KONY 2012

Non-profit organization Invisible Children Inc. have made themselves very visible with their viral online campaign KONY 2012. For the uninitiated, KONY 2012 is a campaign focused on the capture and removal of Ugandan guerrilla group leader and head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. The aim of the organization is to promote Kony and make a big enough fuss about it that the American government sends in

On February 20th 2012, Invisible Children released a video documentary on Vimeo highlighting the crimes of Joseph Kony and urged people to contribute to the campaign to remove Kony. The methods for contribution include making Kony famous through social media and writing requests to government.

Here is the youtube version of the documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

The Kony 2012 campaign has seemingly been a success with the video on Vimeo notching 7 million views in two weeks and the youtube version currently at over 80 million views. Notable celebrities have also endorsed the campaign such as Justin Bieber.

Twitter has also featured trending hashtags including #Kony2012 and #StopKony.

The Kony 2012 campaign is an example of a media campaign gone viral and every piece of promotional material for Kony be it a tweet or poster can be considered a unique meme furthering the cause Invisible Children are fighting for.