Getty Images has Watermarks for Water, created by FCB Chicago

Cristina Blanaru Ads, Creativity, CSR

Watermarks for Water, which launched on the same day as World Water Day (3/22), aims to help raise awareness and funds for the global water crisis by transforming the iconic Getty Images watermark.

JAMAM, SOUTH SUDAN – APRIL 2012: Jamam refugee camp in Upper Nile State, South Sudan houses 36,500 vulnerable people who have fled across the border from their homes in Blue Nile state to escape the ongoing fighting between Khartoum”u2019s government troops and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army. Water is desperately scarce in the camp and as people form long lines at taps in 40 degrees of heat, frustration and fights break out. Nearby at a dried up watering hole, every day dozens of thirsty children dig deep holes and caves into the parched earth to scoop up cups of muddy water. People are weakened by vomiting and diarrhea but NGO’s believe the real danger will come when the rains arrive in a few weeks time. Marcel Pelletier, a water engineer with the ICRC says, “In my ten years’ experience as a water engineer in conflict-affected areas, I would say the water shortage in Jamam is as severe as anything I’ve seen. It is a desperate situation. There is no excess water for washing; it is all used for cooking and drinking. People are digging by hand into the ground on the site of dried-up watering holes and scooping up any water they find. These people are thirsty and are spending six hours outside with jerry cans in the intense heat. The rains will come in about 5 weeks. Far from being the solution, the rains will actually make things worse. The lowland where animals now graze and which people have used as a toilet will flood, turning it into a vast contaminated lake. With no clean water nearby, people will drink directly from it. The health risk is glaring; deadly water related diseases could sweep through the camp like wildfire. We have a real humanitarian crisis on our hands. We only have weeks to prevent it getting worse and indeed spinning out of control”u201d. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)

The Watermarks for Water collection is comprised of more than 300 images, shot by some of the world’s best photographers, that highlight the plight of (the lack of) clean drinking water.

PukaPuki, Papua New Guinea, August 2004: A local man showers underneath a waterfall in the rainforest close to his village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. Traditional ways of life are under threat in Papua as villages have very little means of raising money through which to educate their children and pay medical bills. Traditional ways of life are based on sustainable farming and hunting practise. As Papuans move towards a more western lifestyle and the government attempts to raise capital for modernisation, villages are selling their natural resources such as the timber of the rainforest. This is a non-sustainable practise at this point and is having a devastating effect on water supply, traditional river routes and erosion patterns. Education as to these factors is a vital but lacking components in this transition period for Papua New Guinea. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage)

Getty also launched a special microsite and each time an image from that collection is licensed, the iconic Getty watermark is removed and 10% of proceeds go directly to charity: water, an organization that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries.

Building on the company’s mission that it can move the world through photography, Getty Images’ site now features a beautifully moving and inspirational video, created by FCB Chicago, that educates consumers on the power of an image and the water issues we face today.

 

TURKANA, KENYA, 8 OCTOBER 2014: Scenes from Longetch fishing village on the shores of Lake Turkana, Kenya, the world’s largest inland desert lake. This region of the lake is a well know spawning ground and at the heart of fishing commerce for the Turkana. These villagers along with many thousands along the shores of this vast body of water are soley dependent on the lake for their survival. The Turkana are traditionally pastoralists but persistent droughts have decimated their herds to such an extent that for many Turkana fishing is now their main means of subsistence and commerce. The same pattern is emerging for other tribes along the lake shore. Recent dam building in Ethiopia is likely to bring the Omo river to one fifth of its current flow, sugar cane farms along the Omo are already causing tribal movement down to Lake Turkana as pastoralists struggle for grazing and water rights. The Omo river supplies 90% of Lake Turkana’s water and these dams and sugar cane farms look likely to severly impact the renewal of the lake’s waters. This threatens all the tribes around the lake and makes conflict over diminishing resources ever likely. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage.)

Credits: 

Client: Getty Images
Campaign: Watermarks for Water

Agency: FCB Chicago

FCB Chicago

  • Chief Creative Officer: Liz Taylor
  • Worldwide Creative Partner: Fred Levron
  • Executive Creative Director: Jon Flannery
  • Executive Creative Director: John Claxton
  • SVP, Executive Creative Director: Max Geraldo
  • Creative Directors: Bruno Mazzotti and Dean Paradise
  • Senior Copywriter: Kate Cullen
  • Senior Art Director: Franki Geib
  • Executive Creative Producer: John Bleeden
  • Senior Producer: Carolina Sierralta
  • VP, Management Director: Kathryn Horsley
  • SVP, Print Production: Julie Regimand
  • Project Manager: Matt Hartwig

FCBX

  • Executive Vice President: Kim DeNapoli
  • Account Director: Katherine Fliess

Cutters NY

  • Editor: Nadav Kurtz
  • Assistant Editor: Peter Zachwieja
  • EP: Elizabeth Krajewski
  • Producer: Stephanie Rose

Cutters Chicago

  • Editor: Matt Walsh
  • Assistant Editor: Jackie Cohen
  • Producer: Heather Richardson

Flavor Chicago

  • EP: Neal Cohen
  • Finishing Artist: Chris Elliott
  • Senior Designer: Colby Capes
  • Color: Brian Higgins

Lord & Thomas

  • Audio Manager: Jason Ryan
  • Audio Engineer: Alec Chojnacki
  • Associate Audio Engineer: Batsirayi Zesaguli
  • Audio Producer: Alex Bartczak

Current 

  • President: Virginia Devlin
  • SVP, Integrated Media: Kate Knox
  • Associate, Media Relations: Mackenzie Woods

    JAMAM, SOUTH SUDAN – APRIL 2012: Jamam refugee camp in Upper Nile State, South Sudan houses 36,500 vulnerable people who have fled across the border from their homes in Blue Nile state to escape the ongoing fighting between Khartoum”u2019s government troops and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army. Water is desperately scarce in the camp and as people form long lines at taps in 40 degrees of heat, frustration and fights break out. Nearby at a dried up watering hole, every day dozens of thirsty children dig deep holes and caves into the parched earth to scoop up cups of muddy water. People are weakened by vomiting and diarrhea but NGO’s believe the real danger will come when the rains arrive in a few weeks time. Marcel Pelletier, a water engineer with the ICRC says, “In my ten years’ experience as a water engineer in conflict-affected areas, I would say the water shortage in Jamam is as severe as anything I’ve seen. It is a desperate situation. There is no excess water for washing; it is all used for cooking and drinking. People are digging by hand into the ground on the site of dried-up watering holes and scooping up any water they find. These people are thirsty and are spending six hours outside with jerry cans in the intense heat. The rains will come in about 5 weeks. Far from being the solution, the rains will actually make things worse. The lowland where animals now graze and which people have used as a toilet will flood, turning it into a vast contaminated lake. With no clean water nearby, people will drink directly from it. The health risk is glaring; deadly water related diseases could sweep through the camp like wildfire. We have a real humanitarian crisis on our hands. We only have weeks to prevent it getting worse and indeed spinning out of control”u201d. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)