the Creative Alliance "Undivided" (2017) :15 (USA)

the Creative Alliance "Undivided" (2017) :15 (USA)

It's 2017 and Americans are more divided than ever. Actually, Americans have been more divided than ever. And The Undivided has a lofty aim to do something about that. Namely by making you sign a pledge for Constitution Day to have civil discourse and focus on things that we "all agree on."
As a social ad, it tells me nothing about who they are or why I should care. So I don't care. At all. But for the sake of journalism, I'll do the research anyway.

What is The Undivided? According to their website, it is a project to share the common ground that unites us all, and give America the tools to inspire more productive conversations that can move the country forward together. It's a very nicely designed website. It's also deeply flawed for multiple reasons.
Let's start with the pledge: Asking me to connect my Facebook to pledge to be nice isn't going to happen. Most people are tired of Facebook and understand that by signing in that way, it allows groups to keep track of you, most notably Facebook. And of course Facebook has a vested interest in this sign in process because they are part of the Creative Alliance which is the 501C behind The Undivided. So exactly how objective can someone like Facebook actually be in this context? Seems like a conflict of interest to me. But even disregarding that, Facebook has been accused of political bias when it comes to conservatives. And even if you discount that, how much do I personally value their efforts when they've been enabling advertising to Anti-Semitic groups? That's not to say nothing of advertising agencies and tech companies in general, which are not open to hearing different viewpoints with any degree of civility. Nor is the Guardian for that matter. Inclusive as it sounds, The Creative Alliance members don't appear to include a wide political spectrum of thinkers. And at a time when people with opposing views feel like they have to remain silent or fear backlash against others, the aims of this campaign won't do much to mend the divide.

Nor will polls.

Writing: Greg Halbreich, Jacob Baas
Illustration: Jing Wei, Alex Citrin, Rinee Shah, Ryan Peltier
Animation: Salih Abdul-Karim, Image Factory DC
Music: Future Perfect
Site development: ModOp
Co-CEOs: Miles Dinsmoor
Project Manager: Jordan Leano
Lead Developer: Alden Brown
Developer: Zachary Richards
Quality Assurance: Claudia Gonzalez
CTO: Roy Martin

the Creative Alliance "Undivided" (2017) :15 (USA)
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to AdLand.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.