If basic appeals to human decency aren’t coming through, there’s always Pokémon. According to a frankly baffling report from Business Insider, Richard Curtis, writer of Love Actually and Notting Hill, is involved in a campaign to educate people at Davos about world poverty through the formerly very popular app Pokémon Go. Project Everyone, which was founded by Curtis, has sprinkled 17 new Pokéstops into the augmented-reality game around the conference, each of which correspond to the project’s global goals like “Zero Hunger” and “Good Health.” “It’s been very interesting, because people attending Davos are quite adept on their mobile phones, and they’ve all heard about this game from their kids,” Curtis said. “I’m hoping a surprising number might think it is quite an amusing thing to do. I’ve noticed the Davos audience are quite willing to laugh at even quite weak jokes, because they’re looking for entertainment!” So far Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver have been seen playing the game at the event and Niantic plans to expand the campaign out to the rest of the world soon. Hey, the world of Pokémon does already have universal health care, so maybe it is an inspiration to us all.
