Face value

Tommi
Originally uploaded by amsterboy.

When cycling today to the office I saw this poster campaign of a Dutch music video channel The Box. They had normal people in the posters.

This reminded me of a few things I have come across lately. In Berlin I was stopped at Hackescher Markt by Amnesty volunteers. The asked if I would like to get my photo taken to take a stand in favour of stricter arms control. Control Arms campaign is run by Oxfam International and Amnesty International. They asked me to pose with my hand indicating stop.

I do not know what to think of this. In a way there is a link to the everyday democracy issue that I have addressed before. It also has analogies to petition-signing. But then again, I remember Bettina Lüscher - World Food Programme spokeswoman and a former news anchor for the CNN- saying in a IJP panel discussion that they need Penelope Cruz and Brad Pitt to get people interested in Darfur.

Or maybe it is not an either-or issue. Arms control is supported by me and Emma Thompson. But which is a bigger piece of news: Bono supporting debt relief or two million people supporting debt relief? Or is Dido needed to get million people interested in arms control? You tell me.