“Truth” exists, but sometimes it is difficult to see, and for this reason it is often overlooked. In order to confront this, there are movements to properly face and truly understand what truth is and “visualize” what should be discussed to once again show it to the world. “The Lost Class” is one of these movements.

In the United States, gun violence is one of the major causes of death for children and teens, and support for gun control is gaining momentum. But as you know, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other organizations are spending much more than those that support gun control and take countermeasures to some of these efforts, so political progress has been slow. However, if you face a modern problem and face the “truth,” you will naturally be able to decide what actions you should take. Here, an effort was made to shed light on a certain truth that many turn a blind eye to— the fact that 3,044 high school students were killed by guns and could not graduate in 2021— by showing a haunting scene of thousands of empty white chairs. The students who could not graduate were called “The Lost Class,” and a graduation ceremony was held with no students to attend. The former president of the NRA and the author of the book “More Guns, Less Crime” were invited to the graduation ceremony to give speeches. They believed that they were attending a real graduation rehearsal and began their speeches to the students who would never attend. The bizarre and ironic footage was recorded and immediately distributed throughout the country. The footage was widely shared online and in the news, making more people check online sites that present more detailed information about the actual situation of “The Lost Class” and gun violence in the US. It finally led to the signing of a petition in support of gun control, which eventually obtained 40,000 signatures. Together, it achieved 1.4 billion hits, starting with numerous reports and including social media. The number of references to the organization “Change the Ref” recorded was more than 21 times in two weeks. Manuel Oliver, the representative of “Change the Ref”, also lost his 17-year-old son in a mass shooting incident.

The way the campaign visualized the truth was what made it excellent. There were 3044 empty white chairs orderly lined up on a green field under a blue sky, and they almost looked like tombstones. The shock of witnessing the fact that so many students lost their lives in gun-related incidents in one year must have been indescribable. The advocates for carrying guns made their joyful speeches in front of the empty venue. This contrast is like a real-life version of the real satirical drawings we see in the media, which further added to the irony. It may be difficult to imagine the scale of the fact just by numbers, and it is often easier to imagine it if we visualize it in this way. Now that the channels from which information is spread, such as social media, are here, “visualization” will become an increasingly powerful tool.

I would like to introduce another excellent example of “visualization”. “Liquid Billboard” launched by Adidas to increase the opportunities for women to freely enjoy swimming in public places in the Middle East and North Africa.

Around 32 percent of women in the world are reluctant to swim in public. In the Middle East, that figure jumps to 88%. In a society where swimming or wearing a swimsuit in public is not seen as “normal,” women are unable to enjoy swimming as a sport or as a hobby. Usually, “water” is used to express freedom. But in these regions, women often find things that stop or limit what they can do due to cultural norms or a lack of confidence in their own bodies.

In order to make inclusive swimwear that can be used regardless of body shape, ethnicity, ability, or religion popular, Adidas built a large billboard-shaped pool on the seashore that was 5 meters high and 3 meters deep, providing 11500 gallons of water that was opened to the public as a swimming pool so that women can swim freely. A special underwater camera was installed there, and every woman’s experience was converted into original Adidas posters, which were streamed live on the city’s largest digital display in the Dubai Mall. Until then, it was usually athletes and models who were the main subjects of films, swimming freely in swimsuits. However, now many people could see women similar to themselves who weren't afraid of showing their bodies. It must have been a truly great moment when the women could feel free from their inhibitions.

This remarkable achievement of showing how women enjoyed swimming in a huge pool set on the seashore on a digital screen in the Dubai Mall, one of the world's largest malls, can be used in various ways as a dynamic “visualization” idea. This showed the “truth” that each woman wanted to enjoy swimming, which is also an achievement worth mentioning. You may not be able to give your opinion if you are alone, but if you have some friends who share the same opinion, it will gather more attention and influence society. It can be said that this campaign provided an opportunity to create such an influence. It was not a one-sided message from the manufacturer but a stance toward realizing the message together with the target consumers. The campaign was firmly rooted in the idea of promotional activities, where the recipient of the information creates a narrative of how each consumer perceived and felt about it, which is truly amazing. The message reached 350 million people in over 60 countries and achieved an engagement rate of 17.7% on social media.

