Do You Remember Kony 2012?

In March of 2016 Invisible Children, a non-profit organization, launched a 30-minute documentary that quickly went viral. Within five days of its release, it had over 100 million views and, at the time, was the most-watched viral video of all time. In the years since it has come to light that many of the claims made in the campaign had been exaggerated in order to sensationalize the story and raise more money. Although the Kony 2012 campaign may have made some young people more suspicious of these types of viral marketing, it also proved how successfully a cause can be spread via social media.  Campaigns like the Ice Bucket challenge have been able to harness this power as well to tremendous effect.



Focusing on the African country of Uganda and the damage caused by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the documentary spread rapidly via Facebook and Twitter shares. It documented the path of destruction left by the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony. It urged the viewers to join the cause to raise awareness of these heinous acts. The goal was to stop Kony's reign of terror through donations and a widespread guerrilla marketing campaign in the United States. The campaign was massively successful and raised over $12 million via merchandising and individual donors. Supporters could purchase "action kits" for $30 which included stickers, t-shirts, and posters all meant to spread the message of the Invisible Children organization.

Joseph Kony

I first heard about the Kony 2012 campaign on Facebook. I remember seeing all of my friends sharing the video and eventually it piqued my curiosity. I took the time to watch it and found that the short film was very well done and quickly grabbed my attention. After finishing the video I was excited to join the movement and see what I could do to help the cause. Fortunately, after some thought, I decided against it and eventually forgot about the campaign altogether. It wasn't until weeks later that I realized that I hadn't heard anything on social media or from my friends about the campaign. Although it had raised a tremendous amount of money very quickly, it seemed to die off just as quickly as it had started. 

Years later I looked back on this fad and began to do a little research on what had happened to the organization. I found out that although the organization had raised well over $10 million it did not donate this money to help the victims of the LRA and Joseph Kony, instead this money was used to raise "awareness". This meant creating more films and essentially trying to make more money for the Invisible Children organization. To make things worse for the organization its founder, Jason Russell, had been arrested for public masturbation and auto-vandalism only a few weeks after the video's initial release.

The true downfall of Kony 2012 may have been its over simplification of the issues and it's clear sensationalism. The creators of the movement failed to present a well rounded story and instead presented a very one sided and narrow minded narrative that may have hurt the Ugandan people more than it helped. By sensationalizing the effect of the LRA at the time, as well as advocating for an increased military presence in an already heavily militarized area the Kony 2012 campaign could have easily made the situation worse. Fortunately, the campaign seems to have had little effect on the area even four years later.

The legacy of the Kony 2012 movement is one of disappointment and dishonesty. For many of the young people who donated money to the cause and put in many hours doing their part to raise awareness the Kony 2012 movement serves as a reminder of the importance of research before supporting as political cause or candidate. Although it had such a negative effect on so many individuals views of nonprofits and viral marketing, Kony 2012 paved the way for a whole new way to raise funds. By demonstrating the overwhelming power of an engaging social media campaign, Kony 2012 set the stage for many of the massive social media causes we see today.

Thanksgiving in the Finch Household

Like many families in the United States, the Finch's love to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. It is a time when we gather together our friends and family to give thanks for the blessings we have received in the previous year. Although we don't seem to have any traditions that are out of the ordinary, we still add a bit of our own twist on the standard Thanksgiving celebration.

One constant in the Finch family Thanksgiving meal is a sweet potato casserole made by my mother. She began making the dish six or seven years ago after visiting a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and trying their wonderful brown sugar sweet potato casserole. She was able to find a recipe for the dish and it has been a hit ever since.

Although my Grandparents didn't celebrate at our home this year, they are a usual fixture at our Thanksgiving dinner table. They always bring a few Tupperware containers full of my Grandmother's award winning (yes, they've actually won awards) cookies. Whether it's the chocolate chip or cherry filled cookies, eating too many of them has become one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions.

The final strange tradition that we have at my home is that every year my brother and I go out to our

range and shoot. This isn't an intentional tradition, but instead it seems that every year we take a few pistols and rifles to our outdoor range and empty a couple boxes of ammo. I'm not sure why we always do it on Thanksgiving, but this is something that we've been doing since I first left for college 3 years ago. We always have fun and it's a great way to blow off steam. Perhaps this started after we stopped playing backyard football on Thanksgiving.

Looking back at my family's Thanksgiving traditions I can see a parallel between these unique traditions and the principles of marketing. Just as I associate these traditions with spending Thanksgiving with my family, all consumers hold strong associations with products and events. By playing to these associations it is easy to grab an individual's eye and to influence them to engage with your brand.

