Awareness Campaigns as a Response to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

In 2012 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) began implementing an awareness campaign to influence public opinion in Somalia against piracy. The campaign aimed to deter individuals from joining piracy by highlighting the dangers and problems associated with piracy. Despite the hype surrounding its commencement, the UNODC campaign was met with various challenges that resulted in minimal implementation and left a trail of angry donors, staff members and Somali government officials. This article examines awareness campaigns as a response to piracy. It provides a first-hand account of the actors and politics involved in shaping the design and implementation of the UNODC anti-piracy awareness campaign. It explores the implied and developed knowledges embedded within campaign messages and analyses how objects of intervention were produced and reproduced throughout the campaign.