Background
Filmmaker Jason Russell is a co-founder of Invisible Children, an organisation he started after visiting Uganda a decade ago and heard of the atrocities committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. Since then, Invisible Children, along with other NGOs, has been pressuring the US government to act, and in 2008, US President Barack Obama authorised a team of 100 advisors to aid the Ugandan military in stopping the LRA. However, Kony left Uganda about six years ago and is at large.
Objective
Invisible Children claim that US military aid and presence is there only as long as "enough people care". If this interest wanes, because the conflict in Uganda does not represent a direct military or economic threat to the US government, this aid may be withdrawn. The documentary and the social-media activity surrounding it is aimed at keeping interest levels high by "making Kony famous" as well as a global charity funds collection drive to help rebuild Ugandan villages hurt by the LRA.
Execution
Jason Russell created a 30-minute documentary that related his personal involvement with the conflict in Uganda, highlighting the story of a young man named Jacob an escaped LRA child soldier who witnessed his brother's death at the hands of Kony. The documentary was posted on Vimeo and YouTube and shared via Twitter and Facebook.
The campaign also has celebrity endorses such as George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Bono and Rihanna as well as political support from opinion leaders including Obama, Bill Clinton and Mitt Romney.
An "Action Kit" aimed at raising awareness and funds for the movement is also promoted on the NGO's website as via the video. Invisible Children is also leveraging the video to organise a global "take the night" movement on April 20 where supporters around the globe paper cities with Kony 2012 posters.
Results
While the campaign is still in motion and will be for all of 2012, its bid to claim attention has already drawn staggering results with 47 million views on YouTube alone. The documentary has also been aired in full by Australian national TV network Ten and covered in leading titles like the New York Times and Washington Post. The hashtag #kony2012 trended on Twitter for several hours, and the movement's Facebook page has more than 36,000 likes.
Backlash
The campaign has drawn backlash however for the oversimplification of the issue, inaccuracies in reporting, as well as the NGO's use of the funds, to which Invisible Children has posted a response.
