There are more victims of child labor than LinkedIn users

Data in social advertising is important. It puts causes in perspective. Did you know that there are more victims of child labor than LinkedIn users?
That children who work would be the fifth largest population in the world? Are the double of people who watch the Super Bowl? Are more than the inhabitants of Brazil? Are more people than Germany, England and France together?

These facts are the idea behind the new campaign from Advertisers Without Borders (AWB), the community of advertising & communication professionals who have a true passion for social causes.
Our ally Guillermo Caro did a great job with this campaign.

They based the campaign on LinkedIn, one of the largest professional networks on the Internet. This idea, created by Coupé Buenos Aires agency and IURL digital agency, was born when the found out that LinkedIn does not have a user age limit for creating a profile or generating the job search. Any child can register as a candidate/independent worker without being stopped. The campaign is not intended to damage LinkedIn’s image. This site was simply chosen for being one of the world’s most important professional networks.

AWB made profiles on LinkedIn to activate this campaign. More than 50 children and 10 companies working with minors were placed on the site. Immediately, all children were connected to hundreds of thousand users through a professional request sent from the site. The people contacted received the request that, symbolically speaking, invited them to accept the reality of child labor or to continue ignoring it.

Visit the campaign website here.

Romania Gives Britain the Finger

MEMO: ATTN. BRITAIN
Xenophobia is not pretty. Stereotypes are ugly. Social exclusion of migrants and minorities make you look bad.
Sincerely, Romania

The Sound of Silence

Silence and darkness. So it must feel like a forgotten prisoner.
Intense video made by CCCP for Amnesty International.

“I came to a point where I could not even remember the sound of sound.”

Hat tip to Nils.

Baku’s (Azerbaijan) Most Annoying Campaign: 5 ‘Qapiks’

The 5 ‘Qapiks’ Campaign wants donations! But dont even think about giving American Dollars or British Pounds, it wants your 5 ‘Qapiks’ coins. Each one of these bad-boys are worth about 6.2 US Cents. 

Canada’s First Nations and their supporters will be #idlenomore (pictures)

[All pictures copyright Susanne Ure]

On December 11 Theresa Spence, the chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, began a hunger strike near Canada’s Parliament in Ottawa. She is protesting recent federal legislation that she and other aboriginal leaders say violate their treaties.

Chief Spence is living in a teepee on Victorian Island, a piece of land within sight of Parliament Hill that belongs to Canada’s First Nations. Since she began her strike — one of the oldest forms of protest — one of the newest types of activism came to her aid. The rallying cry of “Idle No More” became a meme, #idlenomore, and a grassroots movement quickly developed across Canada. Yesterday, December 21, First Nations activists and supporters bused in from hundreds or thousands of kilometers away to show their support for Chief Spence on Parliament Hill, despite blizzard conditions.

Susanne Ure, an employee of Amnesty International Canada, an avid photographer, and a good friend of Osocio, was also there to document the coming together of native people to declare their rights. See the rest of them after the break.

Hundreds join hands with UNICEF to give girls back their voice

People from all over Zurich and Geneva came out in the cold on Human Rights Day (December 10) to form a human chain across the two cities to demonstrate their support for UNICEF’s campaign to stop violence against girls. The local participants that lit up the cities with glowing signs and balloons were joined by Anatole Taubman, the Swiss-born actor known internationally for his roles in Band of Brothers (HBO), Spooks (BBC) and The Tudors (BBC).

It was the final event of the national campaign ‘Stop Violence against Girls’ which began on 20 November for International Children’s Day. Created by Saatchi & Saatchi Zurich for UNICEF, the campaign includes a series of graphic images and films shot by internationally renowned photographer Marco Grob, most famous for his series of 9/11 photographs. 

The campaign features images of girls from different cultural backgrounds, telling anonymous stories based on factual cases from India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, Nigeria and the Ukraine. Each of the striking images contains a direct call to action to ‘Stop violence against girls’ and donate to ‘give them back their own voice’. In recognition of this, each member of the human chain wore a specially created mask over their mouths, symbolising the plight of girls around the world.

Click images to enlarge.

Largest portrait ever on Dutch soil: Outlawed Women

During the International Human Rights Day on 10 December, the Dutch organisation Vogelvrije Vrouwen (Outlawed Women) launched the campaign “Outlawed Women - Defend women who defend human rights!”
For the launch international renowned urban artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada has made a portrait larger than a football field made ​​on an island in Amsterdam.

It is an initiative to defend women human rights defenders in Mesoamerica. An attention call to the violent situation faced by women in that region. It is daily reality in Mexico, Guatamala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaraqua. Dozens of women’s rights activists are murdered there each year. And others are threatened and raped, their house set on fire and their families terrorised.

Jailed Puppets Guerrilla from Amnesty

This is latest campaign from the dutch section of Amnesty International. The guerrilla advertising campaign is to support the start of campaign called 4 Weeks For Freedom.
Amnesty got over a hundred volunteers to spread jailed puppets throughout the Netherlands. They are asking people to join theire actions to get Ales Bialiatski and Nasrin Sotoudeh out of jail.

It is leading up to an action that takes place in January. From 14 January to 9 February 2013, two teams are trying to get them free.
Amnesty is looking for supporters during the campaign weeks.

(Click images to enlarge)

New Amnesty Turkey ad channels 1982 Paul McCartney/Stevie Wonder song

There’s not really much else to say, except to insert this saccharine “worm” in your ear for the rest of the day:

“Straight Up Thanks” from LGBT Americans

My brother David shared a link to this great new Tumblr, “Straight Up Thanks”, in which LGBT Americans are expressing their gratitude to “straight” Americans who supported equal marriage in the recent election:

WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT THEM.

We are LGBT people who want to thank the straight people who helped us win marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state, and who helped us defeat an anti-gay marriage amendment in Minnesota.

If you’re a queer person whose straight friends worked hard to win marriage equality—worked phone banks, knocked on doors, spoke out, gave money—send us a photo and a couple of sentences about what your straight friends did. Click on SUBMIT, upload a photo, and thank your straight friends publicly!

If you’re a straight person who worked for marriage equality… THANK YOU!

While many of us who consider ourselves “straight allies” around the world don’t expect gratitude for supporting human rights, this is still a great project.