After the energetic and polarised discussion that the recent MSF cinema ad generated on-line I was surprised to come across this Oxfam Ireland ad for their ‘Face It‘ campaign that has (to date) attracted little attention.
The 37 second ad consists of one scene that involves animated degradation and restoration of a topless African man in an arid landscape devoid of human habitation (either rural or urban). The man stands voiceless as Jeremy Irons (a well known British actor) provides a voice over on how climate change impacts most on the world’s poor. In the run up to the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this December the ad is well timed.
The images move from the negative to positive as the man and surrounding country side are restored, with the voice over appealing to us that ‘together’ we can change things. Yet why does the man, even if a metaphor, not say anything? Why is Irons used rather than a voice from Africa? Is his ‘cool’ voice and celebrity recognition a good enough reason to go with him rather than, say, a celebrity from Africa? Why is the landscape devoid of the realities of everyday life in Africa? And where is the evidence of the agency of the people living in such circumstances?
Given the well established critique of universalised images of people from Africa, particularly in regard to famine, conflict and rights violations, this ad could be seen as ticking all the wrong boxes. But is that a fair evaluation?
Joanna from Oxfam Ireland comments;
‘The purpose of the campaign is to highlight the human face of climate change and the impact it is already having on people living in poverty…’
But does using this ‘everyman’ achieve this? Are we any closer to an understanding of the impact, and does it bridge the gap between the viewer and those facing this challenge? As Joanna goes on to point out, Oxfam provides an array of other materials, including video, which ‘give affected communities the opportunity to tell their own stories, in their own word.’ Should we thus read the ad more as ‘art‘ – in an iconic/metaphoric sense – than as providing ‘witness‘ to the problems? And if so, does this necessitate a different reading that ignores the same critique that photojournalism has undergone in recent decades?
Gateway ads will always present certain challenged – the need to simplify due to time/space in order to capture the attention of our audience. Only when we have their interest can we provide them with greater depth and detail. We have to acknowledge what the audience knows and what will connect with them (e.g. Jeremy Irons voice). Even so, the images in such ads, despite being backed-up with further info, cannot escape scrutiny. For visual reasons it makes some sense that the man is naked waste up, to emphasize the change that takes place to his body. But does this not also tap into colonial representations of the ‘African native’? Or does he represent a ‘metaphoric everyman‘? When does metaphor slip into stereotype? If we twist the ad and change location from Africa to Greece, California or Australia where bush fires are increasingly a problem partly due to drier climatic conditions would we use similar imanigary?
Having argued that there should be an increased use of artistic visuals and construted images in social activism I do not want to be overly critical of what Oxfam Ireland have attempted to do. That however does not mean that they managed to pull it off. I also don’t want to criticise without making alternative suggestions. I have already mentioned changing the voice over. Could we also not have had a scene more representative of the reality and specific to the problem? Could we not have seen a village with farm land transformed? Wells and irrigation spring to life, crops prosper etc. Could we not have seen communities transformed, not only in Africa but in Bangladesh, India, China etc. OK, 37 seconds isn’t very long and I will not pretend that you can fit everything you want into such a short clip, but in a visual world full of over simplified and unrepresentative images these are questions we need to contiually ask ourselves.
Filed under: Campaigning, Video Tagged: | Africa, climate change, environment, NGO, representation