You've Been Nudged

If you've ever read Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein then you are very familiar with the idea of choice architects and the ways that they structure decisions to modify your behavior. These small, subliminal influences are present in our everyday lives and are often difficult to spot. For this post, I'm going to point out a few "nudges" that I see in my everyday life and analyze how they affect my behavior.

1. Miller Dining Hall

If you have been to the Miller Dining Hall since it was remodeled a couple years ago, then you are probably aware of the entirely new layout that has been implemented. By spreading the food into a variety of different themed locations, not only did Miller become more aesthetically appealing, it also serves another purpose. By spreading the food around the dining hall and using smaller serving dishes and utensils, Miller has been able to dramatically reduce the amount of food that is wasted every day. Although this change was very small and has little effect on most diners experience, it was very succesful in nudging them into a desired behavior. This article from The Exponent has more information on the environmentally friendly changes made in the Miller Dining Hall.

2. Safeway

As we all know, many stores place small items such as candy or gum near the register in an effort to influence consumers to purchase these items at the end of their trip. I don't think of myself as particularly influenced by this approach, but by placing the dairy, deli, bakery, and produce on different sides of the store Safeway has found my weakness. As I walk from one side of the store to the other it is very rare that I don't stop to pick up something that not only I hadn't intended to get, but don't need. Some perfect examples being: chips, beer, ice cream, and tortillas. All of these products are placed at the outside of each row and easily catch my eye when I am walking around the store. Although I am aware that this is done on purpose, I am still unable to overcome the urge, therefore falling into the nudge created by the choice architects.

3. Email Enrollment

How many times have you received emails and newsletters from companies and organizations that you didn't realize you had signed up for? If you are like me, then this is a weekly occurrence. Often when ordering a product or making an account on a website you are faced with a variety of checkboxes. Sometimes these are already checked and other times you are forced to check them yourself. In my experience, many boxes concerning signing up for an email newsletter are already checked and require the user to opt out. By forcing customers to opt out these companies are nudging customers to enroll in their newsletter so that they can continue to influence the user to return to purchase more products. I often fail to notice the box and therefore fail to opt-out, allowing the company to harass me with daily emails.

The Worst Ski Boots I've Ever Owned

Unfortunately in life sometimes things just don't live up to your expectations. This is very true in purchasing products and services, as all too often the packaging or a product's ads can easily make a product seem to be more than it really is. Besides the actual misleading marketing of the company, occasionally the reviews of other purchasers lead to a misconception of the product, and in the end disappointment.

Possibly the worst product that I've ever spent a considerable amount of money on, and certainly the worst pair of ski boots I've ever purchased were the Full Tilt Seth Morrison Pro Models I purchased in 2011. I bought them and almost immediately began having problems with them. I broke all six of the buckles and was forced to replace all six cables due to a terrible fit. Never before had I been so disappointed in a product that I had spent more than $500 on.

Before I dig into the reasons that I think caused this terrible product failure and disappointment, first a brief history on the boot. Originally popular in the 1980's the Raichle Flexon series of boots was the first ski boot to utilize a "3-piece articulated design". At the time this was considered revolutionary and the company was very successful. This success lasted into the 90's until the company fell upon hard times and was bought out. The company was renamed and the Flexon design was archived and eventually sold. It bounced around from company to company until in 2006 Full Tilt purchased the molds and began manufacturing the old design.

These boots were made to be lighter, cheaper, warmer, more comfortable, and easier to take on and off than the standard 2-piece boot. Ski magazines and reviewers began to rave about the boot and its fantastic design. Finally, in 2012 I broke down and decided to buy a pair for myself. I should have known right away that they were not a good purchase because I had to buy and return three different pairs before I could get a pair that fit correctly. After finally getting boots that fit, I immediately went out for a day on the slopes.

Three-Piece Boot vs. Two-Piece Boot

Unfortunately, I soon discovered other flaws in the boots design. Because of the boots use of cables and adjusting buckles it became very easy for the buckle to become frozen after a day of skiing. Once the buckle froze, it became impossible to adjust and once unbuckled, couldn't be buckled again until it was thawed. This was extremely annoying for me as I like to adjust my boots throughout the day and unbuckle them when I ride the chairlift.

Throughout the remainder of the season, I encountered more problems including broken buckles, cables becoming too loose, uncomfortable footbeds, and a lack of stiffness in the boot. I tried to fix these problems with replacement parts but to no avail. The following season I purchased a new pair of boots that have withstood the past three seasons without needing any more than a few new buckles.

In conclusion, I think it is very interesting how a crowd mentality like the one that led me to purchase a product that wasn't right for me can lead so many people to make poor decisions. This can be related to the book Nudge as this desire to fall in with the herd likely "nudged" me into such a poor purchasing decision.


via GIPHY