The tragedy of dementia is about memories. The distorted reality of present and past. That is what this impressive interactive audio-visual installation is about. The project, called Remember the Person, is from the British interaction designer David Ingledow.
The idea is to make an environment to raise awareness for, and stop the social stigma that comes from being diagnosed with Dementia. It makes the user think that they should not back away and fear Dementia.
It is based on David’s personal experience. His grandma suffers from Dementia and has been in care for many years now.
Using an Arduino, when the user moves closer to the projection, the photographs from his grandma’s photo albums will be shown. These photos are memories from her point of view and represent her life.
David: “When the user moves quickly, the music becomes a distraction and the pictures change erratically. This is to represent people’s fears and unwillingness to listen to and understand Dementia sufferers. It therefore represents people’s negative stereotypes of Dementia sufferers. When the user moves slowly, they can focus on the timeline of pictures and what is being said in the monologues.”
What this project really makes so interesting is the interactive part.
David: “The user can then use the imagery of the nostalgic photos of my Grandma and the stories in the monologues to create their own unique emotional experience by using their past life experiences to make connections between the sound and visuals.
This focusses the user on remembering the person, where the person could be someone that they construct mentally, making the experience unique and emotionally engaging.”
The video above is the personal experience of David. It is still a prototype. I’m very curious how this technique can be used on a wider scale.
David Clegg from the Trebus Project supplied the audio of the monologues. Their aim is to capture the memories and insights of people with dementia before their words are lost to history.
The Trebus project is something we definitely going to write about in the future.
I’m an lover of Flemish humor in advertising, I’ve said that many times before. And Belgium agency Mortierbrigade used this style again in their latest spot for the Vlaamse Alzheimer Liga (Flemish Alzheimer Liga).
A grandmother’s grandson visits her again and again, with the predictable response. It’s the obvious trick to surprise people with Alzheimer I know from personal experience.
What do you think, is this humor allowed? Or is the disease too intense to make jokes about it?
As the people who brought us the Sexual Revolution age, STD rates among senior citizens are rising. This video, by the venerable DDB New York, reminds older people in a sex-positive way that they, too, need to play safe.
Grossed out? Not me. I only hope that I’ll be getting as busy in my autumn years.
The use of images from politicians and world leaders is very common in social advertising. We’ve seen them a lot on Osocio. And not always to my satisfaction.
Just like these three ads from the French ADMD (Association pour le Droit de Mourir dans la Dignité), the association for the right to die with dignity.
The ads are made for an upcoming demonstration on March 24 against the French government and candidates in the presidential elections of spring 2012.
The ADMD wants to legalize euthanasia and assisted self-deliverance and wants to see it regulated through legislation
Just like 94% of French men and women according to the organization.
Tagline: “Must you be put in this position to change your stand on euthanasia?”
The ADMD campaigns with these harsh images, with Sarkozy, Le Pen and Bayrou in the key role. Euthanasia is a very controversial subject and it is too brutal to use the three French politicians to communicate the cause.
It is a sign of laziness and populism. Euthanasia is more than a difficult decision made in a hospital. It is about dignity which isn’t shown in this campaign.
Dutch painter Herman van Hoogdalem is currently working on portraits of people with dementia.
In this Dutch spoken report from a regional tv station he tells about his mother who suffered from this disease twenty years ago.
He noticed the change of facial expression and personality which he never forgot.
This experience formed the basis of the series he is making right now. He asked permission to make portraits to the care facility and family.
The woman in the report commented: “most people with dementia are living in closed health centers. Herman makes them visible with his paintings”.
Van Hoogdalem: “the look that shows that these people are somewhere else that is the thing I want to show”.
All portraits will be exhibited next year in the Drents Museum.
Hat tip to Herbert Van Hoogdalem on Facebook.
The elderly are almost invisible in advertising, even in cause marketing. Therefore I’m glad that the Canadian Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) made this campaign about Elder Abuse.
It is a follow-up of a campaign from 2010 entitled ‘Don’t turn a blind eye…’ (see it after the break).
The 2010 campaign was about elder abuse in general with disturbing and violent imagery. This years campaign focus on the financial part of abuse.
The campaign is made by Acart Communications, the agency where Osocio blogger Tom is the Creative Director.
Tom: “Obviously, that first campaign is a hard act to follow. So we didn’t try to create a sequel. With a new brief from the client, aimed at making seniors and the people who care for them more aware of the specific dangers of financial abuse by both formal and informal caregivers, we set out to create an even more gripping ad.”
“In some ways, depicting verbal and physical abuse in the previous campaign was easier than the purely financial message. Financial abuse of seniors is something much more insidious, takes many forms, and can even be inflicted by a loved one.”
I’m never really keen on teens creating their own ads. Not that they don’t have great ideas. They just often lack the discipline and training to bring their ideas to life in a really effective way.
This PSA series, called “More Than Just Sex” is a good example of this. Produced entirely by teens for teens by Community Healthcare Network’s Teens P.A.C.T. program in New York City, what it gets right is speaking in authentic colloquial language like ”Raw doggin’” — slang for unprotected sex.
Apparently, the organization paid $15,000 for video production “including a professional director and editor”. That’s not much for six video PSAs, and it shows.
Nonetheless, these ads are already too much for some. New York Republican State Senator Marty Golden’s office said the ads “advocates for safe sex in a roundabout way” and “could be hazardous for the youth population of our city and state.” Democratic Assemblyman Rafael Espinal thought they were relevant to his youth constituents but “shouldn’t be accessible to children under 13,” because “the language is too raw.”
I don’t find them “raw” but they are a move in the right direction. Next time, maybe the kids could be mentored better on how to make the best use of their insights.
World’s largest community service organization, Lions Clubs International, has an old-fashioned image. That is my perception too. And they are aware of that also.
For breaking that image the came with this campaign two weeks ago.
While there are 46,000 clubs and 1.35 million members the around the world, Lions Clubs International is looking to recruit the next generation of Lions members. Therefore agency Serve Marketing made this rap video for them.
The music video features Lions members, young and old, singing and dancing to custom-written rap lyrics, while doing community service projects such as feeding the hungry, providing eyeglasses and planting trees.
It is an idea done many times before, mostly overacted, rarely good. This video from the Lions Club is ok, acted in the right proportions.
Betty White, a veteran American actress who has become somewhat of a cult internet celebrity at 89, wants to let aging Baby Boomers know that there is no shame in joining the seniors’ lobby group, AARP.
Can White, who is known for her self-deprecating and occasionally bawdy humour, help make AARP more attractive to people young enough to be her kids? How about 20 Betty Whites?
This campaign against Alzheimer’s disease with such a heart-rending motif has made me very sad today, on Valentine’s Day.
I don´t know much about this disease ... only one, the most important: Man does not remember a loved one.
Man does not remember being in love and being loved.
I recently had the privilege of being invited to speak and participate in the 2012 Design Ethos Conference/Do-ference at Savannah College of Art and Design. The creator of the conference, Scott Boylston, is a longtime friend in the relatively small socially conscious design community and I was delighted that…
Some things in life are easy. We know them, we think of them, we understand them. And then there are those phenomena we would rather not know about. All the bad things … murder, rape, child molestation. We try hard to look away, and most of the time we…
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About Osocio
Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.
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