Amnesty Switzerland spins the current tech trend for facial recognition into a call to action in their latest campaign to free an innocent journalist.
A new film on social media and TV featuring dozens of diverse people seeks to play along with the amazing things that your face can now do — such as unlock your phone or find your perfect partner. However, viewers are soon in for a surprise when the film changes tac and states that your face can even help free an innocent man. The man in question is Chadian online activist and father of seven, Tadjadine Mahamat Babouri, commonly known as Mahadine, who was imprisoned and tortured for a Facebook post. In conclusion, the film encourages people to now do something truly amazing with your face — something of real value.
The teaser is part of Amnesty’s integrated I’M HERE campaign, centred around the amnesty.ch/ImHere online hub where activists can get involved by uploading their face. Social media and offline posters featuring individual’s faces under the headline I’M HERE are then generated, each one pledging their support for Mahadine.
More than 1,000 faces were uploaded prior to the launch on Tuesday 27th November. Every face uploaded then becomes a tile in a large mosaic of Mahadine’s face, demonstrating that thousands of people care about Mahadine and his family. The hope is that this coordinated effort will pressure the Chadian government to affect Mahadine’s release from prison.
