SAN DIEGO — Until this week, Invisible Children seemed to be an aptly named organization. Its work in Africa to end the use of children soldiers was barely visible to most Americans.
Then the nonprofit group posted a video that went viral with help from celebrities it targeted to spread the word online. By Thursday, only a few days after its release, the 30-minute video had more than 40 million views on YouTube. Invisible Children was among the top 10 terms trending on Twitter in the United States.
Ben Keesey, the group’s 28-year-old chief executive officer, rattles off the names of celebrities who lent support when asked to explain the success of the video targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, a bush fighter wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
The website www.kony2012.com prominently displays the faces 20 disparate celebrities — from Warren Buffett and Bill O’Reilly to Tim Tebow and Stephen Colbert — asking viewers to click on them to send a message. It also shows 12 politicians from across the ideological spectrum.
“It’s something we can all agree on regardless of your political background,” Keesey said. “The core message is just to show that there are few times where problems are black and white. There’s lots of complicated stuff in the world, but Joseph Kony and what he’s doing is black and white.”
Invisible Children’s critics say the San Diego-based group oversimplifies things. In a rebuttal posted on its website to address that point and other criticisms, the group acknowledges the video overlooks many nuances but that it sought to explain the 26-year-old conflict “in an easily understandable format.” It called the film a “first entry point.”
Celebrities quickly joined the cause.
“Even if its 10 minutes … Trust me, you NEED to know about this!” Rhianna tweeted.
“This is not a joke. This serious. TOGETHER we can #MakeAChange and #STOPKRONY — help another kid in need!” Justin Bieber tweeted.
Ryan Seacrest weighed in: “watched in bed, was blown away.”
Oprah Winfrey reiterated her support for Invisible Children. “Have supported with $’s and voice and will not stop.”
Keesey said all celebrities acted without being contacted first by Invisible Children, except Winfrey.
“They all saw it online and were asked by thousands of young people via Twitter. It was all organic. They found it on their own,” he said.
Social media experts were at a loss to explain how a long, often-overlooked conflict caught the public’s imagination so quickly. Natural disasters like the Haiti earthquake in 2010 drew celebrity interest, but those stories were already making headlines worldwide.
“A lot ends up being almost a coincidence. It’s the right place right time, right story, right people. It’s rather unpredictable. If you left one of these celebrities out, it might have scotched the whole thing,” said Steve Jones, communications professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
The video had fewer than 10 million views on YouTube on Tuesday, when its popularity soared. It is most popular with boys and girls ages 13 to 17 and men ages 18 to 24.
Invisible Children was founded as a nonprofit organization in 2006 and operates on the fourth floor of a nondescript office tower in downtown San Diego, with about 40 full-time employees. It sends “roadies” to speak at college campuses and churches throughout the United States and Canada.
The office was bustling Thursday with 20-somethings as phones rang constantly. There were stacks of T-shirts and posters for their campaign. Walls were adorned with posters of Kony and child soldiers.
It chose its headquarters location because that is where its founders grew up, including Jason Russell, a graduate of the University of Southern California film school who narrates the video. Russell acknowledges the power of social media with the video’s first words.
“Right now there are more people on Facebook than there were on the planet 200 years ago,” he says.
Amen to this video, If this is what it takes to go one by one ,town by town, to get awareness and people together for a cause… then this should be a catiliyst for all our voices on many fronts.
Kony needs to be brought down, sure, but if he needs to be brought down, so do those making money off this propaganda, and so does the current Ugandan government condemning him as they used the same tactics to get their position of power. It is tremendously hypocritical if not misinformed. Use some academic sources and educate yourself before supporting something you clearly know nothing about.
I don’t need to educate with academic sources, you need to stop showing your holier then thou attitude on what you THINK you read… What i was saying(and it’s plain as day). that if one person can generate this much awareness from millions of people in the whole world, just think of the possibilities of accomplishing other things like world peace or unity in fellow man.. is it a pipe dream? maybe.. could it happen?…. this article says it could. P. S. at the very least dosen’t it sound wonderful if it COULD happen?.
Awareness through a viral video (demonstrating the laziness of most people) minimizing the atrocities to one person (Kony) while asking for military intervention (which the US can’t afford) led by a sketchy charity (now proven) is not safe. Academic sources are not an indication of a holier than thou attitude, they are an indication of willingness to learn and understand Africa’s history, creating a more knowledgable awareness – especially if you didn’t know that the Ugandan government condemning Mr. Kony, and tons of other warlords throughout Africa, are DOING THE SAME THING as Kony. Where’s the viral video pointing that out? Oh wait, you’re not going to find it in a youtube video, you’re going to find it in published, respectable books and journals.
You still didn’t see a thing i wrote(except the holier then thou part, and then it wasnt directed at academics.) I was saying (again). If one person ( Jason Russell) can generate this much attention to a problem he sees as so important that he takes it upon himself to put time and energy into it and get as much attention to as many people as he can . His whole point in all this is so simple, let the world take a look and see what’s going on and make an INFORMED decision to stop it. and i say stop it on ALL fronts…. will he succeed? i would like to hope so.. but if nothing else he’s trying and i for one give him credit for at least a good fight. I may be an armchair quarterback in this, but by god i thank people like him for at least daring to try.
