Yellow umbrellas to shelter from the storm

Every three hours in Wisconsin, a child enters into the foster system because of domestic abuse, neglect or alcohol and drugs in the home.
That’s what this new campaign from Serve Marketing is about. They has partnered with the Coalition for Children, Youth and Families to bring attention to the need of foster care families in Wisconsin.

They worked with foster parents, foster children, college students and the surrounding communities to create the “Shelter From the Storm” campaign.
A follow-up to last year’s Silver Anvil nominated “Turn A Life Around” handstand campaign, umbrella flashmobs across the state will occur throughout the month of May (Foster Care Awareness month). These bright yellow umbrellas symbolize the safe haven that a foster family can provide to a child in need.

Gary Mueller from Serve Marketing: “These kids’ lives are like being caught in a virtual storm every day. That’s why we chose to use iconic yellow umbrellas as the metaphor for foster parenting and what it means to these children. That when you become a foster parent, you’re literally giving kids shelter from the storm.”

Billboards and a televised PSA direct viewers to FosterParentsRock.org, where information about becoming a foster parent is available.

Australia will never have an #IndigenousPM… or will it?

According to The Inspiration Room, this digital poster, painted by Archibald Finalist and celebrated portrait artist Mathew Lynn, was shared widely as a teaser campaign. Today, the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation revealed (AIEF) the campaign message:

Our campaign launches as Newspoll research reveals that two thirds of Australians believe they’ll never see an Indigenous Prime Minister in their lifetime.

Without quality schooling or university qualifications, the opportunity to become a politician or influential member of government – particularly a Prime Minister – evaporates.

AIEF – Australia’s most proven and scalable solution to reducing Aboriginal secondary education inequality and an important part of the Nation’s overall Indigenous education framework – has recently announced its plan to educate 7,000 Indigenous students.

Where do you draw the line on rape culture?

I was recently introduced to this campaign by its project manager, Julie Lalonde. According to the campaign site, its purpose is to challenge “common myths about sexual violence” and to equip bystanders with “information on how to intervene safely and effectively.”

The campaign, run by Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres and Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes engages people by asking a series of questions about what they consider acceptable. The questions, in French and English, touch on various timely aspects of what has become known as rape culture, including references to Chris Brown’s treatment of Rihanna, well-known cases of peers sexually shaming young women on social media, and the ability of a drunk person to consent to sex, as well as sexual harassment in the workplace, abuse by sports coaches, and rape within marriage.

When answering each question, the user becomes part of the statistics. And these statistics can be troubling, even if completely unscientific. For example, to the question shown in the poster below, 31% of people answered that it is “not a big deal” to share a nude picture of a classmate shared without their consent. Although, considering how easily pictures of Amanda Todd, Rehtaeh Parsons, and the unidentified Steubenville victim were spread, the stat should not be that surprising.

See the rest of the campaign print creative below. There’s some nice art direction in there. Then visit the site at draw-the-line.ca to try the interactive quiz, share stories, and view the campaign infographics.

The First Global Pedestrian Safety Campaign: Make Walking Safe #roadsafety #walksafe

This is the first global campaign about pedestrian safety. Launched today because it is the beginning of the UN Global Road Safety Week (6-12 May).
It is made by Fabrica, the Benetton Group communications research centre. It was commissioned by the World Health Organization, the lead health agency of the United Nations.

“We Are All Pedestrians” was the mantra that drove the group of designers from Fabrica to work on the “Make Walking Safe” campaign. They took the popular pedestrian pictogram man as key figure.
The result: five posters portray a life-size pedestrian pictogram man in different guises on street crossings addressing the various major pedestrian safety issues: 270,000 pedestrians die each year; improving visibility can save pedestrian lives; sidewalks and other infrastructures are necessary; legislation and law enforcement are essential; safe walking improves both personal health and the environment.

Finally, a good excuse to post food pics on Instagram! #PictureLessHunger

Instagram has more daily mobile users than Twitter, so it’s no surprise to see more charities & nonprofits experimenting with the platform!

