Turns out you can’t just come up with a great idea that involves Star Wars and throw it up online. A couple weeks ago a friend of mine who does webdesign posted this nifty little video by Greenpeace that went after Volkswagen for ignoring climate protocols and contributing to Global Warming. The video was a great play on the hilarious earlier video by VW featuring a little kid dressed as Darth Vader who tried to use the dark side of the force to start/move objects. Here are the two videos:
The Greenpeace crew (known for innovative pop culture campaigns) had built an entire website around the video. When I initially watched it I was both impressed and surprised. Had Lucasfilms really licensed their soundtrack to Greenpeace to use? Looks like they hadn’t and that Greenpeace really has gone “rogue” (pun-intended). When I checked back earlier today to the original link YouTube link I’d shared, here’s what I found:
Bummer, but perhaps expected? I wonder what the Greenpeace video producers were thinking. Had they an agreement with Lucasfilms? Did they figure they wouldn’t be censored? Are they now being sued right now? Was it worth the hassle of producing this video for such a short YouTube lifespan? How big a role did VW have in pushing all of this?
More importantly, how do you feel about their guerrilla marketing this way? Is it ok to use other’s intellectual property or do you think Greenpeace was dastardly?
This is actually really interesting — it is a digital version of the publicity stunts that Greenpeace does with whaling, tar sands, hanging banners off buildings, etc. An ultra clever attempt to raise the digital profile of a campaign. In theory this will sponge off the success of the original commercial, get interviews on Q, the daily show, etc.
Successful? (You wrote about it…!)
However, I think that sadly like the real-world stunts, it will polarize the subject. If this had been a lower-profile organization, would it have been banned as quickly? If it was a comedy spoof, would that have been ok? Or does its serious environmentalism make it more subject to censure?
If your friend had a hand in it, amazing.
Just checked — 210K people send VW a message — 45K liked on FB. Does this mean a success?