Hollywood Popular Artists

Apr 5th 2012, 23:10 HPEGSJYXR53S

When your cat meme goes viral, the media doesn't generally hound you for facts about how you cast the lead felines or why they are so pants-crappin' cute or who paid for their tiny spacesuits. But when a popular nonprofit makes a 30 minute video about a gruesome African warlord who kidnaps children to force them into his rebel army as soldiers or sex slaves -- and the film has been viewed over 104 million times-- it's a whole other kitten caboodle. (Okay, extended lolcat metaphor over.)

And that's why Invisible Children's KONY 2012 campaign has experienced unprecedented worldwide attention ever since it blew up -- and backlashed -- in historic proportions last month. The insane viral nature of the effort, which was fueled by targeted twitter-lobbying of celebs like Rihanna, Stephen Colbert and Justin Beiber, earned it prime real estate in the news cycle.  Then the cause -- capturing Kony -- became sloppy seconds to the ruthless dissection of the org itself, especially its young founders. Within days, it became super hard to tell where the good ol' media watchdoggin' ended and the TMZ tabloid BS began.
No doubt, serious academics and experts were dissin' IC for dangerously over-simplifying the issue and putting flashy First World advocacy over on-the-ground relief, so KONY 2012 was certainly on the defense. And they've finally created a formal comeback with their update video, KONY 2012: Part II - Beyond Famous:
So watch. Maybe wait a sec before you flood your Twitter feed or post to FB. Just marinate. Weigh the fact that the African Union is now sending 5,000 troops after Kony less than a month after the first video hit the Internet. Remember some of the smart media lessons our boy Adrian Grenier is preaching. Consider your power to spread and shape a message. Think about whether you and your crew will join IC on April 20th with a "Cover The Night" awareness push in your hood. Then tell us -- what's your next move when it comes to KONY 2012?
Are you supporting #Kony2012?

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