Vending machines in subways usually offer you nothing else but crap. During February the 3 million daily passengers of the São Paulo subway were offered something good for a change. On one row of different vending machines in the city pictures of children holding cards of $ 1.00, $ 2.00 and $ 5.00 were placed. The main title explains: “With your help we can get these children of the streets”.
The campaign is developed by Giovanni+DraftFcb in partnership with 24x7 Cultural to raise funds for Fundação Abrinq; a nonprofit institution that aims at raising awareness about issues related to the rights of children and adolescents, promoting human rights and citizenship.
I like this campaign because the vending machines not only turn out to be great selling points for ‘Good’, resulting in donations, but the location of the vending machines play an important part in the story being told. Guerilla marketing is not always used in the right way. Giovanni+DraftFcb, however, did a great job picking the right medium and using this perfect for this campaign.
Standing at the pump, watching the numbers tick away, do you ever wonder where the money goes? You’re not alone: People on the other end of the pipeline are wondering too. While we feel the pinch in our pockets, citizens of oil-producing countries are often not seeing the profits.
This video from Oxfam America is part of the campaign ‘Right to Know, Right to Decide‘ looking at the lack of transparency in extractive industries.
LDM Film has gathered 8 filmmakers to share their vision on the challenges set by the UN for 2015, the so called Millennium Goals. A few days ago all 8 films became available for a month on YouTube.
The 8 directors are: Jane Campion, Jan Kounen, Gaspard Noé, Abderrahmane Sissako, Gael García Bernal, Mira Neir, Gus van Sant and Wim Wenders.
See all 8 films after the break.
One video and three print ads from the People of The United Methodist Church.
The campaign directed those inside and outside the church to 10thousanddoors.org to find out how to help after the Haitian earthquake, in any way they could. The point of the posters was simply to convey that faith + action = hope.
“Of all the things earthquakes can destroy, the human spirit is not one of them.
Find out how to to help the people of Haiti at 10thousanddoors.org."
Campaign for The Healing Place, a nonprofit organization in Raleigh USA. Their mission is to help rehabilitate homeless people with substance abuse issues. While most organizations focus on keeping people off the street, The Healing Place seeks to give people new skills and confidence that they can use to reignite their lives as functioning, and working, members of society.
Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan warns of the danger of excluding poor rural communities from the Internet:
“People lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, healthcare and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may, indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them.”
With this in mind Project FOCUS works with local organizations in rural Southwest Uganda to launch an Internet Café, providing access to information and communication previously unavailable to residents of the region. The Café will also provide technology skills training, a revenue source for a local community-run primary school, and allocate space and tools for the production of creative multi-media projects.
Web access provides communities with the opportunity to improve social welfare, and claim their voice in the global conversation on strategies for rural development. With this service, the local populace will benefit from direct links to job, educational, weather, and health information, as well as more efficient markets for produce and products.
The community Internet café will be administered by I.T. trained staff members from the local partner organization ICOD (Integrated Community Efforts for Development), and will provide technology skills training, a revenue source for a local community-run primary school, and the space and tools for the production of creative multi-media projects. Groups of local teachers, farmers, and healthcare workers in Lyantonde will be connected with respective groups in the U.S., the latter assisting the former in utilizing best-practices while searching the web for relevant materials and networks.
It is already ten days ago that Haiti collapsed due to a devastating eartquake.
It was a month ago that an aid worker from orphanage in Haiti said that the country need a disaster to get attention from the rest of the world. Of course it was meant ironically. The country was already mentally weary and anxious.
Now it is the time for fundraising and I hope not only for first aid but also for reconstruction.
For this post I collected some fundraising PSA’s. Feel free to give tips in the comments or via Twitter about more campaigns.
The PSA above is from the Netherlands. Agency N=5.
Not a piece of design or marketing, but absolutely has the power to change the world. Peter Singer’s book ‘The Life You Can Save’ makes a strong, and simple case for philanthropy. Click for book’s website.
