The team over at Wieden+Kennedy’s Amsterdam offices would like to play the role of PR specialists this holiday season by working to rehabilitate the reputation of a very particular thing: the word fuck.
At least that’s the narrative behind their latest project, which involves selling “one-off or limited-edition artworks” by more than 60 artists around the world for charity. That charity, specifically, is Proactiva Open Arms, a group based in Spain that is “dedicated to saving lives in the sea” and recently moved its operations to the Greek island of Lesvos to help the refugees who arrive there by sea while effectively acting as lifeguards.
The works themselves also have something in common: again, it’s the word fuck. Here’s a quick video and GIF to give you some idea of the range of work in question.
We’re turning a word with a bad rep, f*ck, into a force of good with https://t.co/RQ3TXmi7i2. Join us #letsgiveafuck pic.twitter.com/gR3dT3fndV
— W+K Amsterdam (@WKAmsterdam) December 9, 2015
It’s very heavy on the Pop Art if you’re into that sort of thing, but the full “webshop,” which will be open until December 23rd or whenever it sells out, includes a fair number of varied pieces.
We like this one because who doesn’t want to explore what goes on “backstage” at a porn shoot? Could anything possibly be more depressing?
We can’t really imagine this effort–noble as it may be–making much of a dent in Europe’s current refugee problem. But, as the project copy says, the act of giving even the slightest fuck about this and other problems both local and global does theoretically have “an enormous capacity to do good” if it can be organized and put to real use.
Don’t like refugees? You could always donate to Donald Trump instead. Sources say he needs the money.