03 It’s Not Happening Here, But It’s Happening Now by Amnesty International/Walker
"It’s Not Happening Here, But It’s Happening Now" is a poster campaign on human rights abuse done by Zurich-based advertising agency Walker for Amnesty International. The campaign is made-up of 200 individual posters, each meticulously matched to its specific surroundings, showing actual scenes of human rights abuse from around the world (Case Study: Amnesty International - It's Not Happening Here, But It's Happening Now., n.d.).
Some of the posters seen on the streets (Holm, S. F., 2016, December 1):
In order to achieve the effect of the illusion of co-presence between spectator and victim, real photographs of human rights abuses (taken by photojournalists from around the world) were juxtaposed onto a second photograph of the physical background of the location the billboards were put.
These ads reminded me of a video that once went viral on the internet. (SaveTheChildren, 2014, March 5). Relating to the ads, this video, too, talks about the issue of human rights abuse. It's a video of how a little girl's life gets turned upside down when the war at Syria broke out (Shocking 'Second a Day' Video Delivers a Powerful Anti-War Message, 2014, March 6). This is what war could do to children: trauma, anxiety, depression. The video raises awareness on the impact of war to the children in Syria. Both the poster campaign and this video have the same message: "Just because it's not happening here, doesn't mean it's not happening now".
The message behind the poster campaign and this video is to let everyday people think and empathise with these other people and situations they can't meet. To know that our everyday privilege is something not everyone has. People usually only feel for something when they see the situation itself with their own eyes and/or someone they know has been through that situation; which is why these visual ads are so powerful and could really make people stop in their tracks and look twice.
Case Study: Amnesty International - It's Not Happening Here, But It's Happening Now. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dandad.org/en/d-ad-amnesty-international-its-not-happening-here-happening-social-good/
Holm, S. F. (2016, December 1). It's not happening here, but it is happening now - Goodvertising -. Retrieved from https://goodvertising.site/its-not-happening-here-but-it-is-happening-now/
SaveTheChildren. (2014, March 5). Most Shocking Second a Day Video [Video file].
Shocking 'Second a Day' Video Delivers a Powerful Anti-War Message. (2014, March 6). Retrieved from https://petapixel.com/2014/03/05/shocking-second-day-video-delivers-powerful-anti-war-message/
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