This campaign has come under fire from Tumblr blog Visible Children, who like to audit the charity that created the campaign, Invisible children. The charity has been criticised for the fact that only 32% of their income goes on direct services, while a large chunk pays staff salaries and ‘travel’. They have not had any external audits of their finances and have low accountability. Visible Children states that:
“The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces.”
The Ugandan Armies have been accused of rape and looting by arguably more practical organisations, like Amnesty International. Some detractors have also accused them of paternalistic racism. But leaving the politics aside, the interesting thing about KONY 2012 is what it can teach us about viral campaigns – good and bad.
The Good?
- Tapping into a broad appeal issue – saving children.
- Engaging new followers.
- Making people feel good about themselves.
- Has engaged with an easily shared media.
- High production values of the video.
- Use of controversy.
The Bad?
- Broad scope = Shallow involvement.
- The controversy may reduce donations (ROI).
- And make people feel bad about themselves.
- It may also lead to mass negative press.
- The quality of the video emphasises their costs.
- No clear call to action.
The video has been accused of being ‘slacktivism’ – i.e. people share or like the video, feel good about themselves, then move on, without anything changing. Awareness raising can have great consequences – again, Amnesty International have gotten people released from prison through internet and letter writing campaigns that have had the effect of reminding the officials of that country that other human beings are aware of the persecuted person’s existence. But the KONY 2012 campaign highlights some tips and some pitfalls; don’t sacrifice ROI for style; make sure your house is in order before exposing yourself on the internet (oooh-er) and make sure there is a clear goal for your campaign, so it actually achieves something.
