The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Today, so far, at half 12, has been a mixed day. The Ugly: I woke up late. My tendency to be an owl is not helping me on this course and I have been given a warning. So, a new leaf and a new alarm I think. It's not, I'd like to point out, because I go out. Ask anyone, I am a hermit nerd. I just like my sleep. So yeah, new leafing.

The Bad: Handed in my Unit 1: Text and Image a day ahead of my extension which although I'm proud of, feel I could of done a lot better on. Fingers crossed I don't fail before I begin.

And, finally, The Good: New brief, new brief, new brief! Excitement is in the air like the first few weeks in September when your school shoes are polished and you have sharp pencils. WAR ON WANT is a smallish charity that needs a new campaign to attract young people that don't donate to charities. Hey look, I'm my own target audience. Fantastic, I'm already on a roll.

I've been thinking about this for about a week, before I've been given the brief. I've checked out WAR ON WANT's youtube channel and to be honest, if I hadn't been given this brief they would have gone under my radar. They are your classic charity videos. 'Look how bad this is. Give us money' which immediately turns my attention switch to 'Off'. I'm not bitching, I am merely saying how my 'target audience' (ie me. Saying my views are the views of my target audience is deliciously attractive and vain) view these videos. I change the channel when a black and white advert appears on my TV screen with sad music and a serious man doing the voice over about starvation and poverty. Bad me but I've seen it all before. Have an example;

The number of views? 758 and I'm three of them. The number of subscribers? 216. Pitiful, considering Peter Andre, the man who can't sing and married a balloon on legs, has 2229 subscribers. Just for being a pillock. I blame media. I blame our parents. I certainly don't blame the target audience...who would rather watch this guy then these women, more interested in the rags of his relationship then another human being's starvation and abuse.

I have made a conclusion. Shock tactics just don't work on a generation brought up with the ability to have photos of real-life dead people and videos of executions at their fingertips. But humour does. Gritty real life is lost when you can watch it on TV 24 hours a day with pretty people put in hilarious 'reality' situations ('I'm a Celebrity...' anyone? 'Big Brother' is a given. Obvious example is obvious) for our entertainment.

So humour. In a charity advert.

I've seen this advert before on TV (one of those I didn't switch off because I'm not a completely heartless bitch) and at the beginning, yeah, the use of cartoons

make you smile. And then the smile begins to fade.