U.N. Ad Blitz? Fuhgeddaboutit!

A meeting of 170 world leaders can cause a lot of gridlock. Just ask the people who live and work on the East Side of midtown Manhattan. In 2000, after the U.N. World Summit brought bumper-to-bumper traffic jams to the streets of New York, the United Nations thanked the city for its patience by spelling out THANK YOU NY from the windows of the U.N. secretariat building. As leaders gather for this years summit, the United Nations is preemptingany ill willin advance. In an effort to reach out to New Yorkers and apologize for the melee caused by the arrival of world leaders during the 2005 World Summit, the U.N. Department of Public Information launched a two-week advertising campaign preceding the event. Its theme Everyones a Delegatewas designed to speak to the reality of the lives of everyday New Yorkers, while underscoring that significant issues are at stake.

In one television ad, Jeremy from the Bronx tells the General Assembly, To be honest, I havent really heard of a lot of the countries that are represented here today, but I think that since were all together in one room, we can do some great things like guarantee human rights. And I can help. Im pretty good at doing spreadsheets, if thats useful. Go Yankees! In another ad, an earnest Brooklyn delegate laments that 30,000 people a day die of hunger. Then he requests diplomatic license plates. The advertisements blend elements of seriousness with humor, an approach unusual for the world body.

The New Yorkers I interviewed were not aware of the campaign. Some were not even aware of the summit in general. The United Nations has had a difficult time getting through to its New York neighbors, many of whom are uncertain of the organizations mission and activities. The summit has also received scant attention from the mainstream media due to Hurricane Katrina, which may explain some of the lack of awareness. Among those who knew about the event, opinions were highly split on whether it merited the logistical aggravation.

Carey Kasten, a graduate student at Columbia University, expressed dismay that the United Nations is a platform where strong nations can exert their will on weaker nations. She says, If the UN was used the way its supposed to be used, then the inconvenience would be worth it. On the other side of the political spectrum, a military recruit, who asked not to be named, said he had no faith in an organization half run by Third World thugs.

Related to more pragmatic concerns, some local shop owners complained that the summit caused them to miss important deliveries. The substance of the meetings did not assuage their annoyance. However, other businesses in the neighborhood accept the United Nations as a part of life. Dale Dorsey, who manages a wine store on 60th Street and 2ndAvenuearound 20 blocks from the U.N. secretariat buildingsays that people who live and work in the area are used to the minor traffic inconvenience, noting that it happens every September anyway during the General Assembly. He says, A guy on a skateboard could fall, and that probably takes as much time as it does to get a diplomat across the street.

The campaign, which was created pro bono by ad agency McCann Erickson Worldwide, was ambitious in its goals. In addition to the television spots that aired locally, the campaign included signs and posters in 1,000 subway cars, on 1,000 city buses, in 250 commuter rail stations, on 75 telephone kiosks, and in the arrival and baggage claim areas of New York’s three international airports.

That may sound like overkill, but in a city saturated with advertising, reaching significant numbers of people on a tight budget is not an easy task. Many New Yorkers who already dislike the United Nations seemed fixed in their opinions, while those who support it say they dont need an explanation for the meetings. Boris Geuorguiev, a banker who lives in the area, says that those in the world body shouldnt spendtheir money on advertising and apologizing.They should send that money to foreign countries. Geuorguiev pauses to think for a moment. Actually, what they should do is get those diplomats to pay their unpaid parking tickets. That’s one strategy that could win over the most jaded New Yorker.