Last weeks I discussed with friends and allies about the cultural and regional differences in communication, and therefore in cause marketing, several times. It is a very interesting subject. Our Campaign of the Year competition shows how big those differences can be.
As a European I know the sentiment about Americans. Mostly ambivalent. But there’s one thing no one can beat them: storytelling. Americans are the best speakers in the world. Fluent, robust and convincing.
That is what I was thinking about seeing this video from Linda. She made a strong statement about the Susan G. Komen Foundation debacle from last week. Linda is a breast cancer victim and a Komen supporter.
The reason for this video is bizarre but it shows the strength of the story. I already got over 200,000 views on YouTube.
One of the biggest challenges for charities and NGOs is how to use storytelling in their communication strategy. Or a more ethical question: should they do? It is a subject we like to discus in various posts this year.
According reports of the UN, violence against women is the biggest killer of women (Age 15-44 years). One form of violence against women is the so-called “honor killing”. Honor killings are a pre-Islamic practice that is not justified with the theology of Islam. They are characteristic of archaic tribal societies organized before particularly in the Middle East.
The honor killing is not only practiced in the Islamic context, however, is a special honor killings of accumulation observed in Islamic societies.
But such practices persist in Sikh and Hindu communities as well, and only a few decades ago, crimes were still committed in the name of honor in Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain, Greece, and are still happening in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, in the eastern parts of Turkey…
India occupies a particularly prominent role. This video of International Campaign Against Honour Killings shows us the world where the crime is still happening, where the crime is part of tradition.
Strong traditions have always kept domestic violence hidden behind closed doors.
We know that only a few want to talk about it. It’s a vicious circle where the history of violence in many cases ends with murder. It is easy to judge from the outside and say: why did not the woman leave the man ... how it could happen, they looked so happy ... we have not seen it coming ... they were a very normal family ... An ordinary family. You can see the family photos and wonder: happy faces. But I’ll tell you one thing: domestic violence victims do not run around with the sign where it stands on it: this is happening in my family…
If we would care more about the people around us, if we would hear exactly what they say ... if we could hear better ... could see it ... it would be clear. The neighbors, work colleagues, teachers, doctors and family members ... You’ve missed all the signals and you overlook it every day. One should not hide it. You should report it. The times have changed. We can All help.
This Domestic Violence PSA, to be broadcast as soon as next week by Maine television stations, features photos of murdered women and children, and Gov. Paul LePage standing with a group of men who denounce the violence.
It’s sometimes hard to tell. Particularly because the Italian clothing brand in question has always looked for new ways to grab attention.
From the press release:
Diesel is proud to announce a new milestone in its ongoing campaign for successful living. To make a free lifestyle possible for young women in emerging markets, it will help them conquer a key life challenge: the right to safe abortion. Welcome to Misopolis, a brave new world for female factory workers.
What would it be like to give the female factory workers the same lives as successful people? Give them rights, fair wages and proper working conditions? Pregnancy leave? The right to safe abortions? A factory for only the brave?
After launching Diesel Island, Land of the Stupid and Home of the Brave, Diesel now creates Misopolis, a factory where brave female workers can have happy accidents without consequences. Misopolis will be the least fucked-up fashion factory in the world. But this is not just another factory – it is a destination that finally grants them real autonomy.
Our new website www.dieselforwomen.com shows the creation of the world’s happiest garment factory. Female factory workers in Misopolis live an exciting life; filled with fun and wild parties. Think Metropolis but with lots of sex.
This is just the start of our grand vision. There will be more photos and videos of life in Misopolis, the opportunity to donate abortion pills and of course to buy workers’ rights-friendly clothes! It’s the beginning of a real revolution.
It’s the news female factory workers all over the world have been waiting for. After being marginalized, abused, raped, impoverished and exploited by the garment industry, we are giving them recognition, dignity, the right to have a safe abortion and fun.
Seldom do the words “abortion” and “fun” appear in the same sentence, and yet throughout the Diesel for Women site, references to the controversial procedure (which many people consider “murder") are tossed tossed around with wild abandon as models lounge around languidly.
Only this image hints at the real message underneath:
Rude to say this is beautiful but this is one the best visualizations of the term Vicious Cycle of Violence. It is from the AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research) in Singapore.
The term cycle of violence refers to repeated and dangerous acts of violence as a cyclical pattern, associated with high emotions and doctrines of retribution or revenge. The pattern, or cycle, repeats and can happen many times during a relationship. Each phase may last a different length of time and over time the level of violence may increase.
It often refers to violent behavior learned as a child and then repeated as an adult, therefore continuing on in a perceived cycle.
