingly negative, the organizational legitimacy of IC was threatened, and the organization was forced to take action and launch its own crisis management practices.” (Madden et al, pg. 8)
Both Madden et al and Shirley reach a similar conclusion in, although Invisible Children was successful in promoting their message, they “missed expressing the complexities of an international humanitarian issue. Sharing stories through persuasive, and pervasive, social media channels allowed IC to reach unprecedented numbers of people, but it also allowed those unprecedented numbers of people the time and space to comment on the campaign, the organization, and the goal of stopping Joseph Kony” (Madden et al, pg. 9)
Shirley expands that ,
“...in practice [campaign's] do not always work in the ways intended by their creators (Moor, 2007, p. 153). [The] [e]fforts directed at managing them may impact their material forms, but cultural, behavioral, and environmental factors are also constantly reshaping and redefining them[,] meaning that control is also located outside of them.” (Shirley, pg. 15)
Invisible Children did not consider how fast outside factors such as public opinion would divert their campaign's original intentions, which resulted in the campaign's organization to become more focused on saving the company's reputable image instead of its original humanitarian motivations. As a means of conclusion I will look at how Invisible Children's video affected me. I was in high school during the release of IC's documentary, which left me vulnerable to the campaign's aggregators such as appealing to a western way of thinking ( the saviour), or simply appealing to the humanity in its viewers. The video's narrative triggers the compassion and empathy in a viewer such as myself. However, despite the intentions of IC the video translates past target age groups. IC created this video for younger people, specifically in how it was released online meaning the generations main influencers are located in that age group. I did not buy the organizations start up kit, but I actively supported and still support Invisible Children, and their quest to bring peace to a long waged war in Africa. This comes from how effectively the video communicates the inherently human concern of bringing “bad guys” to justice. Media coverage on IC was quickly re-trafficked towards Jason Russell's public meltdown, shifting the focus to the new exposure in which Russell had attained, instead of the impact of commonality in which the organization was striving for. Invisible Children efficiently embraced the social network, which strengthened the virility and speadabiliy of their campaign. The value of being apart of social media grows as humanitarian organizations such as IC use media as a means of spreading a campaigns message. This value of being apart of social media made it so enticing for me and other people my age during the release of the documentary it made me feel equally apart of the organizations successes. Despite the downfalls of IC campaign's organization, the humanitarian intentions remain honest, which IC is still working towards today.