Digital Deaths For World Aids Day

6 Dec

World Aids Day was on December 1 2010.  Celebrities stopped their online presences . These photographs represent their digital deaths.
48027, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Tuesday November 11, 2010. HOLLYWOOD IS DEAD - CELEBRITIES POSE IN COFFINS AND GO OFF LINE IN 'DIGITAL DEATH' FOR WORLD AIDS DAY: A host of celebrities are raising money for charity by signing off their social networking sites for 24 hours - and playing dead in a series of macabre photographs. Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Swizz Beatz are all pictured lying flat out in their coffins. The stars also suffered a 'digital death' for one day and signed off all their Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts to raise cash for World Aids Day on Wednesday. They logged off on Tuesday and will not sign back on until $1 million has been raised for Alicia Keys' Keep A Child Alive cause. During 'The Digital Life Sacrifice' they all filmed 'last tweet and testament' videos which will appear in ads showing them in coffins. Lady Gaga has more than seven million Twitter followers - while 3.5 million have signed up for Justin Timberlake's tweets. Alica Keys said: ''Once I got people on the phone and I was able to paint the concept for them, everybody was in. ''We're trying to make the remark, 'why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?'' Celebrities taking part also include P Diddy, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae, Kimberly Cole, David LaChapelle, Daphne Guinness and Bronson Pelletier. Photograph: Markus Klinko and Indrani, Supplied by PacificCoastNews.com. , USA: +1 Disclaimer: BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News does not claim any Copyright or License in the attached material. Any downloading fees charged by BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News are for its services only, and do not, nor are they intended to convey to the user any Copyright or License in the material. By publishing this material, the user expressly agrees to indemnify and to ho 48027, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Tuesday November 11, 2010. HOLLYWOOD IS DEAD - CELEBRITIES POSE IN COFFINS AND GO OFF LINE IN 'DIGITAL DEATH' FOR WORLD AIDS DAY: A host of celebrities are raising money for charity by signing off their social networking sites for 24 hours - and playing dead in a series of macabre photographs. Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Swizz Beatz are all pictured lying flat out in their coffins. The stars also suffered a 'digital death' for one day and signed off all their Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts to raise cash for World Aids Day on Wednesday. They logged off on Tuesday and will not sign back on until $1 million has been raised for Alicia Keys' Keep A Child Alive cause. During 'The Digital Life Sacrifice' they all filmed 'last tweet and testament' videos which will appear in ads showing them in coffins. Lady Gaga has more than seven million Twitter followers - while 3.5 million have signed up for Justin Timberlake's tweets. Alica Keys said: ''Once I got people on the phone and I was able to paint the concept for them, everybody was in. ''We're trying to make the remark, 'why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?'' Celebrities taking part also include P Diddy, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae, Kimberly Cole, David LaChapelle, Daphne Guinness and Bronson Pelletier. Photograph: Markus Klinko and Indrani, Supplied by PacificCoastNews.com. , USA: +1 Disclaimer: BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News does not claim any Copyright or License in the attached material. Any downloading fees charged by BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News are for its services only, and do not, nor are they intended to convey to the user any Copyright or License in the material. By publishing this material, the user expressly agrees to indemnify and to ho48027, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Tuesday November 11, 2010. HOLLYWOOD IS DEAD - CELEBRITIES POSE IN COFFINS AND GO OFF LINE IN 'DIGITAL DEATH' FOR WORLD AIDS DAY: A host of celebrities are raising money for charity by signing off their social networking sites for 24 hours - and playing dead in a series of macabre photographs. Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Swizz Beatz are all pictured lying flat out in their coffins. The stars also suffered a 'digital death' for one day and signed off all their Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts to raise cash for World Aids Day on Wednesday. They logged off on Tuesday and will not sign back on until $1 million has been raised for Alicia Keys' Keep A Child Alive cause. During 'The Digital Life Sacrifice' they all filmed 'last tweet and testament' videos which will appear in ads showing them in coffins. Lady Gaga has more than seven million Twitter followers - while 3.5 million have signed up for Justin Timberlake's tweets. Alica Keys said: ''Once I got people on the phone and I was able to paint the concept for them, everybody was in. ''We're trying to make the remark, 'why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?'' Celebrities taking part also include P Diddy, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae, Kimberly Cole, David LaChapelle, Daphne Guinness and Bronson Pelletier. Photograph: Markus Klinko and Indrani, Supplied by PacificCoastNews.com. , USA: +1 Disclaimer: BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News does not claim any Copyright or License in the attached material. Any downloading fees charged by BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News are for its services only, and do not, nor are they intended to convey to the user any Copyright or License in the material. By publishing this material, the user expressly agrees to indemnify and to ho48027, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Tuesday November 11, 2010. HOLLYWOOD IS DEAD - CELEBRITIES POSE IN COFFINS AND GO OFF LINE IN 'DIGITAL DEATH' FOR WORLD AIDS DAY: A host of celebrities are raising money for charity by signing off their social networking sites for 24 hours - and playing dead in a series of macabre photographs. Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Swizz Beatz are all pictured lying flat out in their coffins. The stars also suffered a 'digital death' for one day and signed off all their Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts to raise cash for World Aids Day on Wednesday. They logged off on Tuesday and will not sign back on until $1 million has been raised for Alicia Keys' Keep A Child Alive cause. During 'The Digital Life Sacrifice' they all filmed 'last tweet and testament' videos which will appear in ads showing them in coffins. Lady Gaga has more than seven million Twitter followers - while 3.5 million have signed up for Justin Timberlake's tweets. Alica Keys said: ''Once I got people on the phone and I was able to paint the concept for them, everybody was in. ''We're trying to make the remark, 'why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?'' Celebrities taking part also include P Diddy, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae, Kimberly Cole, David LaChapelle, Daphne Guinness and Bronson Pelletier. Photograph: Markus Klinko and Indrani, Supplied by PacificCoastNews.com. , USA: +1 Disclaimer: BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News does not claim any Copyright or License in the attached material. Any downloading fees charged by BWP Media Inc and their brand Pacific Coast News are for its services only, and do not, nor are they intended to convey to the user any Copyright or License in the material. By publishing this material, the user expressly agrees to indemnify and to ho