World peace is not a pipe dream, but we have to understand the full history of Africa (including US colonial involvement in) in order to understand current events. We cannot solve problems we don’t understand. This viral video is proving how little people understand about what’s going on in Africa.
Do not donate to Invisible Children. They are a poorly run “charity” that the CEO says is a charity in name only and he considers it a business. 65-70% of all donations to directly to employee salaries which have already increased since this video went viral.
The remaining 35% goes to fund opposing war lords in Uganda. These people rape, murder, pillage, and kid nap just the same as Joseph Kony. No issue is black and white, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
Do not forget about Somalia and the mess that was created there under similar circumstances.
I am not saying Joseph Kony isn’t a bad guy, but paying equally bad people to kill him is not how problems are solved.
Edit: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble
Read that, start there, there is many more good posts on that site (http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/ ) but the we got trouble one is a good first read for the unaquainted.
Kony needs to be caught. If he is, more war lords best watch themselves as they will be the next on the list.
Many charities have to give to employees. People need to make a living and asking them to do work for free is not possible in this day and age. I am sure we all wish we could be weathly and not have to rely on donations to make things happen.
I would like to ask where you found that 35% goes to oposing war lords? I am not accusing but interested in where you found this fact.
Please, stop drinking this early in the morning. Educate yourself. Stop spewing hate. You’re no worse than Kony, when you demand that people not get involved with this project.
Sharing viral videos with each other is not a project. Advocating military intervention, or in other words waiting for someone else to do something, is not a project. Volunteering, that is a project.
It appears that you’re under the impression that sharing viral videos is what this conversation was about….. Donating time and money is the theme. On your way……
This “charity” is not worth the time and money. If you want to donate, give money to UNICEF or the Red Cross. This is a bad charity with bad ratings and the CEO himself said he considers it a business.
Clearly you are under the impression that you don’t need to read a full post. I further stated that volunteering is a project. Educating yourself beyond a viral video is a project. Donating money to this sketchy charity based on a viral video is not a smart project. Like I said is another post, volunteer or donate the Red Cross medical efforts or go to kiva.org. They are both legitimate non-profit charities creating real, sustainable change in Africa.
So we take out Kony. Great. Nice job. Then warlord #2 comes up, and it starts all over again. All while other groups and warlords continue to rape, murder, and enslave children. Kony is bad, but don’t make the mistake of thinking he is the only bad dude over there. This is very similar to past US interventions that did nothing but lose American lives. Educate yourself.
We take out Kony, then the next war lord, then the next. Hopefully these war lords will learn all too soon that raping children, kidnapping them is not longer “OK” in this new world that we are creating.
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble
The “project” is a money making scheme that flows money to people exactly like Kony
That is about par with most charities, the majority of money given doesn’t get used for the cause but for the people running the charity.
The information provided by the above person is NOT true. Go read their 990 forms on guidestar. The tumblr page misepresents the data. only 3% of their budget goes to salaries . charity navigator gives IC 3/4 stars and 4/4 stars for fianances.
2/4 stars for accountability plus a whole slew of other dirty practices like paying facebook to censor criticism of them. Invisible children is a terrible “charity” and flushing money down the toilet will help Uganda for than giving money to them.
Thank you for the link you sent me. Here is Invisible Children’s respone http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html
Why do people rely on viral youtube videos for information? The very Ugandan government condemning Mr Kony also used child soldiers and rape as a weapon of war – none of them are innocent. If people truly care about Africa, they would do some academic research, volunteer or donate to the Red Cross medical efforts, or visit Kiva.org to help African families help themselves.
Also, asking for military intervention? The U.S. can’t afford that….isn’t that what all the anti-Obama people complain about, too much spending???? Lets take care of America instead of letting another useless military campaign uproot the Red Cross, Kiva and other grassroots movements creating positive, sustainable change in Africa.
This is not a problem for American’s. Let’s deal with issues that need our attention in this country first. (Illegals, fraud, drugs, poverty, economy……).
I agree, when everyone is complaining about things at home, but they are more willing to fix things abroad before fixing the things they complain about here there is a disconnect. Who made us the mechanic for the world’s problems, take care of our own, and then when you feel that the stuff you thought twas screwed up is now right, go on and help others.
Agree with you 100% – This is the problem with Our Leadership in this Country, they think that they have to stick their noses into every other Countries problems giving away Billions of Dollars while ignoring their own Countries needs.
I don’t think that this organization is saying to not pay attention to issues on the homefront. This country has been blessed and all people must do in this country is reach out to the thousands of services offered them to get out of their current situation. America is a nation that is greatly blessed and I am glad American citizens can share their love for others around the world. To whom much is given, much is expected.
I sincerely hope that the posters that are mapping America’s plan to stay idle in this situation, aren’t church-goers…..
More lies. Now for the rest of the story… http://www.infowars.com/tarpley-trendy-left-demands-war-in-africa/
I really do not care what is happening in Africa and I’m sure they do not care about the people of America either. Till everyone in America has a full belly, a job, and roof over their heads I will not worry about other countries people.