Dicky\u2019s animation video Earth was created by RYOT, a subsidiary of the media and telephony company Verizon that, without making much noise, is increasingly involving in the sustainability cause, and has committed to becoming “carbon neutral” by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many years\nhave passed since we first heard We are the World and also countless the differences\nbetween that pre-Internet society and today\u2019s, where Millennials and Zs \u2013born\nand raised along with the Digital Revolution\u2013 organize themselves via social\nnetworks, demand and protest against governments, and claim companies and\norganizations to do concrete actions to address the many problems that concern\n(and occupy) society as a whole. There is also distance between the lyrics,\nalmost cheesy, of Jackson\u2019s song, and the politically incorrect verses used by\nDicky to mobilize his followers around a topic that has long ceased to be\nexclusive to NGOs and governments to become everyone’s business: the\nsustainability of human civilization as we know it. In other words, the need to\ncreate a more sustainable and friendly society with the only home we know, the\nEarth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dicky, born in 1988, is an American rapper and comedian, a worthy representative of his generation, the Millennials. YouTube and social networks are natural to him and knows how to take advantage of the resources provided by connectivity and collaborative economy. At 23, in 2011, he started working on his debut mixtape. After two years of work, in 2013, he started releasing a weekly song for five months. On April 23, 2013, he released his first video on YouTube, “Ex-Boyfriend”, the main single of the mixtape. The video went viral immediately with a million visits in the 24 hours following its release. Dicky, whose real name is David Andrew Burd, went a step further and after posting 32 songs and 15 music videos released a Kickstarter. “Officially I’ve run out of money… In short, you’re financing the second phase of my rap career”, said Dicky to launch his crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising 70,000 dollars to create and produce more songs, music videos and go on tour. The campaign, that began on November 20, 2013, lasted a month and raised 113,000 dollars. Dicky currently has 4.3 million followers on YouTube, 2.1 million followers on Instagram. His involvement with environmental causes is not new and all the revenue obtained with the Earth video will go to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which since its creation in 1988 has supported more than 200 biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation projects in 50 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the\nvideo Earth, Dicky has got stellar voices to collaborate, such as Justin\nBieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz\nKhalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth , SIA,\nMiley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran,\nMeghan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Backstreet Boys, Bad\nBunny, Psy and Kris Wu, and the special participation of Leonardo DiCaprio, of\ncourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the\nlyrics and music by David Burd, Benjamin Levin, Magnus August H\u00f8iberg, Josh\nColeman and Jamil Chammas, the video was created by the animation houses RYOT\nand 3DAR, and it touches sensitive themes in a lighthearted manner, with a\nlanguage that could hurt some sensitivities. Made to entertain, it aims especially\nto new generations, and it was directed by Nigel Tierney (RYOT) and Federico\nHeller (3DAR), Millenials themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based in\nLos Angeles, the animation and virtual reality house RYOT, founded in 2011 by\nBryn Mooser, David Darg, Molly DeWolf Swenson and Martha Rogers was acquired in\n2016 by Oath Inc. (AOL, Hufftington Post, Yahoo, RYOT, other brands) subsidiary\nof the Verizon company. Its founders have a long personal involvement with\nhumanitarian, social and environmental causes and under their direction the\ncompany has received numerous awards for their documentary films, as well as\ntwo consecutive Oscar nominations in the Best Short Documentary category (2016\nand 2017), a Peabody Award nomination and an Emmy nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the\nother hand, Oath Inc. is Verizon\u2019s media company. Verizon, the US telephone\ngiant, obtained 5,160 million dollars (4,586 million euros) of net benefit in\nthe first quarter of 2019. The company, in a statement on its website has\ncommitted to being “carbon neutral” by 2035, recently took a credit\nof one billion dollars through a so-called green bond, pledging to use the\nmoney only in projects with a clearly positive environmental impact. The money\nwill help Verizon fulfill its last year\u2019s commitment that at least 50% of the energy\nit uses will come from renewable sources by 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According\nto Verizon\u2019s statement of purpose, the company “fulfills the promise of\nthe digital world by improving the ability of people, businesses and society to\ndo more new, and do more good”. In its daily operations, the company has\nimplemented waste management programs, has reduced its use of paper and as\nstated on its website “in all our operations we continuously seek to\nidentify ways to preserve energy, reduce emissions, reduce water consumption\nand divert waste from landfills. ” It is not a new posture, nor is it too\npublicized by the corporation. It is, simply, a way of giving life to its\npurpose in each of the company’s actions, complemented by a wide range of\nCorporate Social Responsibility actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ninvolvement of Verizon in Dicky’s video, although tangential as in this case is\nthrough RYOT, is an expression of the consistency of the company in assuming its\ncommitment to sustainability and society, not only through the actions of the\nparent company, but through all its subsidiaries. An example other global\ncompanies should take note of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whiplash Team, May 2019 Verizon, the company behind Lil Dicky\u2019s Earth video With almost 67 million views in less than two weeks, the video Earth, by American rapper Lil Dicky has gone viral and is on its way to become a phenomenon similar to We…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,16,21,20,19,22,18],"yoast_head":"\n