Not A Bug Splat
Reprieve / Foundation for Fundamental Rights
Issue 33 | December 2014
Agency
BBDO Pakistan
Creative Team
Strategic Planning Director: Assam Khalid Creative Director: Ali Rez
Production Team
Editor: Zeeshan Parwez / Zeepar, Peshawar Production Company: Brave New Films, Culver City Retouching: Qasim Nagori / 18% Grey Photography, Karachi Production: Owais Suhail, Karachi
Other Credits
Coordinator: Akash Goel Artist: Saks Afridi Photographers: Insiya Syed, Ali Rez, JR, Noor Behram, Jamil Akhtar, Imran Arif Khan General Manager: Aamir Allibhoy Illustrator: Sana Nasir Planning Manager: Sohaib Zahid Umar Deputy General Manager: Faisal Durrani
Date
March 2014
Background
Since 2004, drone strikes in Pakistan have killed an estimated 3500+ people, a disturbing percentage of which have been innocent civilians. Including more than 200 children. The Foundation for Fundamental Rights has been working to raise awareness of this crisis. Drone operators routinely describe their casualties as "Bug Splats" since viewing humans from far above gives the sense of an insect being crushed. The strategy was to not only address pilots directly and create dialogue, but to also raise awareness globally of this otherwise ignored human-rights issue.
Idea
Drone operators sitting thousands of miles away rely on images captured from a drone or satellite camera to monitor ground activity. To them, from that far above, most humans appear as tiny insects scurrying around - hence the military phrase "Bug Splats" to describe casualties. The idea was to speak directly to drone operators. A large-scale portrait of a child affected by an attack was laid on the ground facing up, in the heavily bombed area of NorthWestern Pakistan, so a drone camera could capture and transmit it directly to an operator's screen, thereby engaging them in a direct dialogue. To raise awareness, the poster - part of French artist JR's Inside Out movement - was put online with the hashtag #NotABugSplat and a website with information about drone strikes (www.notabugsplat.com). The poster was also designed to be photographed by mapping satellites. Imagine the reaction of a pilot when on their screen, it's not a bug but a giant face of a child staring back at them from the ground, engaging them directly. The UK Guardian described it best: "It has the power to startle...and perhaps even render (the pilot) incapable of using his weapon afterwards."
Results
The poster, including transportation, cost $1500, and was donated by the vendor, which meant that total cost to the client was $0. Installation was done by local villagers who volunteered at no cost. 104 million impressions in the news and 11 million impressions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram helped to gain $2,000,000+ in earned media. The news was tweeted by members of National Assembly of Pakistan, who have raised the issue of drone strikes with the International Court of Justice, while the campaign was picked up activists in Yemen and USA. A new US Government Accountability report indicates that negative publicity is now affecting pilot morale.