Consumers becoming Condemners.

I must say, the last couple of months the world seems darker every day. Myanmar, China, the financial crisis, Austrian incestuous grandfathers, you get my point.
(I'm not even talking about the internal Belgian political arena since it is too stupid for words, and most of all the rest of the world thinks 'Belgian' is something you just add to a chocolate brand anyway.)

Now, as much as I believe in the whole green & sustainable movement - hell, ELLE decoration did a feature about me as a 'big thinker helping to shape our eco-conscious future' - I realise the planet needs more then just being greener. (And thus the only way to survive, I know, I know).

But there is hatred out there, and you can't solve that with biodegradable utensils, wood pellets heating systems or solar panels.

Who bothers thinking about cradle to cradle when you have no cradle to put your child in?

Let alone know how to keep it alive with the food that you don't have?


Where are those Parisian May 68ers when you need them? I know, married, children left the house, just bought a Harley, and jealous of Sarkozy - not for being a president (Hey, Bush is a president too) but for having legally a naked Carla Bruni in your palace.

So maybe, maybe, we have a creative duty. I believe, as a creative community we have the moral duty to use our creative thinking not just for the brands we work for, or the pure commercial value of it. We also need to use that talent to reflect on our society and our surrounding, and create sustainable (in all means of that word) changes by doing so.
Organisations and governments, should not underestimate the power we can have.


1. Beijing 2008.

It has something noble, attracting the whole world, being the host to the biggest event on earth, to compete in an open and friendly environment. It has also a big marketing value for the hosting country, for current and future investments, and it has a true commercial value. They will make money of it, but that's because we teached them capitalism.
I won't go into the politics of it, but the Human rights issue in the country and the treatment of Tibet on the political front is clashing with the global Olympic thoughts. So. Bam. Enter the "ADanarchists" or the "CommunicationGuerilla" and hup. You're expensive logo is wasted and will never be the same. These were send to me via Facebook.




Or this one.



2. South Africa

Then my temporary adoptive country, South Africa. Remember my blog about being robbed in our house. I do remember it, every night, when checking the house, the electric fence, the inside and outside alarms. Back then, I wrote a piece about the fact that just that event send out a message that South Africa wasn't ready for the Football World Cup.

Here you have a country, that by brave men & women and a lot of courage (including the white minority who voted against apartheid...) has been changed radically, in 1994. The rainbow nation, as Mandela called it, was a fact.
And now, in the 'informal settlements' & townships (there are about 2 million people living in Alexandria alone) there is hatred. True hatred against people from another country. (Countries that helped the ANC, by the way). Beyond hatred, evil, or how else can you explain that human beings are setting other human beings on fire?

I believe the World Cup to be a blessing for South Africa. In view of perception, international credibility, investments... There was no other African country that has this kind of boost. The ANC, après-apartheid, received a lot of help and support also. But today, the country's leaders are ignoring the current threat. Even worse. The people responsible for the violence are ANC voters.



So in true ADanarchism style, I've changed the SA2010 logo. Notice how the football playing figure has changed into the poor burned victim of the recent xenophobic violence, a photo that went around the globe.

From a branding point (no pun intended) of view, South Africa and the 2010 event really need to work hard to correct an image that is getting more negative with every Facebook group, protest march, or negative blog. And it's not the messengers that need to be taken care of, it's the very origin of the violence.

If Beijing 2008 and South Africa 2010 both look at us as 'consumers & fans' they should be aware not to treat us as ignorant or naive consumers.
With the powers that we have, the blogs we write, we can be condemners.

Know about the Ad agency Ogilvy's Lovemarks theory? Sissies. Advertising has nothing to do with love and barbie and pink Romantics. It's a war out there.