Why the best screen savers may be repulsive ones

UK agency TheOr has launched a campaign that uses strikingly disturbing images for a series of "Planet saving screen savers" that encourage people to switch off their screens when not in use.

Timed as world leaders congregated at COP28, which is taking place in oil-rich United Arab Emirates, the work is intended to highlight that leaving TVs and computers in standby when not in use consumes 10 times more power than when a device is put in sleep mode.

Several photographers were recruited by the agency to take some "not too scenic" downloadable images to encourage people to install them as screensavers and remind themselves that pollution levels are reaching a catastrophic point.

Images include a dead baby donkey and its dead parent; a decomposed corpse of a seabird on a beach; a woman sorting what appear to be pigs' trotters, about to dispose of a split hoof; a man drooling; a dead fly on its back; a man with infected, bruised looking eyes; dead pheasants hanging on a rail; a man's hirsute back; and plastic bottles thrown into the roadside gutter.

The work was created by creatives Amy Fasey and Jacob Hellström, who said: "With the world's never-ending list of problems growing, the climate crisis often feels like it's so overwhelming and out of our hands. Most of these problems will be debated by the world's governments at this COP28, but there are small little changes we everyday people can all do to make a difference.

"The Planet Saving Screen Savers are just a simple prompt to remind you to shut the laptop lid, save a bit of energy, and help the climate. Simple."

The photographers were Max Virgili (main photo), Stephen Burridge, Charlie Birch, Ezekiel, Jay Russell and Daantje Bons.

Credits

Agency: TheOr
Creative: Amy Fasey
Creative: Jacob Hellström

Producer: Ruth Armitt
Photography: Max Virgili (hero image), Stephen Burridge, Charlie Birch, Ezekiel, Jay Russell, Daantje Bons
Photographers' agents: Tom Burns, Common People; Craig Shipman, LGA Management