We Can Solve It (just not particularly creatively)

Posted by andyh on 8th April
Tagged with: aid campaign cnd creativity earth geldof gore lennon live we
2 comments >>

Hmmm, not at all convinced by this, the first ad from Gore's new $300m 'We' campaign (WeCanSolveIt.org).

A couple of years ago I first heard about this massive fund being raised from the proceeds of An Inconvenient Truth plus donations from Steve Jobs and others, to create a mass awareness and action campaign in the US. Well $300 million definitely 'aint chopped liver and I was really hoping something quite special came out of it, but based on this ad and the website, the signs aren’t too promising.

As Alex Steffen says in an excellent WorldChanging post on the matter: “$100 million a year is real money. For half of that, they could create a networked activism campaign unlike anything ever seen. No ad campaign, no matter how good, is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen.”

I'm a big fan of Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection, but after first being distinctly underwhelmed by Live Earth (supposedly planned again for 2010) and now this, I can't help feeling they're trying so hard to appeal to everyone that they end up with something that doesn't speak powerfully to anyone.

Green Thing believes in the idea of “Creativity against climate change”. When the world has faced great turning points or moments of crisis in the past, great moments of creativity have been the catalysts of mass social and behavioural transformation. Photographs and images that galvanised mass consciousness. Music and symbols that gave a voice to new generations. Architecture and design that expressed and amplified the spirit and mood of the times.

In 1969 John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance” became an anthem of the anti-war movement. In 1958 Gerald Holtom’s peace logo for CND became one of the worlds most politically powerful symbols by turning complex ideas into a single, recognisable shape you could wear as a badge or carry as a banner. These things have the power to move populations to think differently and take action they would not otherwise have taken. They can change the course of history.

The thought behind this ad isn’t so different – it talks about great rather than creatively great moments in history – but the execution is sadly very different. Any great moment, creative or otherwise, needs originality and vitality, it needs to take risks and follow a singular vision. (Creatively, An Inconvenient Truth succeeded because it was exactly that).

Sometimes mass movements move everyone by reaching the people for whom they were not originally intended. Eventually everyone wants to be part of something with its own powerful energy and momentum.

One problem with Live Earth was that global pop concerts are a pretty tired idea by now. In 1985 when Bob Geldof got the world to feed the world, Live Aid was a startlingly original creative concept: the first and best example of a global creative community coming together to make a difference. Ever since then it’s like an analog compilation tape that loses quality every time it gets re-recorded.

My worry about this initial We ad is that it’s also using old creative formulas, playing it safe and aiming to please everyone. I’m all for recycling, but in a way that creates something new and different and inspirational. This problem won’t be solved by saying the same things in the same ways in a louder voice.