PART 3: WE CAN DO THIS

In the past couple weeks, I’ve posted about videos that address big, systemic problems like poverty, gun violence, lack of access to clean water. In the third and final installment of this series, I give you several more videos that tackle big problems. The enormity of the problems — a billion people with no access to clean water, or even more living in extreme poverty — is part of the attraction, as if they say, “you can be part of a historic movement to eradicate this problem.” The videos make an emotional connection with the viewer, not least of all through music.

Here’s a video from an organization called The Life You Can Save, founded by philosopher Peter Singer and encouraging altruism to end extreme poverty. It makes a direct appeal to the viewer that is at once intellectual and emotional. “You” are the subject of the video.

This video from charity: water tells the story of several villages in Malawi that banded together to build “the road that changed everything.” Unlike last week’s video, this one hardly feature’s the organization’s staff, but puts the villagers front and center — they’re building the road, they’re getting the clean water. The organization’s Director of Digital, Paull Young, has spoken of “how to build a brand that people don’t buy, they join.”

The above video from The Girl Effect, like last week’s, uses music and animation to encourage viewers to feel they can be part of a great global solution to poverty. The message is substantially the same in both videos, but the music here is even more upbeat.