Dead Men Cooking
Alive e.V. - Book
Issue 24 | September 2012
Agency
Jung von Matt/Fleet
Creative Team
Idea: Alexander Norvilas, David Wegener Executive Creative Directors: Jan Rexhausen, Doerte Spengler-Ahrens Creative Director: Felix Fenz Art Direction: Alexander Norvilas Text: David Wegener
Production Team
Design & Illustrations: Rocket & Wink
Other Credits
Account Director: An-Fu Rueß Managing Director Client Services: Raphael Brinkert
Date
January-February 2012
Background
There were 43 executions in the USA in 2011. Every year, dozens of individuals are sent to their deaths. Though 17 States have banned capital punishment, it is a largely forgotten issue. Alive e.V wanted to raise the issue again and help bring about a complete abolition of the death penalty.
Idea
Inmates on death row all over the U.S. were asked what they wished for as their last meal before execution and why; and what their memories and associations with these dishes were.
Their answers revealed that even the worst of criminals was a human being and deserved the most basic human right: to live.
40 of the responses were put into a hand-made cookbook that used for its cover the same fabric that was used to make the inmates’ uniforms and the same leather that made the straps that bound the condemned men to the electric chair.
These stomach-churning recipes were sent to decision-makers and influential politicians.
Results
The response to this campaign encouraged Alive and Jung von Matt to take it one step further. A website as well as a coffee table book have been planned to make this project available to a wider audience and to help raise funds for the work of Alive and other organizations fighting against the death penalty.
Our Thoughts
Books seem to be fashionable at the moment as a communications tool. In Cannes we saw the book you can cook (p.xx) and there was also the book that disappeared from DraftFCB Argentina for Eterna Cadenica. The ink faded after two months.
The point of this idea would have been to create buzz. Journalists and opinion formers were mailed it and invited to spread the story.
Thus Mail has a life in social media, provided the idea is interesting and relevant enough.