I just attended The Age of Stupid premier at Shepherds Bush Vue.  There was, as promised, a satellite link up to Leicester Square, a few speakers before and after the film and a general spirit of activism (mixed in with a fair dosage of depression) from the audience.

The event was unashamedly political, featuring the film’s Director apologising on behalf of London to Ken Livingston for electing Boris Johnson before hounding Ed Miliband and declaring a campaign objective to oust the Labour Government if a new coal fired power station is allowed to go ahead in Kent.

It’s definitely worth seeing and has created / joined a campaign that will doubtless be featured on these pages regularly in the run up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The above poster is part of a new campaign by Roger Helmer MEP to try and make euroscepticism more relevant to the masses.  By moving away from arguments around sovereignty and towards dustbins he hopes to capture the popular zeitgeist. And if that doesn’t grab anyone’s attention, they’ve only gone and stuck a topless girl on it.

I think it’d have been funnier and more effective if they’d gone with a topless chap, with a big gut hanging out looking sorry for himself. The danger of going with something overtly sexy is that it takes away from your message; I couldn’t take my attention away from the provocative tattoo on the small of the model’s back.  Next to something like that copy around electricity bills seems even more dull.

[My recent abscence has been due to attending a residential training week.  We worked on a mock-pitch for The Metropolitan Police; they have tough communication problems made more difficult by recent issues surrounding percieved politicisation. No, we didn't win.]

Amnesty International are organising a social media flashmob today at 13:10, to highlight the fact that 1 in 10 women in Britain experience rape or violence. The social media campaign calls on supporters to:

“Spread this message via online communities such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter TODAY. Get others to pass it on, raising awareness and inspiring action on this issue for International Women’s Day.”

I will be really interested to see the online activity stats around this and see if it leads to any action from political representatives. 

I just got made aware of this fantastic widget produced by Apex Communications (part of Euro RSCG) for the Axe the Beer Tax campaign. 

You enter the number of pints of beer you drink a week and click on the fruit machine lever to reveal on the fruit machines wheels how much tax you currently pay, per year, in beer tax.  After another click on the lever it tells you how much you will pay if the government’s tax increases continue and finally, it encourages you to lobby your MP by clicking through to an online campaign postcard.

The widget looks brilliant, works well as a lobbying mechanic, can be easily shared and makes the campaign relevant to individuals in a fun, light-hearted but compelling way.

legitimate advertising or government propaganda?

Gordon Brown has launched a campaign called “Real help now”.  The above print has been running in national newspapers this week.  The ‘Real help now’ campaign states its objectives as helping the British public through the recession. 

The government advertising various measures that might help people through a recession is in itself, obviously, unproblematic.  However, “real help now” is a slogan that Gordon Brown has been using regularly since the start of the economic difficulties and often as a rallying cry against what he has dubbed the “do nothing” Conservative Party. 

To launch a government funded national campaign by the same / very similar slogan which you have been using to politically attack the Opposition sails VERY close to the proverbial propaganda wind.

Quite an amusing little mock up of Fred ‘the Shred’ Goodwin’s pay slip having been signed off by Gordon Brown.

Amnesty International has launched a print and poster campaign that highlights the use of rape as weapon in areas of conflict. The objective of the campaign is to highlight the effects of war on women and girls. 

The textured close up photograph of the bullet combined with powerfully written copy and clean and simple art direction makes for a striking and emotive piece of political advertising.