“If we could easily save the life of a child, we would. For example, if we saw a child in danger of drowning in a shallow pond, and all we had to do to save the child was wade into the pond, and pull him out, we would do so. The fact that we would get wet, or ruin a good pair of shoes, doesn’t really count when it comes to saving a child’s life.
Approximately 27,000 children die every day from preventable, poverty-related causes. Yet at the same time almost a billion people live very comfortable lives, with money to spare for many things that are not at all necessary.
In The Life You Can Save, Peter Singer argues that if everyone who can afford to contribute to reducing extreme poverty were to give a modest proportion of their income to effective organizations fighting extreme poverty, the problem could be solved. It wouldn’t take a huge sacrifice.”
Very hard-hitting films from Save the Children as part of their new ‘EVERY ONE’ campaign. These are filmed profiles of children who have died of easily or preventable diseases. Their parents and siblings talk about who they were, so they don’t become another statistic I guess. Very sad and very true.
I WAS PHILIP
After the jump, I WAS ALFRED, I WAS SAVITA, I WAS PARMESH, I WAS CHUNILAL
“For many people in Barcelona this is their home. Give Barcelona a roof.”
Three gorgeous ads for the Arrels Fundació, the Spanish organization for helping the homeless.
Gorgeous yes. Original? No.
In advertising almost everything is already done but this campaign is stolen. Remember the 2006 campaign from Samu Social de Paris? (Blogpost in Dutch)
Posted by Marc | 14-12-2009 22:48 | Category:
Poverty
A foam rubber hammer to press on the head of the world’s eight most powerful leaders, asking them to do more to fight poverty. This is ”THE PRESS 8”, the game launched on Facebook by the Italian Coalition Against Poverty (GCAP). Within the framework of the Copenhagen summit, the game aims to put pressure on the G8 and to remind leaders to keep their promises in the fight against poverty, climate change and to achieve the MDGs.
This is part of the first campaign against poverty developed entirely on Facebook that has the aim of raising awareness among Italian and other G8 countries’ citizens through a fun and dynamic approach. Users contribute to the cause by playing with Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi, Angela Merkel and other leaders of the G8 countries. A counter at the end of the game measures the pressures exerted on the head of state and allows you to sign the GCAP’s petition and become a fan of the Coalition.
Posted by Marc | 2-12-2009 20:42 | Category:
Poverty
Great PSA from City Harvest. They link the food industry and countless organizations, foundations, corporations and private citizens together to help feed their hungry neighbors. Each week they help feed more than 260,000 hungry men, women and children.
City Harvest’ latest PSA, they say it is shot entirely on an iPhone, highlight the amount of food wasted in New York City every day. Every day, 270,000 pounds of food is wasted in New York City, but thousands of residents don’t have enough to eat.
The video above shows a flashmob organised in Budapest by the Hungarian Kurt Lewin Alapítvány (Kurt Lewin Foundation) for their campaign called 100 Legszegényebb (The 100 poorest).
The message is that poverty is more than just being short of money. Poverty can be more: material deprivation, physical or cultural defencelessness, addiction, lack of family relationships.
Main part of the campaign is a book, in which the foundation collected short stories and attached 100 photos about people, who told their stories. An another main part is a traveling exhibition with selected pictures and information.
They promoted the campaign mainly with all kinds of guerilla marketing like the flashmob above but also reading actions, putting poster and stickers everywhere in several Hungarian cities.
The Kurt Lewin Foundation is an independent civil public interest organisation. With their work they wish to make a contribution to the consolidation of a democratic society in Hungary and particularly to the increase of tolerance and the elimination of stereotype-based thinking. They promote social dialogue, tolerance and the dissemination of knowledge and skills required for active civic participation – mainly by the development of critical thinking.
This outdoor ad is part of a new campaign from Kenya. It is a nationwide multimedia campaign to raise awareness and stimulate discussions on issues related to human trafficking. The campaign launched at 12 November in Eldoret in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province.
