CAMPAIGN STRATEGY | ADVERT DESIGN | DESIGN FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
Don't Forget the Enemy
The Fight Against the 'Misinfodemic' in India
Information shapes our world view: we make important decisions based on said information, forming an idea about people or a situation. So if the information we saw is invented, false, exaggerated or distorted, it leads us to make ill-advised decisions based on faulty and inaccurate understandings of people and the situations. Not only is fake news distorting people’s minds in making decisions, it is also distorting people’s morals. IndiaSpend, a data journalism outlet, pegs the figure at 33 killed in 69 incidents of mob violence between January 2017 and July 2018 in India alone.
'Don't Forget the Enemy' is a media campaign targeted to increase awareness of misinformation among the people, and to be cautious of the news spread around newer media forms, in an effort to also realign their morals with each other and to remind them it's always the people vs the truth.
AREA OF INTERVENTION
Whatsapp along with other social media have propagated information, especially false information at what used to be prosperous but now alarming rates. People do not take the effort to fact check what is being shared, especially in places like villages where Whatsapp acts as their primary source of information.
As a result, communities as a whole tend to believe the wrong information, and develop a common fear. This causes people to do irrational things, even going as far as provoking violence and murdering others.
People need to be reminded that their reactions due to their belief in unchecked news have drastic and malicious outcomes, and encourage them to rethink where their morals should lie.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
Don't Forget the Enemy
The campaign urges the people to remind themselves that believing fake news have drastic consequences, even death. By showing them what happens and what could have been avoided if said fake news were not believed, they are asked to re-evaluate whose side they are on - the truth or the lies.
The visuals aim to highlight the lies as our enemy, that the community should stand together in the fight against it, and not against ourselves, through mediums of advertisements and Whatsapp pop-ups
TARGET AUDIENCE
The campaign aims to target the cultured and educated audience of the age group of 18-35 years. Being part of the millennial generation, the people of this age have access to a large number of sources of information and is exposed to fake news of all kinds. Hence, they have more of a tendency to just believe what they see before fact checking the information. The campaign also targets people living in less developed sections of society where Whatsapp is their only source of information.
