The problem with Band Aid’s Christmas single

On November 14 I published an article in The Conversation entitled ‘Band Aid at 40: how the problematic Christmas hit changed the charity sector’. It was agreed to give Bob Geldof the right of reply given the criticisms made of the fundraising strategy. His profanity-laden response is included at the end of that piece.

The article caused a stir and was re-run by many publications. A celebrity spat then developed that focused on Ed Sheeran and the rapper Fuse ODG who criticised Band Aid for the song’s problematic representation of Africa. That’s just one issue though. Tony Hadley, from the 1980s pop group Spandau Ballet, who sung on the original 1984 recording even said that Sheeran should ‘shut up’ and that he didn’t ‘know what his problem is.’

Geldof, Hadley and many other celebrities have seemingly no curiosity about the criticisms that have been made of their approach. This is despite the passing of 40 years and countless people trying to tell them.

So let me tell you exactly what the problem is. Famine is a crime. Those who die in a famine – not usually from starvation itself but from the diseases associated with malnutrition – do so because they have been disenfranchised. They die because they are poor and/or because they are discriminated against on account of an aspect of their identity.

That famines occur because of climatic conditions is one of those widely held public misconceptions. Although with population growth and climate change that argument might change in the future.

Nevertheless, often famines occur when people are surrounded by food. They’re just not entitled to it. Perhaps the most poignant lyrics on this subject are found in The Dubliners’ song ‘The Fields of Athenry’: ‘For you stole Trevelyan’s corn / So the young might see the morn / Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.’

As such, if the ambition is to end the occurrence of famine around the world or to make it less likely, then this is not going to happen through public fundraising. The best chance of improving this situation is to improve international criminal law to make famine commensurate with other crimes against humanity, like genocide.

Public fundraising for relief efforts may in fact make that less likely as governments around the world will reduce the priority to push for this change within the UN and other global organisations and famine will remain misconstrued. Furthermore, public appeals unfortunately rely on the visual spectacle of famine to occur before action is forthcoming. People need to see destitution and be emotionally impacted by the images. Improved international criminal law would make it less likely that this destitution would occur in the first place and this ought to be the focus of our efforts.

In his response to my article Geldof wrote, ‘It’s a pop song [expletive].’ This position was reiterated by Midge Ure on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show on November 25, the argument being that all sorts of nonsense can be found in the lyrics of pop songs: moons, stars; I miss you baby; I want you baby; I’m sorry baby, etc.

‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’ isn’t just a pop song though. Far from it. The song is a charity asset and the primary method of fundraising for a charitable foundation. It therefore has legal and ethical responsibilities to depict the situation accurately, and to depict those concerned fairly, just like all other charitable organisations should be doing. I dare say we would be deeply uncomfortable if another humanitarian organisation started using ‘poetic license’ in a similar way.

Indeed, in researching the charity sector I have worked with dozens of organisations who take the ethics of their public communications with the greatest seriousness. If they all took Geldof and Ure’s argument – that it essentially doesn’t matter what you say because the record raised money – then charities around the world would be spouting all kinds of bullshit to stimulate emotional reactions in audiences. It would result in an impossible crisis of public confidence for the sector.

Band Aid and the subsequent Live Aid concerts in July 1985 sit favourably within Western cultural and musical memory. However, many people appear to conflate the good feelings they got from participation in the movement, and the nostalgia it now provides, with an assumption that it therefore must have been ‘good.’ This is contestable.

The climax of the Live Aid concert was Freddie Mercury singing the lyrics, ‘We are the champions. No time for losers. ’cause we are the champions… of the world.’ It released a collective ‘jouissance’ (non-sexual orgasmic pleasure) among the crowd. The moment cemented Band Aid and Live Aid’s place in cultural memory. It was the concert’s zenith, but perhaps also its nadir.