Operation Christmas
Colombian Ministry of Defence2010
Operation Christmas is a 2010 installation (lit Christmas trees in guerrilla territory) for Colombian Ministry of Defence, created by Lowe SSP3, Bogotá.
The line
If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home.
Why it works
Advertising deployed behind the lines of a civil war. For the Colombian Ministry of Defence's programme encouraging FARC guerrillas to demobilise, Lowe SSP3 worked from one insight: Christmas is the time of year when the fighters are most emotionally sensitive. In December 2010, two Black Hawk helicopters and 200 military engineers and soldiers spent more than four days decorating a 75-foot tree in FARC-controlled jungle with 2,000 lights triggered by motion sensors. Beside it, and beside nine more trees lit along guerrilla routes, a banner read: 'If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilise. Everything is possible at Christmas.' According to the agency's creative chief, the trees helped persuade 331 guerrillas — roughly 5% of the force at the time — to demobilise. The campaign won the IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix and a D&AD Yellow Pencil. It is studied as emotional persuasion at its most consequential, and as a reminder that its results are reported by one side of a war.
Techniques
- Pathos Targets fighters at the time of year they are most emotionally sensitive, with lit trees urging them to come home.
- Transfer Borrows the hope of Christmas, decorating jungle trees so the holiday itself makes the case for demobilising.
- Guerrilla and ambient Places motion-triggered lit trees in FARC-controlled jungle and along guerrilla routes, taking advertising behind the lines of a civil war.
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