A call to look up

In the Spring of 2012 British Airways launched a brilliant double-bluff piece of advertising which (apparently) urged people not to use the services they provide, but to stay home and watch the Olympics instead. In fact, the whole thing was executed with such elegance and humour that it probably had the opposite effect. Hats off to them for the campaign.

Presumably the makers of the video below are hoping for a similar effect. The video, launched last week, is being shared widely on social media in order to encourage us to get off said media and do something more interesting. Like the old TV show “why don’t you just switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead” there is an inherent irony. This is especially so with the video’s final phrase urging viewers to “stop watching this video”.  The irony for me, however, is lost by the dead pan delivery and the not-quite rap. If we want to make people question their use of something which they love then we have to be clever, ingenious and sparkling. Guilt is never a good motivator, nor is a speaker who advocates polychromatic life in a monotone.

I will leave it to others to argue about all the positive dimensions of social media for forming and supporting real relationship and community. My interest here is with how well the video goes about communicating it. Sometimes we like, or forward, such a video in order to prove our credentials as a thoughtful users of technology rather than unthinking technophiles. Have you forwarded it, and if so what were your reasons? Of course, by writing this blog post, I am effectively promoting the video. I am quite happy to do that, since I applaud the reasons for making it.  My query is about how it works, and why we share it…

Would love to hear from you…unless you are busy doing something more interesting, of course!