#Picturelesshunger is a new campaign from Salvation Army Canada that takes advantage of the popularity of mobile social networks. Here’s how it works:

“From May 3rd to May 12th, patrons at 17 participating restaurants in Toronto can take photos of their meals and share them on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #picturelesshunger and a statement of support for The Salvation Army’s hunger relief efforts. Patrons can also make a personal donation to the organization by adding $2 to their bill, at their discretion.”

Users are asked to post: “I support #SalvationArmy Food Banks with this meal to #picturelesshunger.”

I like that this project gives participants a “social good” excuse to take fancy pictures of your meal ... A current guilty pleasure for many people on social media!

The campaign site at Picturelesshunger.com (and the cards I’ve seen in photos at the restaurants) outlines how to share the #PictureLessHunger message in 3 easy steps, but doesn’t mention donation. Before reading the official press release, I thought that the restaurants themselves were making a donation with each use of the hashtag at their location.

I’d like to suggest a 4th point be added to the website. “You may add $2 to your bill to help fight hunger”. This would help participants understand they are being asked to give. The current call-to-action could be misinterpreted as “tag the restaurant on social networks to prompt a corporate donation to food banks”.

For our Toronto followers, a question: Will #PictureLessHunger motivate you to visit a participating restaurant for a meal this weekend?

Dictators wish Journalists a “Happy Press Freedom Day”

Reporters without Borders have made my day. Well they have made many journalists day. They have put in pictures what corrupt, autocratic and authoritarian regimes, policies and laws do to journalists everyday. 

more after the break

The anti-drug ads from PETA

It’s a historic day. The day that PETA came with ads without nudity.
It’s about horses. And drugs. In the year in which we are ashamed about Lance Armstrong. And there is more which we should be ashamed: horse racing.

These new ads are made for PETA’s mobile billboard and will be displayed to visitors of the 2013 Kentucky Derby.
The billboard draws attention to the misuse of both “therapeutic” and illegal drugs that the racing industry uses to keep injured and tired horses running, leading to the deadly breakdown of more than three horses every day on U.S. racetracks.

PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo: “The biggest tradition in thoroughbred racing isn’t fancy hats or cocktails—it’s illegal drugs that cause countless tragic breakdowns and the deaths of dozens of horses on racetracks every week. PETA’s message to people who care about animals is that when it comes to horse races, don’t attend ‘em, don’t watch ‘em, and don’t bet on ‘em.”

Horses who survive being pumped full of performance-enhancing drugs and being forced to run at breakneck speed face another threat: When thoroughbreds can no longer run, they are often sold at auction, packed onto crowded trucks, and shipped to slaughterhouses, where they are shot in the head, are hoisted into the air by one leg, and have their throats slit so that their flesh can be sold for human consumption.

Sharks vs. Humans: Guess who is winning? [infographic]

Above is only a tiny slice of this brutally simple infographic by Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing at Kinvey and Robin Richards, the head of design firm ripetungi.

Rob says, “The great irony is that the shark is arguably the most feared animal on the planet, yet whereas they killed 12 people last year (a peak year), we kill that many every four seconds. Please share this infographic and check out the organizations listed in the footer. Maybe with enough support we can do something to curb finning and protect the ocean’s apex predator.”

Okay, Rob. Let’s hope it doesn’t blow up Osocio.

Scroll it below:

Help find missing kids each time you mail a letter

Quebec’s Missing Children’s Network and Lowe Roche, Toronto, have come up with an interesting idea to spread the word about kids who have disappeared. Using Canada Post’s longtime option to create personalized stamps with user-generated pictures, the campaign asks Canadians to donate the customizable medium to a missing child:

The process is simple. Canada Post has an easy-to-use service where you can make personalized stamps online, for just a little more per stamp than regular postage. All we ask, is that instead of uploading your own photos, you upload that of a missing child.

They also provide an e-mail footer that adds a digital Missing Kids Stamp to online communications.

No text is worth the risk

Is it the time of the year? This is the third ‘don’t text while driving’ campaign within a week.
And a completely different approach to the “text and walk” or “morgue photos”.

This campaign is from Brazil. Made for Dinisa, a local car sale and after-sale company.