You’d think so, after seeing this anti-drunk-driving at from the City of Nettuno:
The copy translates as:
If you stay sober, you stay alive
Every year, 6000 people fall victim to road crashes caused by alcohol, particularly after leaving the disco.
The City of Nettuna invites you to drink responsibly.
I found it interesting that the Ads of The World Translation was much looser: “Every year, 6000 people get killed in road accidents caused by alcool abuse, especially on weekend nights.” That may be because they were worried that “discotheque” would seem too dated outside of Italy (it’s still in common use there.)
But even considering that retro references are always popular, how many people under 35 have actually seen Saturday Night Fever? It was well-know by 20-somethings when I lived in Italy, but that was 15 years ago.
Does the joke resonate at all with today’s Italian teens and 20-somethings, who are the ones going to dance clubs? I suspect this ad was created for the appreciation of older creative folk worldwide (like me) rather than its proper target audience. I could be wrong. But this isn’t the first Nettuno municipal ad to push its way onto the global radar.
I do love the campaign name “Drink OR Drive”, though. That’s what it’s really all about.
And since I know you know you want to strut it out, the original “Staying Alive” video is embedded after the jump.
Have a look at this new social-media-based campaign from WSPA. It’s protesting against the new ‘super-dairy’ being planned here in the UK. Interestingly they are trying to create a new terminology – such as ‘factory milk’ and ‘battery cows’. Do you think it works? Will these new terms enter the language and change the way people think about cows and milk in the same way they’ve done for chickens and eggs? And what do you think about the approach – can social media campaigns work without a compelling piece of content to share?
The New Zealand government NZ Transport Agency aims to help citizens travel safely. As part of their efforts around creating awareness about private vehicle safety standards they’ve come up with the Right Car campaign.
Three videos explain safety ratings, airbag features and tips on buying safer cars – all using a cast of characters that are eggs. In typically relaxed Kiwi humor the campaign advises:
Ask any egg. Getting scrambled is the pits. The trick is to take precautions. Check how safe your car-ton is now and make sure you live to see another breakfast.
AdFreak posted this satirical video that makes an important point about the sexism of the “talking heads” on American male-oriented political news commentary:
The Wall of Silence is a project from Polish photographer Bartosz Nowicki. The project is about the existence and presence of black people in Poland.
The photo’s are modified with the Polish national colors red and white.
Poland never had a colony (although there were attempts to generate them). Human migration to this country never existed on a scale observed in Western Europe. Consequently, the history of Africans living there is minimal. An average citizen of Poland barely has any contact with a black person, especially in small cities or villages.
Today the number of people with African descent living in Poland is higher than ever (but still small relatively). Poles, as a society, appear not to be prepared for this fact; they seem not to be educated enough. There is a wall between the black and white people of Poland and this is not the wall of hate, but the wall of the unknown, the wall of silence. It makes the existence of Polish black people harder than it could and should be.
Emergency aid for Natural disasters mostly don’t lead in a design walhalla. It’s about direct action, fast and simple. This newspaper ad from the Canadian Red Cross have both, a great design and a call for immediate help.
“Don’t let hope get washed away. We are on the ground, providing aid to flood victims in Pakistan. And we need your support.”
Do you know more Pakistan Flood campaigns? Let us know.
A brand new campaign from downtown Rio de Janeiro for Ong Gente Brasil (People Brazil). They want the people to donate warm cloths for the homeless.
For this campaign a projection was used including a bucket for people to donate their coats. When a coat was donated the virtual homeless took the coat, put it on and said thank you.
The intention was to show the positive effect of a donation.
Today, a grassroots coalition of American Muslim groups launched a collaborative project, ”My Faith, My Voice”, in which everyday Muslims from all walks of life post videos on YouTube to let their countrymen know what they’re really all about.
Within a few weeks we will do a survey about shockvertising. We want to determine how far we advertising people can go in advertising.
For me this campaign from Poland about breast cancer awareness went too far. But until now I’m the only one. I asked a few friends and on our Facebook Fan Page and all comments are positive.
The campaign in brief: Warsaw ad agency Change Integrated recently replaced one of the models in the adult section of a popular Polish website with Edyta. According to the agency Edyta “trained” almost 175,000 men in a single week on how to examine their partner’s breast, much more than offline breast-check training courses. Men are big kids and they learn best while playing they agency said.
It is good for men to participate. And in advertising campaigns participation is done before. But I don’t like the idea of sexualizing a possible disease.
Breast cancer is already one of the most popular diseases to campaign about because of the erotic relation.
What is the next step? A campaign about colon cancer on a homoerotic website? Making tea baggers aware of testical cancer?
Three clever ads with real body painting. The Breast Cancer Foundation of Singapore wants women to become obsessed with the one which is mostly forgotten: breast examination.
“Are you obsessed with the right things? The difference between a pimple (big butt/bad hair day) and breast cancer is that of life and death. Regular breast checks are the best way to fight cancer. Show support for the women in your life by purchasing a Pink Ribbon.”
In my opinion this new WWF print campaign is one in the tradition of how print ought to be: a strong visual message that needs no further explanation. But this piece of art not only shows us the pain animals feel, it really transmits it in our own body. This is print beyond print.
This is no not-for-profit campaign, but this series of spots for SolarWorld, an American renewable energy company, are nonetheless notable for taking one of the great fictional bad guys of the ‘80s, oil baron J.R. Ewing, and having him pitch solar panels:
Actor Larry Hagman revisits how role from the primetime soap opera Dallas to talk about how he’s given up the oil business for solar.
Those of you unfamiliar with the backstory and characters may not get much out of this, but believe me — to those of us who spent a summer wondering ”Who shot JR?” this is a fantastic celebrity endorsement.
