It was planned as a viral campaign from the get go. My gf is in advertising. She has coworkers who know some of the crew that worked on the kony thing. They are all laughing at their results.
There are different kinds of “awareness.” One kind of awareness is how much you’re spending every day for the things you need, and how much you’re getting paid. That’s an implicit awareness. Another kind of awareness is comprised of those things you notice only because the only way you know how to occupy your attention is by goofing off with your phone–when human rights criminals in Africa take on the same cognitive weight as Justin Bieber videos. Different kinds of awareness don’t necessarily arrive at change in the same way, if they do at all. We’ve yet see.
Would they say that the story (by story I mean NYT front page, 05/09/12) is about Richard Kony (and by Richard Kony I mean the man who Jason Russell wants captured)?
The story was about the video and the video was about the campaign and the campaign is about Richard Kony.
-or-
The story was about… … … …Richard Kony.
I think that a large part of the criticism is that people saw a tweet on Twitter, or a Facebook update, or a link on YouTube, saw it on CNN, or read it in The New York Times and asked What is it, about? Is it about the video? Is it about Jason Russell, the filmmaker. Is it about Jason Russell’s son Gavin? Is it about Jacob, the child Jason Russell met in Uganda? Is it about Richard Kony, the man Jason Russell ultimately wants captured? Is it about YouTube? Is it about you, as Jason Russell claims in the video? Is it about the changing direction of the media, as I contend? What (or who) exactly is it about?
That’s for damn sure. Richard Cory, Joseph Kony.
Joseph Korny. 