A few days ago I noticed this interesting new video ‘You Are Powerful‘ from Amnesty International, driven by a message that every individual can affect human rights change. The video shows multiple scenes of human rights abuse, some of them with individuals who stepped in to stop the abuse.   After each of these quick scnes, those same individuals are then seen in a peaceful environment, facing the camera and looking serious and proud.

I think the ad is effective, but I’m sorry that there isn’t an opportunity to learn more. Were the incidents real, or are the individuals and their acts supposed to be representative of people who do stand up for human rights? If they are real, I want an opportunity to read or hear more about their stories. Where was the incident? Why were they there? How were they able to get past the fear for their own personal safety, in the action that they took? What were the repercussions for doing what they did? How can they safely go public with these stories? How do they feel now about their actions, looking back?  What’s the story about how the video came to be?  How did they find the people who risked their lives doing these things, often in such mayhem?

Couldn’t find answers with a quick search on Amnesty International’s main site.

I think it’s a strong, effective ad, but also that they’re missing out on an opportunity to engage citizens and potential advocates at the moment they’re most interested.