Exploring the backlash and criticisms of Kony 2012.

First things first, who is he and what did he do that was so darn awful? Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A). This is a fanatical christian group in which he abuses and forces both boys and girls to become soldiers in his army. He has already captured over 30,000 children. In my mind one thing is clear, he has to be stopped.

On March the 5th 2012 the Kony 2012 campaign video was released and with the help from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter it targeted the younger generation and went viral. The number of views were outstanding and it reached over 40 million views within the space of four days. An article on Channel four news says that Kony 2012 " has become an internet phenomenon, with social media sites abuzz with talk of the Ugandan war criminal". This 30 minute video was created by Jason Russell, the co founder of Invisible Children. The video has had a lot of criticism from both academics, charities and media correspondents. Journalist Charlie Beckett discusses in his blog why he thinks that Kony 2012 is wrong. The Guardian also talks about some of the criticisms of Kony in this article.

The video was an experiment in which Jason Russell wanted to encourage people to bring about change through the use of social media. However, one of my friends stated that they felt “empowered” by forwarding the video but this was not the video's purpose, it's purpose was to stop Kony. I must admit the flashy graphics and persuasive techniques of the video had me hooked and just like everyone else on my Facebook newsfeed I did forward the video. However, this won't actually help stop Kony and bring about the change that Jason Russell supposedly wants to happen. Now that I think about it, how is the merchandise that features in the video actually going to stop Kony? Plastering walls with posters and wearing a wristband definitely won't stop Kony.

Invisible Children clearly have good intentions and portray a good message to it's audience which was a positive aspect to the campaign. However, in my opinion they approached the issue the wrong way. The video raised awareness and was very persuasive by playing on the emotions of it's audience. A good tactic you might think? Although it could be that this video has done more worse than good as BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding discusses.

Another point in which critics have brought up is that there are issues as to where the funding for the organisation goes. Taking a look at Invisible Children's financial statement from 2011 shockingly reveals that the organisation only spent $2,810681 on direct services, compared to $851,820 which they spent on travel and transportation as well as spending $851,552 on production costs. Are these really the top priority of this campaign? This makes me think twice as to whether or not this organisation is trustworthy or not.

Nobody would have thought that the stress from criticism and backlash of the video would result into Jason Russell being arrested by San Diego police for being drunk and supposedly masturbating in public. More information can be found here. This behaviour could result in the Kony campaign being dismissed and not taken seriously.Therefore it is unclear as to whether there is any potential for future campaigns by Invisible Children.

My final criticism is that Joseph Kony left Uganda over 6 years ago. Why has this campaign only just been created? It is evident that this campaign is outdated and we are recognising the issue far too late. Angelo Opi-aiya Izama, a Ugandan journalist also makes the same point in his blog.
Even the Prime Minister of Uganda has tweeted to celebrities arguing that "The Kony 2012 campaign fails to make one crucial point clear: Joseph Kony is not in Uganda." 

In conclusion, I think that despite the many criticisms of this campaign, from a PR perspective, the campaign worked because it has achieved it's objective which was to make Kony famous.