dickson chow + vinh chung: the veiled commodity.

The world feels full of so much hope right now, and with the inauguration of Barack Obama a historic step has been made. People have realized that true change can be realized in their very own lifetime, and that’s a truly transcendent thing.

It’s tempting right now to begin to think that all of our debts have been repaid. That part of the shadow of slavery has been lit away by the election of America’s first African-American President. And perhaps some of it has. But “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”… and that’s precisely what’s happening. Slavery exists around the world at this very moment – sexual slaves, migrant workers, child soldiers. At this very moment the exact abominations we might like to think we’re finally rectifying are happening over and over again. Sometimes in our own backyard.

Directors Dickson Chow and Vinh Chung know that awareness needs to be spread. Watch this film. To do something, visit Stop The Traffik.

Via Feed.

amnesty international: “cattle market”.

Sometimes I worry about the humanity of the world. When teenagers playing Grand Theft Auto 4 can blow off a hooker’s head for entertainment value, how can groups like Amnesty International depict real horrors going on in the world in ways that will hit home for people?

For me, “Cattle Market” works. If I wasn’t already a member of Amnesty, I would be after watching this. It’s appropriately graphic, the metaphor is realistic, but it doesn’t go too far and shockvertize. If you seriously sit down and watch this and think about what it saying and don’t feel gross after, then there’s something wrong with your heart.

Wait until the very end. The final tagline put chills across my skin because it’s so absolutely true.

(Agency: Walker. Director: Jeff Thomas. Production: Sonny London.)

mtv exit + radiohead: “all i need”.

This morning I woke up grumpy. I’m hung over from partying last night. The weather is shit; it’s freezing and raining. I was out of Advil. My streetcar was late, so I had to jump in a cab. I got rained on. I had to wait to catch an elevator up to my office. I found all of this incredibly, unbearably frustrating.

Then I found this video. I watched it. And I sat at my desk and cried.

Because it was the perfect time for me to be reminded of just how foolish and ignorant and incredibly, unbearably selfish I can be.

(Agency: colman rasic carrasco. Director: Steve Rogers. Production: Revolver.)

This video is another facet of MTV’s brilliant pro-social side. MTV Exit works to end child trafficking and exploitation around the world. The poignancy of this is so simple and direct, it grows not from manipulation or dramatization – just the comparison of two truths, neither of which we can deny. Plus, let’s be honest, a little Radiohead never hurt anything either.

I can’t rave enough about how honest, direct, and artistically engaging all of their PSAs are. Check out the work they’ve done to promote environmental awareness through MTV Switch, Holocaust awareness through MTV Think, and to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS with what is one of the best ads I’ve ever seen, period – “Shot”.

stop the traffik: put on the red light.

I’m not sure if this is meaningful or just moderately funny. Despite the absolute seriousness of the topic, I think this is only going to get attention based on the sensationalism of the idea rather than it’s true effectiveness. Although, sensationalism is a level of effectiveness unto itself.

Stop the Traffik is a UN-based program to spread awareness on the plight of human trafficking. At a recent career fair in London, an installation secretly orchestrated by Duval Guillaume Antwerp tricked young women into a booth under the guise of “job opportunities abroad”. Once inside the women found themselves in a red-velvet draped plexi-glass display box with a pink boa thrown in for good measure. Though lacking in subtlety (do hookers still wear boas?) the idea is interesting and anything that can shed attention on the hundreds of thousands of women and girls sold into sexual slavery is obviously a good thing.

I feel half-hearted when I watch this. The cause is so dire yet the dumb-founded look on their faces isn’t really haunting – it’s more amusing. Or boring. Or puzzling. Or perplexing. I’m not sure what could have made their responses more effective. I realize that actually forcing each woman to have sex with strangers wasn’t a viable option (though that would really have driven the point home). It’s a lot like watching a really bad Candid Camera. Should I be laughing? Should I be shocked?

After the expended energy of trying to figure out what to feel, I end up feeling nothing.

Via Ad Gabber