Branding With Hope
How many times have you experienced this scenario? You wake up on a
Wednesday going about your respective morning tasks. You grab a
coffee, sit down at your computer and check your favorite websites.
With anticipation you type in the web address... what adventurous
stories or videos from the world wide web could be awaiting you today?
But as soon as your page loads you're not greeted with the next hip
cat photo, or a cute video of a child laughing at his mother blowing
her nose... instead, you're greeted with a pop-up banner advertisement
that reads in big bold letters something like "THOUSANDS OF
DEFENSELESS CHILDREN DIE EVERY DAY" ... but that's not all that happens,
you go to close the bold stating pop-up ad only to find that when you
drag your mouse over towards the highlighted "x" in the corner an
assortment of flies appear on a dirty African child's face. So fueling
an intense sense of guilt you stand up and instantly pour your
scorching coffee on your head and all over your computer and vow that
you will never drink coffee again until that very child no longer has
flies on his poor helpless face and you promise to forever give your
money to that specific charity.
Wednesday going about your respective morning tasks. You grab a
coffee, sit down at your computer and check your favorite websites.
With anticipation you type in the web address... what adventurous
stories or videos from the world wide web could be awaiting you today?
But as soon as your page loads you're not greeted with the next hip
cat photo, or a cute video of a child laughing at his mother blowing
her nose... instead, you're greeted with a pop-up banner advertisement
that reads in big bold letters something like "THOUSANDS OF
DEFENSELESS CHILDREN DIE EVERY DAY" ... but that's not all that happens,
you go to close the bold stating pop-up ad only to find that when you
drag your mouse over towards the highlighted "x" in the corner an
assortment of flies appear on a dirty African child's face. So fueling
an intense sense of guilt you stand up and instantly pour your
scorching coffee on your head and all over your computer and vow that
you will never drink coffee again until that very child no longer has
flies on his poor helpless face and you promise to forever give your
money to that specific charity.
Ok, so maybe the last part doesn't happen, most likely when most
people see something like this they play with the ad for a second,
knocking the flash based flies around on the kids face, maybe even
scoff at the absurdity, close the ad and then they go about their day.
Which to me begs the questions: Why do I not feel a sense of guilt or
urgency when I see something like this? Why do I not want to stop what
I am doing and point all my efforts to eradicating those flies from
the face of the child? What was missing? What is the problem?
people see something like this they play with the ad for a second,
knocking the flash based flies around on the kids face, maybe even
scoff at the absurdity, close the ad and then they go about their day.
Which to me begs the questions: Why do I not feel a sense of guilt or
urgency when I see something like this? Why do I not want to stop what
I am doing and point all my efforts to eradicating those flies from
the face of the child? What was missing? What is the problem?
The problem is not so much in any single image; it is the cumulative
effect of so many images - the relentless association of African
children and poverty. In the minds of many people, the two have come
to mean virtually the same thing. And the impoverished African child
has come to symbolize all of Africa.
effect of so many images - the relentless association of African
children and poverty. In the minds of many people, the two have come
to mean virtually the same thing. And the impoverished African child
has come to symbolize all of Africa.
When a charity makes an appeal for funds with the photo of a seemingly
helpless African child, the donor is cast in the role of the strong,
generous, and virtuous person helping the lowly and needy. Strength,
generosity, and virtue are all good things, but a dangerous pattern
has developed. The West and Africa have become type-cast into strong
and weak, resourceful and helpless, giver and receiver, parent and
child.
helpless African child, the donor is cast in the role of the strong,
generous, and virtuous person helping the lowly and needy. Strength,
generosity, and virtue are all good things, but a dangerous pattern
has developed. The West and Africa have become type-cast into strong
and weak, resourceful and helpless, giver and receiver, parent and
child.
To cast whole continents and cultures in such starkly contrasting and
fixed roles is an untruth and an injustice for both parties. There is
strength in Africa, and there is resourcefulness, generosity, and
virtue right alongside heartbreak, tragedy and brokenness just as
there is in our own respective communities.
fixed roles is an untruth and an injustice for both parties. There is
strength in Africa, and there is resourcefulness, generosity, and
virtue right alongside heartbreak, tragedy and brokenness just as
there is in our own respective communities.
Hope is always better than despair, hope generates action. Hope causes
people to move towards something that is bigger than themselves. We,
especially those of us in the non-profit world, seem to throw this
word around until it can almost seem meaningless yet more often than
not the way we think about and portray a sense of urgency is through
desperation and images of pain and sorrow. At Blood:Water we want to
move beyond these damaging paternal stereotypes, to fraternal models
and help us all to start looking at communities and friends in Africa
with dignity, where we stop showing images of desperation and lean
towards images of optimism and promise. A promise that, though the
need is real and urgent, there is a different way to do things and a
different way of seeing things and that in the end what really stirs
the heart of us all is...
people to move towards something that is bigger than themselves. We,
especially those of us in the non-profit world, seem to throw this
word around until it can almost seem meaningless yet more often than
not the way we think about and portray a sense of urgency is through
desperation and images of pain and sorrow. At Blood:Water we want to
move beyond these damaging paternal stereotypes, to fraternal models
and help us all to start looking at communities and friends in Africa
with dignity, where we stop showing images of desperation and lean
towards images of optimism and promise. A promise that, though the
need is real and urgent, there is a different way to do things and a
different way of seeing things and that in the end what really stirs
the heart of us all is...
hope.
The Concept of Neighbor is Changing.
Blog post written by: Victor Huckabee - Brand Design Architect
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