MSF: We can’t operate without your help II

This is the follow-up of the ‘Boy version’ video from Médecins Sans Frontières UK. This time it is about a teenage girl who give birth to twins under horrible circumstances.
It’s good! Much better than the first one with which gives a lot of discussion.
MSF is very curious about your opinion and ask you to give your comment here on Osocio. And we will do an interview with the people of MSF UK. What is your question?

More information about the campaign here at the MSF UK website.

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Yes this is intense, but totally relevant… so many of us, myself included, live in a santised media cloud, that never alerts us to the fact these issues are going on every second of every day somewhere in the world. Well done, hope it get plenty of air-time.

I think the absence of graphic visuals is particularly profound. The audio is so haunting that it drives the point home. Well done.

Too stark.  It says a lot about what you’re up against, but nothing about what you do.  You have to get people into the “tent” first, before you slap them with reality.  I think you’d get better response for your ad dollar if you showed the positives of what you do, and once you’ve gotten them interested, warmed up so to speak, then hit them be with the hard truth(s).

Very, very powerful video. It shows MSF in a simple but very true and almost unbearingly realistic context. Very well done!

I totally agree with WLL. This video is revolting, yet I realize that was the point of the creators. But its so jarring, I wanted it stop, immediately. I couldn’t muster the will to get thru the whole video -it was too painful and gross.

And since it remains anonymous, there’s no individual for me to self-identify with or feel a sense of commitment for. I recognize the injustice is real, but you lost me - I don’t have the strength to witness that story. My guess is most people aren’t either.

Is it compelling social commentary - no doubt. Is it a compelling means to get people to donate and feel compelled to do something about the issue? I don’t think so…

I’m going to go cry now. Too much sadness,

Michael

I liked this one much better. The storyline and action(or lack of it) made more sense and seemed more relevant to the cause.

Very powerful.

It feels odd to comment on this as a PR tool, given the horrifying nature of the subject matter, but I wanted to let you know that your work has made an impact.

Intense video. The simple visual offsets the background audio and text well in driving the message home. Simple but effective.

Thanks for all your comments… I will bring them to the attention of the comms team here at MSF and make sure that we take learnings from them into consideration when planning any future campaigns. Thanks again Osocio for hosting..

Pete

Web Editor, MSF UK

Cinema audiences tend to chat during the advertisements, but as soon as the crying started in this one the cinema went silent.
Grabbing your attention? I’ll say.
Brilliant.

The ads illicit a strong reaction.  But I’m concerned that some people are offended by them.  Perhaps I’m a bit desensitized to the realities in which MSF works, having read the books Six Months in Sudan, and Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders (both excellent, with the later being the most disturbing)‎. 

I just hope that MSF is watching the evidence (e.g., visits to their site above seasonal trends) to see how effective these ads really are, and following the debates elsewhere to ensure they are not alienating potential donors.  Because the humanitarian work they do is needed, and I appreciate that they get 80% of their funding from private donors so that they can operate independently of governments.

As a physician, I found the ad a bit disturbing. Arenot we capitalizing on human sufferings (although money is being spent for humanitarian medical purposes)? Just after watching the advertisement, I was convinced that it would be a very powerful and emotional way of shaking people off but when I thought about it again, I was confronted with a completely different and contradicting reality. Is it good to play with painful human emotion? Isn’t it rude and too naked? Doesn’t it interfere with our right as human?
Yes, money is necessary but there are many other ways to raise fund that wouldn’t have hurt human dignity.
If I am asked what do I think about the ad, I would say, it was powerful but it was too rude. It was against medical ethics I beleive............. by the way I am a MSF national stff.

From the Osocio archive

See this campaign from the Osocio archive