What are some of the current issues confronting our world today?
Amongst them, what is of interest and a cause of concern to you?
- War and Conflicts
Regardless whether they were fuelled by discrimination, conflicts of interest or ideological differences, violent clashes between countries or different groups within a country are unfortunately a common sight nowadays. From North Korea to the Middle East, armed conflicts have ravaged multiple communities, adversely affecting the quality of life of the people living in these regions.
Link to article
- Extremism
Recent years of Islam extremism in the form of ISIS terror attacks has proven to spark equally violent far-right movements. Beyond the existence of far-right splinter groups, it is particularly alarming when these views start to encroach a country’s government like France’s Marine Le Pen or Germany’s Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland.
Link to article - Epidemics
2018 marks a century since the disastrous outbreak of the Spanish Flu. We have experienced multiple other epidemics since then: SARS, Avian and Swine flu, Ebola and Cholera just to name a few. These however have not reached the devastating scale the Spanish Flu did and there are fears that a pandemic of such scale is just lurking in the future.
Link to article - The Internet & Free Speech
The advent of the internet and social media makes it almost too easy for people to express their thoughts for others to see and react to. This may prove to be a problem in multiple different ways. Perhaps the most obvious is when insensitive or even downright hateful contents are freely uploaded. But even more complicated problems arise. Examples include the controversial issue of censorship in an attempt to curb these content, the inhumane aggression internet anonymity encourages, or the proliferation of self-righteous “social justice warriors” – often with a bullying attitude spurred on by the aforementioned anonymity.
Link to article
Out of these four issues, I found the last point on Free Speech the most fascinating and complex. The next section will explain the specific facet of Internet Free Speech I am interested to explore.
Why is the issue important? Who does it affect and how?
On the highly broad topic of Internet and free speech, I have decided to focus more on the abuse and misunderstanding of free speech at the expense of others. Although seemingly trivial when compared to global issues like poverty or inequality, this is a serious matter that can translate into catastrophic real-life consequences. The case study of Justine Sacco (and later, in a reversal of fates, of Sam Biddle) is highly interesting in how the ‘villain’ of this entire drama cannot be easily determined. Beyond that, it also illustrates how the virtual world of the Internet can leave behind lasting and detrimental real-life consequences.
These stories also present the strange phenomenon of the internet granting complete strangers the moral authority to critique, often aggressively, the views of others. It just takes a casual scroll in Facebook or YouTube comments to first-handedly experience this. To make matters even worse, today we live in a climate of political correctness and, as previously mentioned, we also possess an almost instantaneous access to the internet. With these three factors, once an offensive* content makes it to the public eye, a barrage of hate and backlash can be expected. It gets blown even more out of proportion when this backlash destroys brand images, cripples personal lives and ends careers.
If the internet is our future, it has to be a more reasonable place for everyone. It has to be a place where free speech is not used as an excuse to create offensive content nor is it an excuse to brutally attack people seen as ‘offenders.’
*Or merely perceived as offensive. Take the recent H&M fiasco as an example. There is also an article discussing how it seems that we can’t take jokes anymore in this day and age
Who do you need to communicate to, and why?
It is clear that my target audience would have to be active internet/social media users. However, to be more specific, the main demographic that needs to be targeted are young adults. This is because the issues concerning free speech and the internet are not as simple as cyber-bullying issues frequently seen among children and teenagers. For instance, cases like these involve sensitive topics such as race, religion, politics, gender and the list goes on. Another point that complicates the entire matter is that it is never immediately clear who to side with. While cyber-bullying usually have a black and white moral aspect to it (stop the bully and help those bullied) in many cases of online furore*, the ‘bullied’ are considered to be in this position because of their own inconsiderate doings while the ‘bullies’ are supposedly well-meaning individuals trying to right a wrong.
As a result, there is a need to address both sides of the issue which in essence are: 1. people who do not realise the potential offence their online posts may elicit and 2. people who overreacted in criticising something they find offensive. Ultimately, the one thing that has to come out of this is for people to learn to take a step back before posting anything online. Instead, consider the full implications of posting their thoughts, demands or protests before letting it out in the open.
*sometimes colloquially referred to as a shitstorm.
How has visual communication contributed to address the cause?
A lot of posters and visual communication projects have been made to address cyber-bullying, an issue similar to the one I picked. Below are some of the works that caught my attention.
1. Cybermentors’ “Beatbullying”
These 3 posters are part of the “Beatbullying” Campaign run by the UK non-profit organisation Cybermentor. Done by M&C Saatchi Agency in 2009, these posters are extremely graphic and straight-forward in its message. The silhouettes are unmistakably those of suicide victims who are shown to have end their life either through overdosing on pills, hanging themselves or slitting their wrists. However if we were to take a closer look, the pills, noose and blood were formed using words typically used to bully or make fun of others. Examples include “Bitch,” “Fatty,” “Fugly,” and “Faggot.”
Through this, the message could not be any clearer: Words can kill and so these posters urge its viewers to be careful with what they call others especially through the internet. The graphic imagery also helps in creating a lasting impression in the minds of its viewers.
2. UNICEF’s “One Shot is Enough”
This series of posters is part of UNICEF’s Anti-Cyberbullying Campaign titled “One Shot is Enough.” Developed in 2015 by the Chilean advertising agency Prolam Y&R, each of these posters depict a victim of bullying confronted by a group of three to four kids; presumably the bullies. However, the way the bullies were positioned – standing in a row and holding up their mobile phones – is eerily reminiscent of a firing squad that’s ready to execute their target.
Again this poster excels in highlighting the fatal nature bullying can take, an idea further emphasised by the campaign title “One Shot is Enough.” Apart from the clear message of using the photo-taking capabilities of smart phones wisely, I feel that these posters also show the idea of herd mentality in bullying. The bullies are clearly shown to be in groups and this illustrates the tendency for people to join in others in bullying another person especially in the anonymous world of the internet.
3. Headspace’s “Reword”
“Reword” was a software developed by Leo Burnett Melbourne Advertising Agency in 2017 for their client Headspace. The idea behind it is beautifully simple and “Reword” effectively delivers results within the first six weeks of its implementation. While full details on the project can be found in the link below, “Reword” basically collected data of messages sent between people and from there formulates what constitutes as abusive comments. When installed, “Reword” will then then try to find matches between pieces of text written by users to their database of abusive comments. If found, a red strike-through will then appear across the offending content to alert users of the potential bullying nature of their messages.
So, not only does “Reword” increase awareness on the issue, it actively helps in combatting cyberbullying. It is truly a design outcome that deserves to be commended.