Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ADVERTISING COMPANY DDB New York has created an ad for the Haitian charity “Water Is Life” using tweets with the ”#Firstworldproblems” hashtag which complain about life’s trivial challenges.
In the video (below), ordinary Haitians — standing amid shanty huts, broken school buses and wrecked buildings — read tweets complaining about phone cords that won’t reach their beds, and leather car seats that aren’t heated.
The effect is both funny and moving, especially when a young boy intones, “I hate it when I tell them no pickles, and they still give me pickles.” The expression on his face is a mixture of disgust, humiliation and disbelief at the idea that in someone else’s life there are apparently too many pickles.
Other iterations take individual tweets — such as “When the AC in your office is blasting in October” — and pass them on to Haitians for their reaction.
“We’re not setting out to humiliate people who have used the #FirstWorldProblems hashtag,” said Matt Eastwood, chief creative officer at DDB New York, in a statement. But the same statement also said DDB is “attempting to eliminate the #FirstWorldProblems hashtag on Twitter.” Which might just miss the intention of some tweeters who use the #FirstWorldProblems hashtag to point out that such ‘problems’ are not problems at all.
via Hgtdthfy/youtube
What do you think of the ad – is it effective?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say