This video brought tears to my eyes and I didn’t even understand a word that was said. The visuals alone tell a heart warming story of compassion. It has had 9 million views in 3 days and has apparently raised 2.1 million NOK, which is approximately £200,000. A couple of questions spring to mind:
1. What has made so many people share this video? Is it because they can relate to the child in their own environment whereas images of ‘distant others’ (those freezing in Syria) do not stimulate a similar response? What has made this image of a Norwegian child who is temporarily very cold cut through the usual compassion fatigue?
2. At first I thought that £200,000 was an amazing response, and it many ways it is. BUT, this video has been watched by nearly 10 million people. That’s a donation of 2 pence per person. It makes you realise how hard fundraising really is. There are thousands of NGO/Charity videos made every year. This video has been incredibly successful by achieving this level of virality in 3 days. But still the actual donations are relatively small.
It proves that you don’t need celebrities to go viral, what you need is good storytelling techniques to supress apathy. But how we get more people to donate is another story all together.
Synne Rønning, from SOS Norway helped to create the video. She says, “The campaign has worked as an eye opener – people who watch it ask themselves: What would I do? The goal was to touch upon the fear of becoming numb to crises that don’t affect you directly”
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