Finally, I would like to share with you two examples that I am interested in from a creative point of view that can show us how buried "truth" can be materialized. The first is “PORTUGUESE (RE)CONSTITUTION” of Penguin Random House, the world's largest publisher headquartered in New York. The publisher is a global company headquartered in the US, but in Portugal, this publisher focuses on influential Portuguese writers However, it was not recognized as a publisher rooted in the local community. When the publisher was looking for a project that could show its knowledge of and love for Portuguese culture, it came up with the idea to publish “PORTUGUESE (RE)CONSTITUTION.”

The Carnation Revolution, which broke out in 1974, was a bloodless revolution that overthrew Portugal's 48 years of dictatorship. The rejoicing citizens handed carnations to the soldiers of the revolutionary army, and the soldiers put them in the gun muzzle. This is why it is called the Carnation Revolution. The book celebrates the free world of today, remembering the Portuguese who lived for more than 40 years under the fascist dictatorship that tortured and killed thousands of people and the artists who have been subjected to severe censorship. The motif chosen was the “blue pencil” used to censor the artist, and it plays an important role as a symbol of oppression.

Designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, a book was made by eleven contemporary artists using blue pencils and the technique of blackout poetry (a piece of writing that is created through erasure) that consists of poems extracted and created from the historical document, the Fascist Constitution, and 58 illustrations created by covering the remaining unused words with “blue pencil.” The book that symbolized oppression was reborn as a manifesto for the art of enjoying freedom. The campaign name “Reconstruction” is a publishing terminology that means to “re-edit.” something. Each illustrator received a page, on which the remaining words selected by the poet are written, and used the remaining space to draw original illustrations with blue pencils. It took six months for the poets to select each word from the text and complete it as a new poem, and six months for the illustrator to leave those words and fill the other spaces with illustrations, for a total of one year. With 2,500 copies, the book is sold in large chain bookstores and quickly became a bestseller. It is now a part of the permanent collection of the Aljube Museum in the former political prison and is used in the schools of Portugal to tell the history of the revolution through art

The other example, “Blacked Out History,” seems similar to the previous one, but the way it is expressed is interestingly different. “Documents where almost all the faces are blacked out” appear, which are like the ones you may have seen in Japanese political news.

African Canadians have made important contributions to Canadian history for more than 400 years, but their stories are hardly included in the educational curriculum. Their existence is naturally concealed, and the existence of black people was treated as if they did not exist. This means that even the currently existing Afro-Canadians are denied. Despite this identity problem, educators in Ontario, Canada, were completely unaware of it. So, the Ontario Black History Society, a Toronto-based organization dedicated to preserving and promoting black history and heritage, sought ways to make Ontario education policymakers aware of the alarming lack of black history education.

According to the preliminary survey, it was found that only 13 of the 255 pages of history textbooks for the current eighth grade (first grade of junior high school in Japan) contain stories about black people. Its history and activities were the same as being “blacked out.” Therefore, as a way to visually show how distorted this history curriculum is, they “blacked out” the parts other than those related to black people in order to express this disparity. The blacked out part filled most of the pages of the textbook and the textbook became almost useless. With this visualization, the problem became undeniably obvious and shocking, so everyone quickly understood what it was trying to say. This fact, accompanied by the hashtag “#BlackedOutHistory”, has spread across the country, and the simple textbook problem has expanded to a big movement stepping into the problem of the social environment that has concealed the “truth” of history and the problem of the relevant parties who have neglected it.