(See the rest of the campaign by hitting “read more”...)
Non-profit campaigns tackle serious issues but sometimes they’re too serious.DDB Los Angeles managed to speak about a serious issue, with a serious tone, but with a twist.
The Majestic Plastic Bag is a mockumentary narrated by Academy-awarded actor Jeremy irons, depicting the journey of a ordinary object into his final destination, the shameful Pacific garbage patch.
While the film is fiction, the data is harsh: in California “19 billion bags are used every year, creating over 123,000 tons of unnecessary waste, costing taxpayers $25 million in cleanup costs a year”. The project was created with support of Heal the Bay and many other people who believed the idea.
This campaign from Amnesty International plays on the irony of Venezuelan place names, La Paz ("Peace") and El Paraiso ("Paradise"), by showing what places like those have turned into because of international indifference to poverty:
Copyranter shared this hilarious safer sex campaign for the UK’s Family Planning Association, aimed at older adults:
Being 40, I’m just glad they’re not dressed in 1980s clothes. That day can’t be far off, though. Oh well, at least the ads assume the target audience can still perform.
As an accompaniment to its article ”How Much is Left?” (subscription required), Scientific American has released this interactive rich media chart tracking the Earth’s resource depletion, 1976 - 2560:
Charts, facts, and interactive interviews with experts explore the depletion of known or assumed reserves of minerals, petroleum and water — as well as shrinking agricultural potential and biodiversity.
It’s a chilling reminder of just how much trouble our high-consumption lifestyles can land us in.
This shock PSA from Indonsia’s QTV may be a little harsh for today’s less dramatic social marketing theorists, but you have to agree it has a sting in the tail:
QTV is a syndicated network “targeted towards Indonesian executives and influential upper income segment of society” according to Wikipedia. No further information about the campaign is given. But at least the host didn’t let his guests drive home drunk…
Posted by Marc | 24-08-2010 22:24 | Category:
Health
Screening detects cancer in its earliest stages by testing or checking for the disease when you don’t have symptoms. Screening tests can find colon, cervical, breast and other cancers at their earliest, most treatable stages. Some tests can find precancerous cells that can be treated before cancer even has the chance to develop.
The Canadian Cancer Society started the campaign Get Screened Pei earlier this year to make people of Prince Edward Island aware that a screening test is important.
People who did a screening can put themselves on the map in this province-wide campaign.
The map on the campaign website: We put cancer screening in the map in PEI:
When I was a kid, my bothers and sister and I used to sing this disgusting song. I’m sure my 5-year-old son will bring it home from school in the fall. But as this PSA for WaterAid’s ”Dig Toilets, Not Graves” campaign reminds us, getting the shits in the Third World is anything but a laughing matter:
According to the campaign site, every day three children per minute die of diseases caused by fecal contamination of their food, water and surroundings. And the solution is as simple of providing them something we take for granted even when “roughing it"… somewhere safe to go.
Donate here. Amounts are in British Pounds, but they appear to accept international support.
I’m a big fan of taking the symbols of war, violence, and hate and transforming them into something positive, which is something this campaign does in spades…
“Falling Whistles gives a small window into our world’s largest war. Originally just a journal written about boys sent to the frontlines of war armed with only a whistle, readers forwarded it with the same kind of urgency in which it was written and demanded to know – what can we do? The Falling Whistles campaign launched with a simple response - make their weapon your voice and be a whistleblower for peace in Congo. Read the story and buy the whistle. Proceeds will help restore the lives of war-affected kids”
Ads of the World published the video above a few days ago although it’s from 2008. It’s from the Danish organization Danmark mod Landminer (Denmark against landmines).
It’s a very common and useful communication technique: bring a problem or situation nearby.
Very well done but didn’t we see this message with landmines on a football field before in 2006? See below the video from the UN: stoplandmines.org.
Hello Joe La Pompe, are you there?
August is National Breastfeeding Month in the United States, and celebrity lactivists Kelly Rutherford, Ali Landry, Lisa Loeb, Constance Marie and Ana Gasteyer — as well as some “real moms” (?) — are happy to share their stories of nursing in public:
Not only does this PSA encourage healthy infant care, it’s also a great primer on some of the many amusing English euphemisms for “breasts"…
Posted by Marc | 22-08-2010 22:09 | Category:
Health
This copywriter gives value for money, although he or she is not mentioned in credits.
Nice ad from the Cancer Council Western Australia. Nine cliche’s ends with the the important message No. 10 about prostate cancer.
The ad is for an event on September 13, a special prostate cancer phone-in.
PSA from Casa Hope in Brazil. Casa Hope (House of Hope) hosts children with cancer and their caregivers during treatment offering food, education, recreation and counseling.
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Hi! We are Judith and Gertjan, a Dutch couple with an open heart and mind for the people of South Asia. In 2010 we will move with our two kids towards South Asia to work as volunteers. Judith is a nurse with a medical management qualification and will be involved in a medical training program. Gertjan is an entrepeneur and will start an education program and an IT business. Our Christian faith is an important motive for us in doing this kind of work.
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Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.
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Within a few weeks we will do a survey about shockvertising. We want to determine how far we advertising people can go in advertising.
Osocio is proud to publish our 2,000th blog post! The next step is to get 2,000 friends on Facebook. So please give us 
Hi! We are Judith and Gertjan, a Dutch couple with an open heart and mind for the people of South Asia. In 2010 we will move with our two kids towards South Asia to work as volunteers. Judith is a nurse with a medical management qualification and will be involved in a medical training program. Gertjan is an entrepeneur and will start an education program and an IT business. Our Christian faith is an important motive for us in doing this kind of work.
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