The Cigarette That Saved Lives
“An ad worth spreading is an ad that people truly want to see and share. It might be hilariously funny or stunningly beautiful or wickedly clever. It might encapsulate a killer idea or promote an inspiring cause, or tell a captivtaing story. Whatever it may be it is one that succeeds at elevating th ecraft of online engagement.” - TED
South African non profit, The DNA Project, has an ad in the running for the TED Ads Worth Sharing Top Ten Challenge. The inclusion of “The Cigarette That Saved Lives” is a huge accolade for the creative team behind the ad: FoxP2 and Egg Films.
We think it definitely meets the criteria of the challenge. It it short (one minute) but powerful. Click on the image below (it will take you to the relevant TED YouTube page) and take a look for yourself. If you agree, click the “Vote for this” button below the ad. While the votes don’t necessarily determine the selection of the top 10 ads, they do let the organisers know what the crowd favorites are.
About the DNA Project
After the murder of her father, John, Vanessa Lynch wanted to find a way in which to make a meaningful contribution towards alleviating crime. After assessment of successful systems worldwide, one solution stood out: the implementation and development of a National DNA Criminal Intelligence Database.
The DNA Project works to advance justice through expanded use of DNA evidence in conjunction with a national DNA criminal intelligence database, also known as a ‘National DNA Database’. The aim is to see its efforts translated into a comprehensive use of DNA analysis for crime detection and prevention in South Africa, which is limited in South Africa at present due to a number of factors. One of these is a lagging awareness by government. For instance, there are only 120 000 DNA profiles on its National DNA Database; due to a government restriction, only crimes that have a suspect can be processed and entered into the database.
Read more about the TED Ads Worth Sharing initiative at the TED website, or at the DNA Project Blog.
Learn more about the DNA Project at their website.
There is another issue with the DNA dbteae, where it is argued that the potential criminal will be DNA aware and it is argued that would be a deterrent.The opposite side of the coin is that criminals already set fire to cars, as one instance to get rid of clues. We could find that fire is used more. Therefore to that type of person it is not a deterrent but it makes for greater loss.There is also an argument that the police may rely too heavily on DNA and not look for other clues, for instance when blood is found at a scene to collect the sample but not follow the trail of blood.It is one of a number of tools available to police but police are heavily driven by internal pressures to do the minimum and DNA falls into that category. DNA collection can have maximum effect if the person who left DNA is on the Database. If the person is not on the database, it may have been better to have followed the trail of blood.