Wikileaks: Priceless

It’s Friday! Fun, fun, fun, fun!

I like parodies and satires and things that generally poke fun. A days ago we looked at Greenpeace’s take on VW’s ‘The Force’. It successfully took the tone of its target and simply replaced the message. Australia is now having a crack with very similar approaches…

Earlier in the week political activist group ‘GetUp‘ released a video parodying a Harvey Norman commercial. The clip claimed that the furniture store was responsible for the destruction of native woodlands. If you aren’t paying attention it’s easy for this video to pass as a real Harvey Norman commercial, all the traits are there, booming voice-over, cheap effects and reeeeeverb. The fall out has been that Harvey Norman CEO Gerry Harvey has threatened to remove his huge marketing budget from any broadcaster who plays the GetUp clip. This has left online as the only avenue for furthering the message. In one week the clip has been viewed 80,000 times on YouTube directing traffic to the NoHaveryNo website.

Wikileaks has also jumped on the parody bandwagon with today’s video. In December both Mastercard and Visa initiated a blockade to restrict financial assistance sent to Wikileaks. In a brilliant move, Wikileaks has chosen to re-appropriate the well known Mastercard ‘Priceless’ campaign, in which they attack the credit card company, reveal their financial plight and take ownership on global civil unrest. Julian Assange also makes a cameo from the confines of his house arrest.

Happy Friday!

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