14 DAY TRIAL // The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project appears to have taken advertising to a whole new level, as the non-profit organization is trying to promote its XO laptop around the world. Following a series of new advertising spots, a rather strange, but also interesting commercial started airing on Christmas Day on national television outlets. The thing that sets this ad apart from all the others is that it features one of the greatest figures in rock and roll music, more specifically John Lennon. The face, name and voice of the music legend have been put to use in one of the latest video advertisements of OLPC's XO laptop.
In the video, John Lennon, one of the two founding members of the Beatles band, tries to convince people to sustain the cause of the OLPC project. “Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want. I tried to do it through my music, but now you can do it in a very different way. You can give a child a laptop and more than imagine, you can change the world.”
The image and voice of John Lennon have been modified, using modern digital technology, so that the message of the advertisement can be clearly transmitted to the audience. The rights of using the voice and image of the music legend have been granted by the dead singer's wife, Yoko One, who probably felt very strongly about OLPC's mission.
In an attempt to speed up the adoption of the OLPC laptop, the non-profit organization also created two other advertisements, one that features Tom Brady, an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots, and another one that shows controversial and violent footage of children being involved in warfare and prostitution.