The Kaa Chonjo (Watch Out!) campaign will use a wide variety of communication channels including radio, television, mobile cinemas, billboards, posters and road shows to raise awareness among communities living in Northern Kenya and the North Rift Valley made vulnerable by drought, the food crisis, as well as civil and political unrest, all of which have often resulted in forced displacement.
The information campaign, which will run until the end of the year, is part of a larger project to provide assistance to vulnerable families in the Rift Valley and Northern Regions of Kenya funded by the Japanese government and supported by its Kenyan counterpart.
“Forced displacement disrupts social and economic support systems within communities and is conducive for traffickers to recruit, transport and exploit women, children and men,” says IOM’s regional counter-trafficking officer Tal Raviv in Nairobi.
An assessment carried out by IOM in the target regions establishes poverty and the search for livelihood as key factors that render people vulnerable to trafficking. It notes for instance that impoverished families from the North Rift Valley tend to migrate to coastal areas in search of employment in the hospitality sector, where they are exposed to exploitation.
In addition to awareness raising activities, IOM’s counter-trafficking team has established a referral system that enables vulnerable households within the targeted areas to embark on livelihood activities.
“Providing grants for small scale entrepreneurship or to help poor families send their children to school reduces their vulnerability to human trafficking, smuggling and other forms of irregular migration,” Raviv adds.
This hilarious video is made by Debbie Glasband who recently volunteered in eastern India for 6 months, working with the tribal people you see in this video. They are indigenous to Koraput, the second poorest district in India. Due to their poverty, illiteracy and status as the bottom of the caste system, they are often taken advantage of by landowners and local officials who deny them their rights, steal what little money they do have and treat them with disdain.
The video stars people from Puki and Nua Kerenga villages, two of many villages that were displaced by hydroelectric dams and mining projects. Forced onto land that is difficult to cultivate, they have resorted to migrant work and borrowing money from landlords in order to survive.
For tribal people who are landless, raising goats is a great alternative source of income. Families who breed goats can earn a good profit selling the kids in the local market. The extra income provides a safety net for families that can be used for things like medicine, food during lean periods and farm equipment.
Overview of 37 innovation principles and inspiring examples for a better world. Made by Marc Heleven from New shoes today, a ídea factory based in Belgium.
New shoes today is a growing number of soulmates in business who give support to people and organisations on their road to creation, innovation and change. Together with clients they take on 21st century challenges. Their values: open - drive - unity - fun - care - today.
The transcript of the slideshare presentation with all links can be found here.
Poster for the Stichting Kinderhulp Bodhgaya (Children’s Foundation Bodhgaya) made from paper leftovers and scrap. Bodhgaya aims to help homeless Dalit (low caste or untouchables) children in Bihar, India and offers them education, medical care and a place to live. The heading in the back says: Mindere Goden bestaan niet / Lesser Gods don’t Exist.
Copy: Children’s Foundation Bodhgaya provides free housing for orphans and abandoned children; offering a home again, medical care, education and vocational training. Contribute to their future!
It is hard to surpise me with new creative work after blogging four years about social advertising. But Nuru did! In this post three gorgeous video’s all made in house. It is a combination of personal stories and animated storytelling.
Nuru, a Kiswahili word meaning “light”, is a new humanitarian organization at the crossroads of innovation and extreme poverty.
Nuru founder and CEO Jake Harriman attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served over 7 years in the Marine Corps as an Infantry Platoon Commander and a Special Operations Platoon Commander for an elite unit called Force Recon. During his career, Jake assisted in numerous humanitarian and disaster relief operations in the developing world including Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the Asian tsunami, and he completed 2 combat tours in Iraq. After witnessing the fight against terror firsthand, Jake came to believe that the war against terrorism won’t be won on the battlefield alone. It must be won by eradicating the root causes of terrorism: extreme poverty, lack of education and injustice. Jake left his old life in the Marine Corps and dedicated himself to studying humanitarian development, organizational leadership, innovation, and the problem of extreme poverty. He enrolled in Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) where he began learning at the legendary Center for Social Innovation.
Jake Harriman tells his story in his own way in the video above.
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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