I have it. You don't have it.

Showing a scissors with the image of Mickey Mouse, an annoying boy disdains: “I have it, you don’t have it”. This Brazilian video of the early 1990’s is reminded until nowadays as example of both successful and polemic campaign.

However, what was once considered unethical may be transformed into something good? An emotional video produced for a campaign recently launched by Abrace (Brazilian Association for Assistance of Families of Children with Cancer) shows that the answer is yes.

The ends of the campaigns (profit vs. health aid) are not what differentiate both videos, but the attitude of the communicator in relation to the audience. Kenneth (cited in Baker and Martison, 2002) argues that a persuasion can be ethical if the communicator is concerned in bring about “voluntary change in the attitudes and/or actions of…receivers”. In this sense, rather than manipulate or play upon the vulnerabilities of the target, the communicator should be committed with ethical principles such as respect and equity (Baker and Martison, 2002).

In the first video there are evidence of manipulation, since the children – that are the target of the campaign – are induced to ask their parents to buy the scissors, otherwise they would be mocked by those who have the product. In contrast, in the second video the potential donors are treated with respect, since there are no threats such as ‘the kid is going to die, if you don’t help’ or ‘you are not a good person, if you don’t donate’. 

In other words, while in the first video the audience is being “treated merely as a means to an end”, in the second video, the audience is being recognised “as ends in themselves” (Jaksa and Pritchard cited in Baker and Martison, 2002). Therefore, in Abrace’s video the dichotomy ‘I have it. You don’t have it’ rather than causes discomfort by undermining the audience, causes empathy with those that are suffering with cancer and need financial help to their treatments.

November 23. National day of fight against infant-juvenile cancer.
Abrace launches campaign produced for over than 20 professionals from Federal District voluntarily.

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Subtitles in both videos were included by this blog. To see the original videos, click here and here.

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Reference:

Baker, S. & D.L. Martinson (2002). Out of the red-light district: five principles for ethically proactive public relations. Public Relations Quarterly 47 (3): 15-19