Some of the world’s most famous have gathered together to stare silently down the lens of a camera.
Sounds boring, but it’s actually kind of incredible.
Bono, who loves a good campaign, organised the celebrities into silence for ONE, the international advocacy group that he co-founded that aims to end poverty and disease. This video is campaigning to end the Ebola crisis. The silence and stillness is to represent the lack of united action by world leaders in fighting the virus, as explained by ONE’s chief marketing officer, Roxy Philson.
“We thought of something silent to cut through the noise and to let it speak for itself. The world waited far too long to respond. While our leaders waited, many people paid with their lives,” says Philson.
“It stemmed from the thought that there’s been plenty of talk, but not enough action. We didn’t want to go down a conventional route.”
Watch this video:
“This is what waiting looks like,” reads the video. “Talk is cheap. It’s time to take action on Ebola.”
The video drew a lot of stars to donate their silence. Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Ben Affleck and Will Ferrell among them, as well as African musicians Ice Prince, Fally Ipupa, and Angélique Kidjo, and Ebola health workers Louise Gaye and Dr. J Soka Moses.
The video urges viewers to sign a petition demanding world leaders to unite and take action. They also released an “Ebola Response Tracker”, which holds countries responsible for their pledges by tracking how much they have actually donated, and how many aid workers and other contributions they have sent to help.
This follows the release of the Band-Aid track organised by Bob Geldof, also to raise funds to fight Ebola.
Ebola has taken more than 5,000 lives, mostly in West Africa.
Featuring: African musicians Fally Ipupa, Angélique Kidjo, Femi Kuti, Ice Prince; ONE co-founder Bono; stars Akon, Ben Affleck, Connie Britton, Matt Damon, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Ellie Goulding, Danai Gurira, Thandie Newton, Vincent Cassel; football star Per Mertesacker; Liberian healthcare workers Dr. J Soka Moses and Louise Gaye.
Top Comments
very powerful. It's strange to see Will Ferrell look so serious
So that's what Bono looks like without his signature shades on!!
Yeah, that was more disconcerting than I thought it was going to be.