In 2014, an organization representing Canadian journalists (CJFE) drew attention to the importance of press freedom and the destructive power of information with a thought-provoking advertising campaign.
Camera, tripod, flash, light meter. In the poster designs of the Canadian agency Juniper Park, a photojournalist's tools are assembled into a grenade launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, and a semi-automatic handgun.
In the original context of the creative series, it refers to the work of reporters in war zones and the role of monitored and controlled media in dictatorial states: the violent possession of media and the misuse of information can devastate and destroy like ammunition.
However, the campaign's message is more universal than to be stuck on a single level of meaning. It speaks to today's people, as information has indeed become a powerful projectile. Never before in any century has there been such a huge hunger for information, such speed of information flow, and such vulnerability due to data.
It speaks of Big Data: the structured information that can be extracted from the enormous amount of data brings many advantages and benefits, but it is also an undeniable fact that it makes all of us vulnerable and exposed.
The powerful message was highly divisive due to its approach: its opponents argue that just as the primary role of information-providing media should not be to serve as weapons, information should not inherently be ammunition either. Nevertheless, the campaign became a cross-border project: photojournalists from several countries posted montages made from their equipment that assembled into weapons.
