Results tagged “cause marketing” from Uncivil Society
To complete today's charity ad trifecta, here's a thoughtful reflection from within the advertising industry on how the business views its charitable clients. The piece is rather eye-opening: according to the author, ad agencies see charity work as "downmarket" and design charity promos more to look good for awards than to be effective. Hence the post's provocative title, "Every time we make a self serving charity ad, a gay baby kitten dies of breast cancer"--
You could argue that, even if the main effect of these ads is to win awards rather than raise money or awareness, no one is really harmed. I’d argue against that. The same agencies that make creatively awarded ads know equally well how to make effective ads. Most of the time, though, they’re not the same thing. So every time an agency pours resources into making a beautiful, moving, and hopefully awarded charity ad, they’re choosing (consciously or not) not to make an effective one instead. They’re choosing not to make an ad that raises money for the charity and saves lives, cures diseases, finds homes for kittens or whatever it is the charity exists to achieve.
The Gap is sponsoring American Woman: Fashioning an American Identity, the latest exhibit at the Met's Costume Institute. The fact that the Gap did not insist on putting its own clothes on display was actually pretty savvy--while physically inserting Gap clothes into a fashion retrospective could call attention to the sponsorship and the gap between The Gap and high fashion, the sponsorship itself reinforces the sense of The Gap as the fashion identity of today, democratic, accessible and at the same time validated by an elite institution warehousing the style of the past.
The Illinois Lottery has received a fair amount of attention in recent years, from its connections to disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich to the state's controversial plan to sell the lottery to private investors. Now, for the holiday season the Illinois Lottery has launched a new ad campaign using the Christian hymn "Joy to the World" to flog its scratch-off games, a move that has led at least one Christian to complain to the Chicago Sun Times:
In Monday’s paper, columnist Lewis Lazare notes that Energy BBDO has created a series of holiday television commercials using the song “Joy to the World” to sell—of all things—lottery tickets! The new lyrics and retro music may be captivating and clever, but are the people at BBDO familiar with the original words to this Christmas hymn? Or do they care?
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”
Or is Linus the only one who still understands what Christmas is all about?
Dan McGuire, Bensenville
It's a paradigmatic case of cultural appropriation, with one community's traditions used to promote ostensibly contradictory values. And as MultiCultClassics observes, the campaign doesn't stop there--"It’s gone from blasphemy to Black clichés."
The complexity of personal meaning in a bottle.
Microsoft celebrates reaching a sales goal for Windows 7.
Kissing a piece of paper for charity seems to have replaced the traditional kissing booth, which would today be seen less as a fun fundraiser than a hub for spreading the flu.
If the above vintage ad's strategy of prescribing carb-filled crackers to lose weight seems goofily retro (not to mention sexist), check out this new research on carbs as the dietary key to personal happiness.
I saw this pull up on Union Square during my walk today--the Cosmopolitan/Maybelline Kisses for the Troops truck, which used a donation to the USO in a record-setting kiss initiative to get people to line up to try a new line of Maybelline lipsticks. A seamless integration of commercial branding and charity, the effort was at least as clever as a Basket of Kisses.
This would-be viral video for American Diabetes Month joins the ranks of sex-themed do-gooder PR. Meanwhile, the cutting-edge in the commercial realm has moved on to cute animals, a well-worn trope in charity for decades. All ad life's a circle . . .
Via Jezebel, a sign that environmentalism has become too trendy for its own good: a new line of eco-sexy costumes. From the ad copy:
This costume is perfect for the eco friendly consumer. Help spread the eco friendly message! Go Green Girl - includes green pleated mini dress featuring recycling badge, white lace and ribbon embellishments, and GO GREEN! Screen print on the butt removable Recyclers Do It Twice pin and earth bag. Costume is packaged in recyclable paper bag. Please note does not include stockings or shoes. This eco-friendly costume is Available in Adult Sizes X-Small, Small, Medium, and Large.
Made of 100% Organic Cotton.
We are doomed.
Iranians have reportedly starting protesting the Ahmadinejad regime by going to bazaars and not shopping.
However, that doesn't mean the rest of the revolution is noncommercial.
One popular item: t-shirts featuring Neda Agha-Soltan, the Iranian woman whose murder by Iranian security forces, caught on this YouTube video (more about which here), has made her an icon of the protest movement.
Pictured above: a Neda t-shirt sold on Facebook by an Iranian who pledges to give the proceeds to Neda's family if 400 shirts are sold, though judging from the comments not everyone is on board with this enterprise:
The CafePress blog has also noted Neda tee phenomenon, highlighting a link between commerce and political speech:
While the Iranian government prohibits Neda’s family and friends from having memorials in her honor and tries to locally silence the voices mourning her, the world is talking. And from our end, a T-shirt is worth 1,000 words.
In other words, let a thousand Neda t-shirts bloom!
And yes, the last one really is a "Remembering Neda (Iran) Dog T-Shirt." The photo proclaims "Made in the USA", and y'know, I don't doubt it.
UPDATE:
Here's the PrestijFashion shirt mentioned in the comments!
You don't have to understand Russian to understand what's going on in these Russian PSAs aimed, respectively, and male and female beer drinkers. Each starts with a archetypical beer commercial scene celebrating the pleasure of having a beer with one's friends . . . then the ad uses a Greek statue to illustrate the effects of beer drinking on one's body. The ads are part of the Russian "Be careful" PSA series, which you can see on the invaluable adme.ru, which actually has a dedicated social ad section.
It would be interesting to see the reaction to these ads in the U.S.
The Dieline is a killer packaging design site that offers a wealth of useful examples for social-enterprise-types who want to learn about effective branding. Case in point: this behind-the-scenes look at how White Space came up with the bottle design for Thatcher's Organic Artisan Liqueurs, "handmade liqueurs distilled in small batches from sustainably farmed organic ingredients to create honestly great cocktails." Check out The Dieline post for the scoop.
Via the always illuminating Alanna Shaykh, here's a site that's chock full of social enterprise goodness: HijabMan, "the leading Muslim shirt company with a message."
A grassroots Muslim PR campaign, with thousands of people as walking billboards, wearing shirts with messages that make people laugh and frown. But most importantly they make people think. They destroy the messages we receive on a daily basis from mainstream media outlets and even our own religious leaders.
Be sure to check out the entire site--besides the store and blog, the site also features HijabMan's compelling photography, such as this image aptly titled "Allah in the Background."
This I like--McCann UK = the creatives.
A proposed public service project in Thailand: invite men to remove the bra of an amply endowed woman, only to have them find that the breasts have actually been removed due to cancer.
The idea is you'll have your awareness raised so you'll want to "complete" women's lives by giving a donation for replacement artificial breasts.
Whatever the virtue of the cause itself, gimmicks like this are why you'll never hear me say I want to "raise awareness":
I really want to know more about this organization, which, among other things, in the mid-1940s placed comic book ads telling the story of brands & their public benefit. Below: the story of Revere Copper, responsible for America's independence from Britain and foreign imports.
Like I said, it was the mid-40s:
