Sea-Watch's Powerful Campaign Gives an Insight into the Fears of Mediterranean Refugees
At least 6 people still die every day fleeing across the Mediterranean. In 2018 alone, at least 2,277 people attempting to cross the sea were unable to reach dry land. As the work of civil sea rescue organisations is hampered, the proportion of deaths and missing persons in the Mediterranean has quadrupled since 2015. It is also alarming that 85 percent of Germans are not even aware of the extent of this crisis, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by aid organisation Sea-Watch.
Michael Schwickart of Sea-Watch explains: "When we started civil sea rescue in 2015, the mood in Germany was different. A few years later, the willingness to help and support has faded. But even in 2019, the Mediterranean remains the deadliest border in the world.” Sea-Watch decided to take drastic measures to tackle such an issue, making the dangers tangible for the general public with "LIFEBOAT - The Experiment", documented in a film from Oscar-nominated Skye Fitzgerald. Leading psychologist Michael Thiel was on hand throughout the experiment as a consultant.
40 volunteers experienced a simulated Mediterranean crossing in a rubber dinghy for "LIFEBOAT - The Experiment", which was developed together with five refugees who had survived Mediterranean sea crossings and told of their experiences and impressions. Based on the first hand accounts of these traumatic experiences, the simulation was designed to be as realistic as possible.
While the volunteers were crowded together on a rubber dinghy in a maritime training facility, the motion of the sea, lighting conditions and background noise were constantly changing for five hours. During the course of the simulation, waves and ambient noise increased, and increasing darkness aggravated the situation. This made the experience even more exhausting for the participants. During the experiment, rescue divers and medical personnel ensured the safety of the participants throughout. The result was a deeply moving experience that caused the participants to reevaluate their views of immigrants attempting dangerous sea crossings.
The majority of the participants became seasick and complained of dizziness and nausea. Some of them vomited Seven participants aborted the simulation prematurely by jumping out of the boat and swimming to the edge of the pool - a decision that would mean certain death in the middle of the open sea. After five hours, all the volunteers agreed that only extreme despair and hopelessness could motivate people to take that risk. "Of course, the experiences of refugees cannot be simulated entirely realistically, but the experiment nevertheless creates an approximation of the situation and emotions it evokes. “LIFEBOAT - The Experiment” underlines the necessity of the sea rescue organization Sea-Watch and gives the participants a deeper understanding of the extreme danger faced by immigrants attempting such dangerous crossings”, said Schwickart of Sea-Watch.
Skye Fitzgerald's 9-minute documentary film captures the entire experiment as it happened, as well as interviews with the refugees and participants. Skye explained: "This experiment will be part of the dialogue that brings change. We are starting to think about how we can deal with this crisis in a more meaningful way. If we change even one person's opinion about the Refugee crisis with this experiment, then it was a complete and absolute success."
Together with Sea-Watch, Serviceplan Hamburg implemented the campaign from conception and story development to the shoot, as well as the design and implementation of the campaign website. Alexander Schill, global chief creative officer, Serviceplan Group commented: "It was a challenge to create emotions and empathy for a topic with which we have all been familiar with via the media for some time. Saving lives in the Mediterranean Sea – this immediately creates images and headlines. However, the support for this cause is still quite limited and the topic has not been at the centre of the news cycle recently. With “LIFEBOAT - the Experiment” Sea-Watch intentionally chose a different way of creating attention and reigniting the conversation around the lives lost at sea on a daily basis.”
The film was shot in a maritime training facility in Northern Germany with a group of German volunteers. The campaign launches on April 25, 2019, and a trailer will be shown in Cinemaxx cinemas in Germany. You can find out more about the campaign here.
