Facebook today announced plans to add organ donor preferences to people’s profiles, encouraging users to make becoming an organ donor a “life Event” on their timeline:
“What has amazed us over the past eight years is how people use these same tools and social dynamics to address important issues and challenges in their communities. Last year in Missouri, Facebook users tracked down and returned treasured mementos to families who thought they’d lost everything in the Joplin tornado. In Japan, people used Facebook to locate family and friends following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Smaller acts of kindness happen millions of times a day on Facebook.
We never could have anticipated that what started as a small network would evolve into such a powerful tool for communication and problem solving. As this happens, we hope to build tools that help people transform the way we all solve worldwide social problems.
Today, more than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more around the globe, are waiting for the heart, kidney or liver transplant that will save their lives. Many of those people – an average of 18 people per day – will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need. Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis. And we believe that by simply telling people that you’re an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role.”
This program is not an official registry of organ donation, but rather a place to make family aware of a user’s intentions if they are called upon to give consent. Facebook had 901 million monthly active users at the end of March 2012. By making the very real (but posthumous) commitment to donate your organs easy to make and share, this program will allow family to make decisions about unregistered donors more confidently. Plus, those who choose to make their donor status public will most likely influence others.
The impact on donation numbers could be immense. Andrew M. Cameron, the surgical director of liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told the New York Times, “This is going to be an historic day in transplant.”
Dr. Cameron, said that people who die for want of an organ do so mostly because there are not enough organ donors, not because of any shortcomings in medical technology, adding: “The math will radically change, and we may well eliminate the problem.”
I don’t see the option on my “life events” menu yet, but once it’s there I’ll be sure to share.
See a “how-to” video from Facebook after the break.
Which dodgy company most deserves the Greenwash Gold medal in 2012? Who is covering up the most environmental destruction and devastating the most communities while pretending to be a good corporate citizen by sponsoring the Olympic games?
That’s the idea behind this new campaign in the form of a contest. It is organized by the London Mining Network, Bhopal Medical Appeal and UK Tar Sands Network.
Sport sponsoring is huge and events like the Olympic Games costs us consumers a lot of money. A good time to use our influence. There will be many debatable companies sponsoring the London Olympics this year. The organization behind the contest shortlisted three of them. Of course those who are close to the areas of interest of the three organizations.
The good thing about the three shortlisted companies: all three will win a medal :-)
The video above is made by director and designer Kris Hofmann. It is about the Dow Chemical Company who has a long, sordid, history of environmental crimes spanning many decades. Remember Agent Orange in Vietnam. Remember Bhopal.
Directed by Kris Hofmann
Sound/ music Alexander Zlamal
Director of photography Mirko Beutler
This funny video is from Ecotricity, a green energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England specialising in selling and generating wind power.
It is part of their new campaign entitled “Dump The Big Six”.
The Big Six stands for British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, Npower, Scottish & Southern and Scottish Power.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince OBE, the man credited with kick-starting the world’s green electricity market, believes now is the moment to topple the grey giants and bring the UK into the renewable energy future.
Ecotricity: Half of Britons feel the source of future energy supplies is one of the most important environmental issues facing the nation yet less than 1% currently use a green energy supplier (Ofgem, October 2011).
Over 60% of UK households could switch to Ecotricity and get greener energy for not one penny more than they are currently paying.
The collapsing cooling tower imagery was inspired by web artist Herman Bailey’s “Sad Chimney” gif. Herman is credited as part of the creative team behind the campaign.
I spotted this strange ad on the bus this morning. While I can understand the parallel of problem gambling with other kinds of “risky” behaviour, the condom package seemed like a very lazy bit of borrowed interest.
The safeorsorry.ca campaign site continues the condom theme.
This campaign could only be conceived in Ontario, where gambling and gaming are regulated (and often run) by government, and casinos aren’t associated with prostitution so much as retirees.
If you’re curious what the gambling equivalent of safe sex is, the campaign gives these six tips:
1. Don’t think of gambling as a way to make money.
2. Always gamble with money that you can afford to lose.
3. Set time and money limits.
4. Never chase your losses.
5. Don’t gamble when you’re depressed or upset.
6. Gambling and alcohol are not a good combination.
I am very doubtful that any of this will help a gambling addict avoid trouble. There has to be a better way.
Two great Christmas greetings from agencies in our world of cause marketing.
The video above is from Acart Communications, the agency where Osocio blogger Tom is working. I guess he is too shy to promote is here :-) I do it because it’s a great video.
Paranoël Activity: it takes a different perspective on that supernatural old guy who breaks into your house once a year while you and your children are asleep.
Written and Directed by Christopher Redmond
Director of Photography: Karl Roeder
Starring: Tim Coderre , Jack Megginson and Bridget Redmond (with a special appearance by Christopher Redmond as Old St. Nick)
Creative Directors: John Staresinic, Tom Megginson & Vernon Lai
Starring: Tim Coderre, Jack Megginson, Bridget Redmond, Christopher Redmond
Agency DETUSCH&LUBA from Copenhagen Danmark made the work below.
It is about food as a huge concern for humanity.
Eat, drink and be merry.
Eating disorder is rapidly reaching epidemic levels across the globe. Today, eating disorders account for more deaths than any other type of mental illness. Getting treated early is vital. The longer an eating disorder lasts, the greater and less reversible the damage becomes.
