As I approached this project I was inspired by several different things that led to my final product. As I was researching and brainstorming I spent a lot of time looking at the style of World Wildlife Fund advertisements. Many of the WWF’s strongest ads are graphic and visceral, the images often are “contrast-y” and impart very powerful messages in a few words. I was drawn to the power of their images and the impact they have. As I was searching the internet and thinking of ideas I also looked at the “first world problem” meme. I really love commenting and observing “first world problems” and have spent some time out of the country in developing nations and that has really put my wants and “needs” in perspective. The idea of combining these two inspirations is what birthed the images I created. As the idea developed it lead to creating a world where first world problems trump real problems. Being picky becomes being impoverished, being rich isn’t rich enough, and minute concerns become major conflicts. From that world of messed up priorities I came up with the ideas that comprised the rest of my project. The front and back cover of a fake magazine called “Fortunate” (inspired by Fortune) and a support letter from a unnecessary “missionary.”
I wanted these images to make my audience really reflect on what a real problem is. I wanted to comment on how easy it is to get caught up in our discomforts and mislabel them as serious problems. It is often so easy to lose perspective on what is really happening outside of our incredible privileged life. Each of the three images reflect a different element of our lack of attention to the outside world.
The cover addresses the stupidity of some of our concerns. We worry about things that do not matter in the grand scheme of life, such as image, popularity, and Instagram likes. I wanted to comment on the fact that Americans (and I myself am guilty of this) get so caught up in our stupid concerns we forget how fortunate we really are.
The ad I created on the back is for the fictional company The First World Fund. It exists to solve real problems afflicting people who live and work in the first world. It exists to satisfy peoples needs and solve the problems we face daily. When I created this image I wanted to highlight the difference between wants and needs.
The final element of my Lie to Me project is separate from the magazine. I got the inspiration while looking at summer internships in 3rd world countries. I love the idea of mission work and would like to live overseas doing mission work at some point in my life. But as I was researching these incredible opportunities I thought of the difficult challenge of asking for financial support. The biggest struggle of mission work is often not the actual work but getting the funds to pay for the trip. Since I was thinking of first world problems I thought it would be a fun idea to create a fake and idiotic support letter. I created a fictional woman who wants to change the world through toddler beauty pageants. The primary goal of this letter was to encourage myself and to remind my audience that there are worse things I could be doing with my life.
All in all, my goal was to comment on our spoiled nature and remind my audience how privileged they are, even when our “problems” seem unbearable.
Kedrick McKenzie 
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