The Next 27 Minutes Are An ExperimentThoughts On the Fallout of Kony 2012

Ruha DevanesanExecutive Director, Internet Bar Organization

ruhatd@internetbar.org@ruhatd

The Campaign

Main Elements

• Personalize & emotionalize• Simplify• Alternate positivity & emergency • Integrate mainstream media & offline tastemakers

(celebrities)• Integrate offline events & physical ties to the cause• Invoke time-sensitivity• Integrate ‘easy to achieve’ calls to action

Personalizing Human Connections

Personalizing Human Experiences

Personalizing Foreign Conflict

Personalizing Foreign Conflict

Personalizing Foreign Conflict

Simplifying Foreign Conflict

IC’s Calls to Action

• Forward the link of the video• Buy the Kony Kit• Donate larger sum to Kony campaign• Write to celebrities and policymakers• Cover the night

Integrating Physical Goods

Integrating Offline Gatekeepers & Intermediaries

Integrating Offline Events

Critiques

• Over-simplification of facts, context & desired outcomes

• Predominantly Western-centric • Commercialization of conflict• Appeal to emotions rather than thought-

provoking or imparting knowledge• Intervention & militaristic focus of solution

Critiques

• Vilification of one actor/group • Exclusion of local voices in the narrative

and/or use of Western narrator• Financial critiques• Mental breakdown & public arrest of the film’s

director

Positive Outcomes

• Increased visibility of otherwise ‘invisible’ conflicts with otherwise foreign affairs myopic audiences

• Model for other human rights/humanitarian campaigns

• Kony 2012 Campaign’s Response to Criticism

Visibility of LRA Conflict

Visibility

Political Action

Programmatic Success

Model for other human rights/humanitarian campaigns

Invisible Children’s Reponses to Criticism

• Mental breakdown of co-founder Jason Russell• Follow-up videos• More context-specific conflict management tools• More comprehensive action steps for US-based

audiences• More multi-national and regional focus for political

advocacy, as opposed to solely US focus.

Follow Up Videos

More Context

Multinational Action Tools

Replicability & Improvements

• Personalize & emotionalize• Simplify but create gateways • Alternate positivity & emergency • Integrate mainstream media & offline

tastemakers (celebrities)

Replicability & Improvements

• Integrate offline events & physical ties to the cause

• (Invoke time-sensitivity) • Stay relevant to needs on the ground• Integrate ‘easy to achieve’ calls to action• There’s no shame in the pivot

THANK YOU

Ruha DevanesanExecutive Director, Internet Bar Organization

ruhatd@internetbar.org@ruhatd