It is one the most important chapters in the cause marketing book: looking for a sustainable solution. That is what Aware is trying. Breaking the chain. Or even better:
“If it happens once, it could happen again.
Stop the cycle before it start.”
Two more great campaign items after the break supplemented with 6 other campaigns from our archive based on the same theme: The Vicious Cycle.
This is one of the strangest fundraising campaigns I ever saw. Pregnant Belgium women use their belly to make paintings for SOS Children’s Villages (SOS Kinderdorpen).
Infant and child mortality in Togo is very high. As early as the pregnancy, mothers have to fight for their unborn child’s chances of survival. That’s why the organization has set up mother-child clinics to help them.
The work of the Unborn Artists is used to raise funds to support the clinics in Togo.
Brussels-based artist Isabelle de Borchgrave is the godmother of the project. She exhibits the collection in her gallery.
SOS children’s villages also provides do-it-yourself-packs for mothers who want to make an artwork with their unborn baby, at home. The do-it-yourself packs are being sold online, in hospitalshops and at several gynaecology practices.
“Thousands of unborn babies do not survive their own birth. This number needs to go down. Belgian unborn babies support African unborn babies.”
In the midst of the recent upsurge in violence in Europe against the Roma people, where unprecedented numbers of organised right wing extremists, terrorists, hooligans and, in some cases, even resentful citizens have participated.
The “I’m a Roma Woman Campaign” is fighting back against hate and marginalizations that all Roma suffer with stories. Roma women in Europe face triple bias; marginalized and discriminated because they are women in their communities and because they are Roma and women outside their communities.
The campaign began in 2008 and is a product of collaboration and partnerships between Roma and Non-Roma NGO’s and activists, the video below was released in March 2011 and features the five activist who originally began the initiative
Working with the Roma Media Archive, which is an ongoing participatory media project to which the Roma and non-Roma artists, activist organizations and communities are invited to contribute with various documentary and art materials that reflect the contemporary Roma situation.
The campaign was developed to challenge centuries-old stereotypes about who the Roma are and allow them to take ownership of their image often misunderstood by mainstream media.
It also wanted to tell the REAL Roma story and create the conditions for effective advocacy of issues related to Roma women and to caste a vision of the future for Roma youth which stresses the opportunities offered by social activism to increase self-empowerment and community empowerment.
"Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less...” What is wrong with our bodies?
Answer is nothing! The models got more skinny!
And how it really looks like when the two worlds meet, shows us “Plus Model Magazine” and breaks the taboo: a nude plus-size model posing alongside a skinny ‘straight-size’ model. For the U.S. magazine posed beside the real beauty Katya Zharkova a lady, whose proportions are quite typical model. The visual differences are enormous and get extra support by shocking statistical data.
It took me some time to appreciate this video from the UNHCR. Because of the use of miniature figures it looks childish at first sight but the last 20 seconds pulled me over. It is that last part which perfectly visualize the hidden truth of rape as a war crime.
“Sexual violence is the war crime that generate more refugee women in Colombia. The big problem is that it’s been unnoticed.
Help stop this. http://saynotoviolence.org/”
Nice action from Beirout, Lebanon.
Between Friday 2nd and 9th of December 2011, 2 sound trucks moved around Lebanon voicing out a message against sexual harassment. Not the regular shouts, they used the usual intimidating texts of men but in reverse meaning. Men were targeted.
The action was done by The Adventures of Salwa.
From their website (which is very informative, information is available in various languages):
Salwa is an ordinary Lebanese girl that has been selected to be the spokeswoman for the campaign launched by a group of young feminists to combat sexual harassment.
Salwa and her sisters felt that the physical sexual harassment and the verbal abuse have reached a certain point that can no longer be tolerated in all the streams of the Lebanese society, being in the streets, transportation, workplace, schools and homes.
therefore, they decided to launch this campaign to say to women who have been subjected to harassment, that the first step to combat it, is to break the taboo and start talking about it.
Salwa also decided to prove that she can take over the reins on their own using her bag with supernatural powers!
Bag with supernatural powers? See their previous video after the break.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC, sexual violence is a community-wide problem. Rape, in the DRC has been used as a weapon of war and sadly continues to increase even after. According to the peacebuilding NGO Search for Common Ground or SFCG, it is estimated that there…
In the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, John Cusack goes “back to the future” and discovers that his friend Lou has become incredibly wealthy due to a little search-engine-that-could that he aptly named “Lougle.” It’s a fun example of how an individual’s name can become a familiar household term…
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.
Osocio e-mail newsletter: highlighting the best social campaigns at Osocio, social advertising related news and field news from around the world.
You can now subscribe by entering your e-mail address here.
Read more |
Post comment (1)
_thumb.jpg)
