Interactive campaign posters.
A project for the Roulette competition, in response to the stimulus ‘past empowers progress’, 2024.
Understanding the past is essential in shaping attitudes towards, and making changes for, a better future.
Certainly the case for true crime documentation, whose stories can raise important questions around class, race, and context. Cross-examining the morality of the justice system itself.
But not all of this documentation quite hits the mark. Because, hey – you can’t libel the dead...
As of March 2024, there are over 23,000 true crime podcasts – often where victims’ stories are luridly exploited and sensationalised for entertainment. Inviting us in to investigate and interrogate the worst moment of people’s lives. Many of whom are still alive, and still grieving. Cases are told and consumed in an environment that’s completely detached from the victims of them, and often by an individual who is by no means an expert – interjecting their opinions as fact.
These podcasts currently have no regulatory body in the UK. Victim consent should be given, and the information checked alongside a reliable source. True crime can serve a positive purpose, if it’s intent is ethical.
Promoting a true crime podcast that feels a little ‘off’, the ‘Intent’ poster campaign invites the audience to uncover the truth behind the medium.
Consequently encouraging them to sign a petition to the UK government for the introduction of true crime podcast regulations.
Once the advert is lifted, the truth - printed in photochromic ink to react to the sunlight - slowly reveals itself.
In addition to posters, the ‘advert’ also appears haphazardly taped onto mock newspapers placed in and around public transport.