Some politicians have moved towards either virtualizing their communication or using virtual media and tools in their communication. In 2017, French politician François Fillon was seen wearing virtual reality equipment to explore the Martian crater where Curiosity had landed. Political rival Jean-Luc Mélenchon is known for his enthusiasm for virtual communication. After making the headlines in 2017 by appearing on stage as a hologram, he held a political meeting on the theme of Water four years later, completely immersed in a virtual environment. The 3D-rendered setting was designed to change and adapt to his speech, thanks to SoWhen?’s Virtual Production techniques (read SoWhen?’s client project article).
Some associations and organizations such as the United Nations have used virtual reality as a means of raising public and political awareness on a number of subjects. By doing this, they have discovered another way of portraying important subjects such as showing the lives of asylum seekers from war-torn countries. For instance, “Clouds over Sydra”, directed by Gabo Arora and Chris Milk, puts the audience in the shoes of a Syrian refugee. In fact it was this project that subsequently convinced the UN to invest in virtual reality (VR). As a result, in 2016 Ban-Ki Moon was able to travel to countries at war, in conflict and hit by natural disasters, all in virtual reality.