Almost as quickly as the “KONY 2012” YouTube video became a viral hit, the reputation of the 30-minute documentary about Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) strongman Joesph Kony crashed. And now “part II” of the story has attracted just 2 percent of the project’s original audience.
The Internet phenomenon that attracted tens of millions of viewers was marred by reports that the non-profit advocacy organization Invisible Children oversimplified the war in Central Africa and failed to acknowledge a crucial fact: Ugandan forces pushed the LRA out of that country six years ago.
Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi responded with a taped response on YouTube. And Ugandans started their own movement to counter the KONY 2012 campaign and tell their own story.
Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey said his group’s motives remain the same. They won’t stop until Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity, is captured and tried.
Meanwhile, the group’s second Kony-related video, posted earlier this month, addresses some of the nagging issues left over from the first — and tries to bring a dwindling audience back into the fold.