Amnesty asked Digital Eskimo to promote online the tour of a life-sized replica of David Hicks’ cell across Australia.
Digital Eskimo took the message further and broadcast visitors’ heartfelt messages via YouTube and our custom designed flash site. This formed the basis for the online strategy of the Close Guantanamo campaign which promoted a life-sized replica of David Hicks’ cell across Australia.
Workshops with Amnesty highlighted that the essence of the project was empathy. The cell allowed ordinary Australians to understand on an emotional level what David Hicks had experienced in the previous five years.
The cell would reach hundreds of people and effect them deeply, however we wanted to broadcast this emotion across the nation. A webcam in the cell allowed visitors to leave a heart felt message for the world to see. The system then uploaded the video to YouTube for Amnesty staff to moderate.
The results were stunning. Hundreds of heartfelt videos made it onto the web and into social media spaces effectively neutering the government’s legal arguments and helping to move public opinion in favor of bringing David Hicks home to a fair trial.