How to Advertise for World Peace

What is happening to the world?! Natural calamities, killings here and there, even the slightest sibling rivalries (Yes, to all you millennials reading this, I’m talking about Logan and Jake Paul on Youtube) filmed and broadcast for the world to see. We see it all. Thanks to the Internet and media.

Thanks or no thanks? Well, humans are naturally curious beings that instinctually prioritise survival. Our survival instincts drive us to explore our environment, and since we live on this planet, we’re curious to know everything that’s happening around us and even everything in the world – that’s most likely why we have world news in every country. We are all one species after all.

With the vast number of horrible things happening, I’d like to focus on the well-talked about “One Love Manchester” concert that happened last Monday. The details are all over the Internet but in a nutshell, a terrorist attack occurred during Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester two weeks ago, and thanks to the Internet again, it wasn’t hard to find out how much the attack shook the young lady. Ariana then stated that “we won’t let hate win”, thus holding the concert to honour the victims of the attack. Her words about not letting hate win got me to thinking, if all of us were to operate with love – what a world it would be.

I know it sounds so cliché but think about it. In my opinion, there are only two things that hinder us from achieving peace: indifference and hate.

Let’s talk about indifference. There are heaps of individuals who simply don’t care anymore. Taking your own path is good, but whatever happened to empathy? If we cared enough for each other, setting aside our own beliefs, race, and culture and simply accepting that we all have one thing in common: we are all human beings. If we all realise this and cared enough to let it matter to us, the world will automatically be a better place.

The second one: hate, the more daunting hindrance of world peace. Need I say more? Although, a friend once told me that hate can be a good thing – hatred of something bad – because having an immense amount of passion for disliking something means that you love its exact opposite. It’s not applicable for everything but take the hatred of war for example. Hating war means that you love peace. However, how many of us even contribute to peace at all? I’m always on social media – it’s part of my job. But to be honest, there are times that I don’t want to have personal social media accounts anymore because of all the negativity and chaos. The majority simply complain about how messed up this world has become adding more hate in a space accessible by everyone. I tend to think that you should either say something good or don’t say anything at all!

Admittedly, this blog piece has become more and more of a challenge as I’m writing it because of the realisation that I have become one of those indifferent individuals. I do my best not to contribute to the negativity in my personal social media accounts and I only ever try to spread positivity through the work I produce.

Let me tell you about that other world: The World of Advertising! Full of wonder, art, and the occasional pun. A powerful tool that persuades and influences individuals, mainly to purchase a product or service but I believe it does so much more than that. Advertising has the capability to alter people’s perspectives and when the real world is as chaotic as it is right now, it wouldn’t hurt to use advertising to change the minds of individuals about certain things.

What if advertising becomes the voice of people who were/are hurt? What if advertising is used to send hope and love instead of it merely disseminating information? The question now is how? Is it even possible? I ask this because advertising is used to get something in return but what this world needs right now is selflessness.

Advertising can be used to dig up love in people’s hearts. Call me crazy for thinking it’s possible, but I believe it is. If advertisers can persuade people to buy fidget spinners, I think advertisers can indeed convince everyone to choose love and not let hate win. (If only they were willing to do this without asking for anything in return.)

Selfless advertising should be a thing, don’t you think? For every ad, a message of love and hope should be advertised as well. That’s how you advertise for world peace. Will you be willing to do this? I challenge you to do so.