Anwar Ali

Advocacy Campaign

David Suzuki Foundation

Advocacy often runs the risk of being of being preachy or condescending, or both.

No one likes to be told what to do. The approach here was to present outcomes for routine behaviour—in this case, printing hard copies of digital files—and to remind the audience of the consequences.

There is no imperative in the language, but rather a reminder that the more we print, the greater the impact that we'll have on the environment.

A more conventional approach would have been to show nature. But when we're busy in front of a printer and faced with a task at hand, thoughts about pretty landscapes are a distraction.

The decision to show a keyboard brings more immediacy to the subject. The intention is to target the subconscious with a message every time we're looking at our keyboard preparing to send a job to the printer.

It's often a bold choice to focus on language rather than pictures. In this case, the words border along the lines of guilt-tripping; but, ultimately, they respect the viewers' ability to make informed decisions.