Hello, fax enthusiasts! Today, we’re taking a detour from our usual discussions about the enduring charm of fax machines in the modern world to highlight a recent, rather unexpected use of our beloved technology.
Remember when we said fax machines could be used for just about anything? Well, the folks at Havas, a New York-based advertising agency, took that to heart during this year’s New York City Pride march. In a campaign dubbed #BuryTheBills, they used fax machines to flood the offices of politicians opposing LGBTQ+ rights with a whopping 570,000 pages of excerpts from queer novels. Talk about a paper trail!
The campaign cleverly leveraged the fact that lawmakers are legally obliged to keep their fax machines on at all times. And boy, did they make sure those machines were working overtime! The result? A mountain of paperwork that served as a tangible reminder of the voices demanding equality and justice.
Now, we’re not saying that fax machines are the new superheroes of the digital age, but we’re not not saying it either. In a world where communication is often reduced to fleeting, forgettable digital messages, there’s something incredibly satisfying about the physicality of a fax. It’s a message you can hold, a protest you can touch.
And before you worry about the trees, rest assured that Penguin Random House, who provided the literary snippets, has pledged to plant up to 10,000 trees to offset the paper used in this initiative. So, not only did the humble fax machine play a part in a significant social campaign, it also indirectly contributed to reforestation efforts.
Who knew our old friend the fax machine could be such a force for good? Here’s to more unexpected and creative uses of this enduring technology. Keep on faxing, folks!