I found this ad campaign by using “Stumble-Upon” and I thought they were really effective ads. They are made for the Anchieta Colegio, a fundamental and secondary school located in Brazil. They have campuses all over Brazil and this ad campaign was made to raise awareness about the importance of school funding. I think the overall theme of, “When you run out of pencils, you run out of education” is really effective. I like that the ads are somewhat humorous but still get the point across in a very simply and honest manner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riTM9tcIzyA&feature=player_embedded

The Abrinq foundation has created a special type of vending machine that was placed in the Sao Paulo subway station. This vending machine gives people the chance to donate to the foundation in order to get children off the streets. The project is called “vending machines of good”.  The vending machine dispenses a picture of a child. On that picture is a certain dollar amount. The card reads “With your help we can get these children off the streets”.  The Abrinq foundation is a non-profit that works to raise awareness for underprivileged children and teenagers living on the streets. I think this is truly virtuous advertising. It stands out because it is a creative way to ask people to donate and the citizens that do donate can visually see that they are helping a child when they get the child’s card out of the vending machine. Placing the machine in the subway station is ideal because 3 million citizens transport themselves through it daily. Knowing that your one dollar can help a child is an important factor. I wish the United States would adopt this same type of idea to incorporate into our subway systems.  The proceeds could benefit any type of organization or charity and make a difference in hopefully thousands of children’s lives.

Free iHop Pancake Day

February 23, 2010
Join IHOP to celebrate National Pancake Day on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., we’ll give you one free short stack (three) of our famous buttermilk pancakes.* All we ask is that you consider making a donation to support local children’s hospitals through Children’s Miracle Network, or other local charities.

Free pancakes and a chance to help people… sounds great to me! Not only do I find what iHop is doing for the Children’s Miracle Network amazing (they are raising so much money!) but I also love how I have only seen this day promoted on Facebook and Twitter. And while I have found out that iHop runs some ads to promote Free Pancake Day, I feel that most of the awareness from (at least for my age segment) was made through Facebook fan pages, groups, and tags via Twitter. I think iHop has found a great way to make their social media endeavors virtuous, and it looks like it really pays off.

Check out the video on the link below!

That’s So Gay- Hilary Duff Ad

I recently saw this ad on, of all places, PerezHilton.com. It is an ad that speaks out against using the word “gay” as a negative slur. From my understanding, its original intent was to be aired during the Superbowl, but was cut due to its sensitive nature.

Now while the video is only thirty seconds and includes one of my least favorite actresses, Hilary Duff (I’m not sure why she is still famous or why we still care what she has to say), I still think the commercial provides a simple and responsible message about respect. It serves its purpose of explaining why using the word “gay” as a negative can be offensive without the commercial getting too highly emotional or political. And although I do understand why this commercial did not make the “cut” for Superbowl advertising, I find it hard to reconcile that Tim Tebow’s pro-life commercial was aired and this was not. It seems to me that they are both of “sensitive nature”, so if one was aired…why not the other? Any thoughts?

First of all I’ve never seen any Sun Chips advertising, at least none that I can remember. But how cool is this? Sun Chips 10 oz bags will be made out of compost, so they are 100% biodegradable. What an awesome step for Frito-Lay to take to reduce their carbon footprint. I think this goes beyond not just positive advertising but responsible business practices. I hope that the rest of Frito-Lay chips will follow suit and also switch to compostable bags. Check out Sun Chips website www.sunchips.com

P&G continues to impress me. Their Olympic ad was the beginning and I just came across a P&G advertisement on MSNBC. I was reading an article and at the top of my screen a banner appears that says “P&G, Click here to send your mom a message of thanks”. I clicked the link and it directed me to this website http://www.thankyoumom.com/thanks-mom.jsp?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=imedia&utm_content=rich&utm_campaign=teamUSA

Here you can personally thank a mom by typing in a message that will be shown to Team USA and their families in Vancouver. They will in turn e-mail you a photo of your message which can be forwarded to your mom. P&G is really doing a great job of advertising to moms as well as supporting the Olympics. This would be a great campaign for right before Mother’s Day as well. I am interested to keep tracking the different ways P&G is getting their message across to support their brand as well as families.