For the youngglory competition.
Eva Van Den Bulcke | Round 6
Judge: Eva Van Den Bulcke, Co-Creative Director and Partner, Sid Lee Montreal
Released: March 1, 2013
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2013
My idea:
I didn't want to pick a side so much as to have a discussion. My theme is the circus. A cirus travel around performing the same show over and over as we do with the war on drugs. We change some little things here and there, but we continue putting on the same show.
New trickets are not the answer, but a new show might just change things.
Tag: "THE SHOW MUST GO ON, BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO BUY THIS TICKET."
Brief
We need to talk... Don’t we all fear this sentence! When put together, these four words become the bearer of bad news. They impose change upon us: change we are not prepared for and change we spontaneously disagree on. They make our defense mechanisms kick in and demand status quo.
We need to refuse the status quo and focus on the positive change brought by the dreadful We need to talk... This sentence should be seen as nothing more, nothing less than the promise of a solution to a problem that can no longer be ignored.
So here’s the problem we need to talk about: After four decades since President Nixon declared the war on drugs and after $1 trillion spent, we need to face the truth: The war on drugs is a total failure.
Sir Richard Branson and experts all agree that the most sensible policy is to regulate, educate and treat the problem as a health problem and not a criminal problem, but politicians are afraid to touch the issue. A Global Commission on Drugs including Sir Richard Branson and former heads of state are breaking the political taboo and calling for new approaches including decriminalization and regulation of drugs.
While the Global Commission on Drugs is changing paradigms on the political level, Sir Richard Branson believes it’s time to put the problem on the social agenda and open public discussions on an inconvenient truth that asks for unconventional solutions.
So here’s the brief:
Sir Richard Branson challenges you to find a way to put the failure of the war on drugs on the global social agenda. How would you break the taboo? How would you make people refuse the status quo? What would you do to predispose the public to be open and accepting of alternative different ways?
We definitely need to talk,
Eva
PS: This gathering of ideas will continue with a series of high-profile workshops around the world and a boot camp at C2-MTL, a global event on commerce + creativity held in Montreal in May 2013, where the top ideas will be presented to Sir Richard Branson on stage, in front of an audience of 1500 of the world's leading forward-thinkers and game-changers.
The two Gold winners of the Students and Professionals categories of this Young Glory brief will be granted full access to the event and a travel package to take part of this discussion on the stage of C2-MTL.