NOT A BUG SPLAT

Silver Spike

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleNOT A BUG SPLAT
BrandREPRIEVE / FOUNDATION FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Product / ServiceDRONE STRIKES COLLATERAL DAMAGE AWARENESS
CategoryA01. Posters
EntrantBBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Entrant Company BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Advertising Agency BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Production Company BRAVE NEW FILMS Culver City, USA

Credits

Name Company Position
Assam Khalid BBDO Pakistan Strategic Planning Director
Ali Rez BBDO Pakistan Creative Director/Concept
Aamir Allibhoy BBDO Pakistan General Manager
Saks Afridi Artist
Akash Goel Coordinator
Insiya Syed Photographer
Jamil Akhtar Photographer
J R Photographer/Artist
Imran Arif Khan Photographer
Noor Behram Photographer
Sana Nasir Illustrator
Qasim Nagori 18% Grey Retoucher
Zeeshan Parwez Zeepar Editor
Faisal Durrani BBDO Pakistan Deputy General Manager
Sohaib Zahid Umar BBDO Pakistan Planning Manager
Farooq Niaz Producer
Ovais Suhail Producer

Brief Explanation

Drone operators sitting thousands of miles away rely on images captured from a drone or satellite camera to monitor ground activity. To them, from that far above, most humans appear as tiny insects scurrying around - hence the military phrase 'Bug Splats' to describe casualties. We needed to change this insensitivity brought about due to the distance, and create empathy and understanding.

The Brief

Since 2004, drone strikes in Pakistan have killed an estimated 3500+ people, a disturbing percentage of which have been innocent civilians. Including more than 200 children. The Foundation for Fundamental Rights has been working to raise awareness of this crisis. Drone operators routinely describe their casualties as 'Bug Splats' since viewing a human from far above gives the sense of an insect being crushed. Our strategy was to not only address pilots directly and create dialogue, but also raise awareness globally of this otherwise ignored human-rights issue.

How the final design was conceived

We decided to speak directly to drone operators. A large-scale portrait of a child affected by an attack was laid on the ground facing up in the heavily bombed area of NorthWestern Pakistan, so a drone camera could capture and transmit it directly to an operator's screen, thereby engaging them in a direct dialogue. To raise awareness, the campaign - part of French artist JR's Inside Out movement - was put online with the hashtag #NotABugSplat and a website with information about drone strikes. The poster is also designed to be photographed by mapping satellites.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

We went viral overnight around the world. Thousands of tweets, dozens of blogs, and massive coverage in the world press spread awareness rapidly. 104 million impressions in the news and 11 million impressions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram helped us gain $2,000,000+ in earned media. The news was tweeted by members of National Assembly of Pakistan, who have raised the concern of drone strikes with the International Court of Justice. Rights activists in Yemen and USA have also picked up the campaign. And a new US Government Accountability report indicates that negative publicity is now affecting pilot morale.