The concept is unique and evocative.  The actual results however,  have  not been as impressive.  According to PR Junkie, the campaign brought in less than $200,000 during the first week.

See the full article here.  To give you a heads up, it’s quite harsh. Alan Pearcy who wrote the post had this to say:

Amid the current social media frenzy, it’s completely unfathomable to think how wrong this campaign went–just terribly, terribly wrong. Nauseatingly wrong. Someone should be fired wrong. Yes, that wrong.

Creative Just to Be Creative?

Even though the campaign is quite clever and different, and I do think the comments above are a little mean,  I will agree with PR Junkie.

Creativity could have been used to have the celebrities ask their social media followers to contribute, instead of dying digitally. As of today, about $420,600 has been raised. The celebrities will not return to their social media profiles until the one million mark is reached.  Read more in this article by USA Today.

I can’t imagine a fan wondering to themselves, “Wow, I didn’t see a tweet from Kim Kardashian today, something must be wrong.” Nor can I picture this sequence of actions:

1. Wondering why the tweets had stopped

2. Investigating the answer as to why the tweets stopped

3. Stumbling upon Buylife.org and deciding to make a donation.

Highly improbable. Direct requests from someone like Alicia Keys would have been more effective at getting people to donate.

But on a more positive note, I think there are many people like myself who are  now aware of World Aids Day/Keep A Child Alive campaign because of the Digital Death event.

Much like with advertisement  billboards, it is difficult to know what the numbers are behind this awareness.

In the world of communications, creativity cannot be left unbridled.  Good ideas need to be aligned with direction and campaign objectives.

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One Response to “Digital Deaths For World Aids Day”

  1. nicole niche productions December 7, 2010 at 4:13 pm #

    my dear christine…I agreed 100 % of your feedack about the page!!!
    i aslo was wondering too…and i aslo enjoy your writing very much/right to the point!
    And OUI i am looking foward to meet you on a one to one/let me know if you like to go to some of the invites i send you/i will email you to th e one i might be going..less do this if the timing is good for you too..aslo i have some idea to share with you! will call soon
    blesings
    nicole

    Reply

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