Ellisism

Practical Action ‘Fat of the Land (launch)’: a Quiet Storm production from Quiet Storm on Vimeo.

Like it or not, this is a strange and compelling way to dramatize something. What it is, isn’t clear until you dig into the story. This entire parody is meant to lead you to the charity Practical Action, which discourages traditional forms of relief in favour of more sustainable action.

Quiet Storm, description: Written, produced and directed by Quiet Storm, for Practical Action. There is an obvious irony in asking the overindulged West for handouts to give to the poverty stricken Third World. But we decided to grab this particular bull by the horns, with our first work for the charity Practical Action, encouraging people to donate their fat to those in need through a process of reverse liposuction.

In this, it’s original form, there was no direct link to Practical Action. Instead people were encouraged to visit the Klaxon Institute, pioneers of this new form of aid.

Following the link to Practical Action, you get this explanation of the event.

We hope you enjoyed our spoof video. It was created to provoke debate and get people thinking about development in a different way.

Donating your fat is an interesting idea but it couldn’t ever work – people want to be independent and be able to help themselves rather than rely on others.

At Practical Action we don’t believe that any imposed solutions are what’s needed to alleviate poverty. Whether it’s reverse liposuction or something else.

Although emergency aid is vital, particularly in the wake of natural disasters, we want to raise awareness of the importance of long-term, practical solutions rather than imposed short term ones, to help poor people escape poverty forever.

This spot came out over a year ago. What makes it more interesting now is the release of emails to and from the individuals responsible for creating the fake fat used in the spot.

Harper’s Magazine published ”emails exchanged by employees of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, regarding the city’s “Pouring on the Pounds” campaign against sugary beverages, developed with the advertising agency Bandujo. The campaign’s videos launched onDecember 14, 2009. Thomas Farley is the city’s health commissioner. The department released the emails last year following a Freedom of Information Act request.” (Harper’s Magazine Jan. 2011)