It is also worth noting that the Ontario Black History Society thoroughly analyzed who to target and what to do to change the existing system in order to achieve the desired results and developed a strategy. Prior to taking action, the society directly interviewed government officials to confirm what steps the diet will take to change existing rules and what motivates policymakers to do so. As a result, they conducted three actions as follows: (1) identify a circle of influencers, such as the media, voters, political opponents, and activist groups, in order to get policymakers to take action. (2) clearly state relationships with issues (e.g., equality) that Canadians are already passionate about, and (3) deliver an easy-to-share message to ensure that all groups can take up the issue quickly and effectively. These are the basic strategies. They then sent the “blacked out” textbooks along with individual letters to top media outlets, educators, activist groups, opposition Diet members, and influential politicians, including the ultimate target, the Minister of Education, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. After that, the hashtag “#BlackedOutHistory” was spread, and the shocking visuals resonated with consumers who were exposed to the issue through the campaign support video. It was also featured in various news media, receiving 5.6 million online impressions and a positive sentiment score of 90%. Educators and teachers’ unions in Ontario have voluntarily acquired Blacked Out textbooks and used them to teach students about prejudice, and textbook publishers have begun to review their policies and textbook writing processes. Most importantly, policymakers focused on the issue and published the photo on social media, where the MPP (members of the Provincial Parliament) posed with the blacked-out textbook. Jill Andrews of the MPP delivered a speech on the subject. Currently, the opposition parties have begun lobbying for a change in the educational curriculum.

What I want to learn from in terms of communication is the setting of the outcome. Even if we temporarily topicalize the issue and change the minds of consumers and society a little more positively, it will end up as a momentary movement. This is the age we live in, where there is just so much eye-catching information. The fake news I introduced at the beginning of this article is also part of the mass amounts of information we see. If you find a starting point that can give a clue, you must clarify how to lead it to the final result at the beginning of action as a KPI or KGI design of the communication. It is critical to ensure that the action does not become topicalized. There are many cases where we become satisfied with topicalization and do not connect the action to the next move. There will no longer be interest from society if the timing is off, even if we carry out the same action later. It's also important to have the latest information. On the other hand, trying to change existing rules and systems may seem like a big deal and a tremendous attempt. It may seem ridiculous to set the goal such as “change the system, change the rules”. However, if a petition with tens of thousands of signatures can be obtained, it can be taken up in Congress, and it will be a good opportunity for a solid debate on the pros and cons of the petition. In addition, if there are a large number of such people, politicians who do not consider the issue as the people’s opinion will be at risk. In this example, such strategic steps were firmly built and implemented. This indicates the public affairs activity (that is how it is called in terms of promotional activities) is incorporated into the foundation.

There is only one “truth.” It can be seen from what we talked about that the truth is not always presented and is not always a clear indicator of people's actions. Furthermore, the “truth” changes its form depending on the position of each person, and it also appears and fades depending on the flow of time. However, if we need some kind of signpost to live our daily lives, our attitude of pursuing the truth will never be wasted. Each of us can think and discuss, and if even the slightest thing in common is found between us, we can use that as a starting point to increase the things we have in common. What we must avoid is to give up, evade, and neglect. There is no doubt that the will and the action to search for the “truth” and present it are the driving forces behind the new encounters, and this force should be strong.

So far, I have selected and introduced good examples of communication. However, I feel that there are also cases where the pursuit of “truth” leads to unnecessary argument. The pursuit of truth is important, but I question making a fuss out of nothing, like with what we see from gossip about celebrities. Depending on our point of view, it could be said that this is the attitude of journalism. It is a good thing for a company to focus on the area of social issues and take actions in order to set forth the company’s purpose and lead society in a good direction. However, it is not good to provoke arguments in society in order to topicalize the issue. When a company is strongly demanded brand activism by the society and is trying to start some initiatives, it is not good to criticize its immaturity and past failures immediately after the start. These reactions can be seen nowadays, but they would hinder the start of good action. Our North Star is to lead the whole world in a better direction, but not to be too hasty, not to be radical, and not to be single-minded by only focusing on the purpose, and it is desirable to consider not leaving the relevant people behind.