The Weapen
Reporters Without Borders
Issue 39 | June 2016
Agency
DDB Hamburg
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Fabian Roser Creative Directors Jan-Hendrik Scholz Nicolas Schmidt-Fitzner Senior Art Direction Christian Baur Art Director Eva Schramm Junior Art Directors Vitali Wachramejew Pascal Rößler Quentin Frémont Senior Copywriter Thimon Machatzke Junior Copywriter Nicolas Berg
Production Team
Head of TV Meike van Meegen Pen-Production Mike Marek Box-Production Beinder Schreinerei Wohndesign Film-Production blmfilm Music-Production Soundscape Music Postproduction Optix Hamburg GmbH
Other Credits
Client Service Director Sönke Bruns Project Manager Carolin Sonnenschein
Date
March 2016
Background
They may not always be universally popular, but journalists are an essential part of democracy and freedom of information, digging away to tell stories some would rather hide, challenging governments and holding power to account.
But in these troubled times, journalists all around the world are victims of violence.
Reporters Without Borders is an international NGO, based in Paris and linked to UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Its role is to defend and promote freedom of information, and stand up for journalists who pursue those ideals.
In 2015, 144 journalists were killed or murdered.
Idea
Reporters Without Borders and DDB Hamburg wanted to highlight the dangers faced by journalists, and to symbolise the role they play in promoting free speech.
The idea was based on the pen as a weapon – or 'Weapen' -- of information and truth.
Using fired-off bullet casings, a limited edition of 144 pens were made by hand– one for each lost reporter – and packaged up in ammunition boxes.
An unlimited selection of the pens were made available to buy from RWB's shop, with proceeds funding its projects.
Results
Leading journalists like Giovanni di Lorenzo, Chief Editor of Die Zeit, Peter-Matthias Gaede (Gruner + Jahr) and photographer Jonas Wresch adopted the pen as a symbol of freedom of information.
They told their readers what personal freedom of information meant to them, and why it was in danger, and asked them to share their thoughts via print and social media.
Our Thoughts
All too often we see the deadly wars and loss of innocent life on our TV screens and newspapers. But we too easily forget that it is journalists who bring us this information at great risk to themselves.
'The Weapen' is a simple and eloquent way to demonstrate, not only the risks faced everyday by journalists in war zones, but also the fundamental truth that the pen is mightier than the sword.
We can't be reminded of that too often.