How to Shock a Celebrity #NTDs

End7, a campaign by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), came with this video two days ago. They asked celebrities including Emily Blunt, Eddie Redmayne and Priyanka Chopra to watch a footage about tropical diseases. In the final campaign video we see how they reacted.

The background: Nearly 1 in 6 people around the world, including 500 million children, suffer from seven NTDs: Elephantiasis, Roundworm, Hookworm, Whipworm, Trachoma, River Blindness and Snail Fever.

End7: “The great news is that all it takes to treat these seven diseases is a packet of pills, costing 50 pence. With the backing of some major players, including the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we can actually eliminate these diseases by 2020.”

The goal of End7 is to end these diseases by 2020. They need money from governments and the public to transport the pills to those in need and set up treatment programs that communities can run themselves.

We all know that shocking images in campaigns is only effective on the short term. In this case it is appropriate because most of us didn’t know about this big problem. The 7 NTDs are on the map now.

We also discussed it in our virtual office.

Simon: “Powerful.”

Tom: “I liked it. The reaction video meme is a couple of years old, but they treated it seriously so it works. I felt the same way when I watched.”

Aurelia: “I like the idea of showing reactions but I always have any problems with too hard images to change minds… even if it’s still effective… To my mind, the video could work even without showing us people images, that could activate our imagination and perhaps be more powerful ...”

Hat tip to Shannon Stephaniuk.