It can be scary to seek help for an eating disorder but gaining support from a friend, family member or nutritionist is for many people the first step on the road to recovery.
See the overweight version after the break.
Creative Director: Simon de Tusch-Lec
Chief strategist: Louis Paldrup
Photographer: Piotr Stopka
For Osocio this is off topic but it is so remarkable that I want to share it with you. It is a media project from the tech brand Motorola based on the theme “The Future of Abundance”.
Remarkable because of it’s length. 13 minutes in total. But above all it isn’t about the brand itself. It is a vision on our future.
What’s going to emerge next when social media comes to an end? Key persons who lead the cultural context in Japan got together at the “Social Lab 0.0” to achieve an ambitious objective of finding out what’s beyond social and seeking a rich future. The social network can become vicious or at other times, become an innocent baby. What kind of future will it let us see?
Is abundance really our outlook? Hard to imagine.
The new technologies we face now will evolve into something else. Is social media an intermediate stop?
I saw these videos two weeks ago for the first time and since then I’m confused. More questions than answers. But above all a very important question:
“What does abundance mean to us these days?”
Google live search can give terrible examples of discrimination and prejudices. That is what happens with Romanians too. The hate and prejudices towards the people of Romania are well known.
Agency McCann Erickson Romania made a campaign about this for ROM, the famous Romanian chocolate bar. A remarkable initiative from a commercial brand.
I just tried it myself started typing Romanians are ... It is exactly like the image above. It is based on search history. The idea behind the campaign is to change this with enormous amount of positives searches with “Romanians are smart”. These searches can also be done at the campaign website in many languages.
At this moment already over 150,000 positive searches are done.
The campaign has started last week in Romania generating an unprecedented grassroots movement, with bloggers and public personalities adopting the campaign theme and generating hundreds of blog posts that support the cause and come up with examples of “smart Romanians”.
I love this approach. It is positive action powered by a commercial brand. I’m curious how successful this would be when done by a NGO or protest group.
Gabriela Munteanu, Marketing Manager at Kandia Dulce (ROM): “ROM is a profoundly Romanian brand, that forces us to take a stance when we see Romania is the victim of some serious prejudgement. That is why we decided to assume a cause that honors us: to fight for Romanians’ image. Romanians image over the internet, the image of Romanians about themselves, the image of Romanians abroad. The campaign “Romanians are smart” is continuing the effort launched through “New ROM” campaign, aiming to reinvigorate the national pride.”
This video shows a great 3D light show at Cathedral Square in Peterborough City Centre, East-England. The light show illustrate what happens when waste like fats, oils, wipes and sanitary products are thrown down sinks and toilets.
Anglian Water - the water and wastewater company serving the largest part of England and Wales – were behind this campaign with the name ‘Keep it Clear’. The light show was launched on Thursday 13th October 2011 before rolling it out to other trouble spots around the region. The projection was done by Drive Productions. They call it a 4D projection-mapping show.
The Anglian Water’s 6.1 million customers will be targeted with a campaign to challenge the way they dispose of waste – currently a £7million problem.
Paul Gibbs, Director of Wastewater Services: “This event shows, in all its technicolour glory, the scale of the problem we face when our sewers are clogged up with rubbish that shouldn’t be in them. These ‘unflushables’ – things like wipes and other sanitary waste – simply shouldn’t be flushed away in the first place. But when they are dumped into the sewer, they stick to the fats and oils that have set hard in the cold depths of our sewers, and they cause blockages. Bad smells are just the tip of the iceberg. Sewer flooding, and environmental damage are very real possibilities when this happens.”
This is part of a month-long series of posts examining the cause marketing phenomenon that is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Yesterday, we looked into Estée Lauder‘s Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign, which includes a retail sales fundraising component. One example was a $30 scented candle that offered $5 from every purchase going to the cause.
This is another issue that bears examination during October’s pink marketing blitz: The sometimes laughable amounts of donation money used to spur for-profit sales.
Here’s a typical example from the fashion industry, Bare Necessities intimate wear:
Here’s the fine print:
Bare Necessities is proud to support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® to help find a cure for one of the most common cancers affecting women. With every bra you buy throughout the month of October, we’ll donate 25 cents to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, with a minimum donation of $10,000.
So basically, they have committed $10,000 to breast cancer research. Good for them. But why tie it to a piddly amount like 25¢ per bra?
As part of Osocio’s month-long examination of the explosion of “pink” campaigns for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, here is an ad for Estée Lauder that adds the unfortunate trend of sexualizing breast cancer to their pink-branded CSR as only a fashion brand can:
They have also entered into a partnership with Philips to bathe worldwide landmarks in pink light.
Human trafficking – it is the new slave trade, an action many of us thought be extinct after the US Civil War. But it is worse than ever, not least because many of the victims hand themselves over to get out of economic and political peril. They want to…
I recently had the privilege of being invited to speak and participate in the 2012 Design Ethos Conference/Do-ference at Savannah College of Art and Design. The creator of the conference, Scott Boylston, is a longtime friend in the relatively small socially conscious design community and I was delighted that…
Search through Osocio selected websites about social advertising, marketing, fundraising, ngo's and other on topic resources.
News aggregated from our favourite blogs
About Osocio
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.
Read more |
1 x video | Post comment (0)
