Archive for Non-Profit
A Virtuous Ad by a Virtuous Institution
Posted by: | CommentsI think that this “Miracles” ad by the United Methodist Church is really moving. Looking at the devastation and destruction in Haiti, hope is a hard thing to come by. While it comes as no surprise that churches are participating in raising funds and making a difference, it doesn’t matter what your religion or denomination is to be moved by this simple and inspiring advertisement. The copy as well as the simple imagery is moving. In addition to simply being impressed by the ad, the website that it directs you to is virtuous social media. It allows you to connect with people using whatever social media platform that you prefer in order to help make a difference for people in Haiti, environmental movements, the homeless, and many other projects.
Sidenote: I couldn’t get the ad to show up in the blog, so please hit the linked tag and it will take you to it.
Hulu Conducts Virtuous Advertising (Research)
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I was just at Hulu looking for something to watch and up pops an offer.
Can you help make Hulu’s advertising service better? In return you’ll be able to introduce 250 Hulu users to one of seven charities. Sounded interesting so I clicked through.
For answering “no more than 24 questions” about the advertising, Hulu let me choose to promote either UNCF, Big Brothers Big Sisters, EarthShare, The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research, Americans for the Arts, DonorsChoose, or Kiva.
I have not seen the specific ads Hulu is showing, so I did a little research. I searched Hulu and the Hulu community for more information, but found nothing. The only info I could find was a July 2009 post on ecorazzi, a blog on green gossip.
I wonder why Hulu is not promotiing their effort to support and promote charities. They are benefiting from the research participation, but it almost seems as if they are demonstrating altruism. If you see the ads, let me know and I will post them.
SMU’s Heart Beats for Haiti Initiative takes flight through social media
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After the destructive earthquakes in Haiti in January, SMU’s Student Senate began a program called SMU’s Heart Beats for Haiti. The idea is that donors pay money and get their name put on a heart, which is posted in Hughes Trigg. Your name is also posted on the SMU Website. For organizations the price is $1,000 for a heart. The money all goes to the Clinton-Bush Relief Fund. As far as advertising goes, I think that SMU students have really come together and put in a lot of time and effort to see this succeed. SMU’s Heart Beats for Haiti can be found on Facebook and many people have made comments about it on their twitter pages. Students volunteer to sell hearts everyday outside of Hughes Trigg. The campaign is unique, involved, and persuasive. It is a fine example of some local advertising here on campus.
Recipe for Joy
Posted by: | Commentshttp://www.americangreetings.com/channel/kraft/
Kraft Foods and American Greetings have teamed up to help provide meals for the hungry by donating 10 meals for every free e-card that is sent by users. Donations benefit Feeding America, the largest hunger relief charity in the US.The company had originally committed to donating at least one million meals, but the program has been so successful they are increasing their commitment by offering 3 million meals.
The e-cards include recipes, and entertaining tips for the holiday season. Users can create online recipe boxes, and share their favorites with other users or friends. Users who had shown interest in giving back to their communities inspired the program.Kraft has been a longtime supporter of Feeding America, donating $770 million over the past 25 years.Promotion for this program has been on online social networking sites twitter and facebook, as well as the kraftfoods.com site. The company has also sponsored a holiday movie on the hallmark channel.
I think the fact that Kraft and American Greetings have kept a relatively low profile on this promotion is great. Kraft is trying the help their site users feel like they are making an impact and giving food to the hungry this holiday season!
Daddy Dearest
Posted by: | CommentsThis is one of a series of media ads that encourages fathers to be a part of their children’s’ lives. Sponsored by the Advertising Council, the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Office of Family Assistance, and the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, these ads were launched coinciding with Father’s Day. The reason this campaign was launched is because millions of children live without their biological fathers and are more likely to be poor, use drugs, experience educational, heath, emotional, and behavioral problems, among other things.
The series of television spots created through this campaign applies to people through humor and depicting a diverse range of family types. I found this ad to be my favorite because the ad depicts a father helping his daughter in ways not many fathers would. The other spots can be seen at http://www.fatherhood.gov/media/tv/index.cfm.
The series shows a diverse range of relationships between father and daughter or father and son. With the popular belief that money equals happiness, this campaign serves to portray the value that family is happiness. The variety of the roles depicted through these television spots also serves to reverse gender stereotypes where the father practices cheerleading with his daughter (commonly believed to strictly be a girls’ activity) or the father makes lunch for his son (believed to be the mother’s job).
One of the main reasons I believe this campaign to be socially responsible is because it wants to fight community evils like theft, drug abuse, educational issues, and much more by showing how father child relationships can make people happier. Yes this campaign mainly endorses father children relationships, but it also serves to encourage healthy marriages. Culture, background, and life experiences all influence consumer behavior and buying decisions. The campaign for responsible fatherhood serves to promote the health and happiness of consumers and their life experiences.
Goodwill and Levi Strauss “Care Tag” Partnership
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I just came across an article from MediaPost this afternoon and thought it was perfect for the AdVirtues website. Read the article here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=116645
This is a new partnership effort between Goodwill and Levi Strauss to encourage consumers to donate their used clothing, rather than throwing it away. BBDO West conceived this idea (as part of their pro bono work for Goodwill). Beginning in 2010, Levi’s will include a this socially responsible message on their product “care tags” (see sample above).
I think it’s a simple idea and excellent effort to persuade consumers to be both less wasteful and more selfless with their consumption. But this does raise some questions: will it work? Will consumers really pay attention to the care tag in their clothing? Will it be sufficient motivation for them to change their pattern of behavior? I think a lot of that will depend on the strength of the viral marketing effort to get the word out. Notions of “social responsibility” and “sustainability” are trendy and much-hyped lately. Ultimately, I hope consumers will heed the “care tags” so that their behavior is consistent with their “talk”.
Bring Change 2 Mind
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“1 in 6 adults and almost 1 in 10 children suffer from a diagnosable mental illness. Yet, for many, the stigma associated with the illness, can be as great a challenge as the disease itself. This is where the misconceptions stop. This is where bias comes to an end. This is where we change lives. Because this is where we Bring Change 2 Mind” (BringChange2Mind.org)
The “Bring Change 2 Mind” Campaign
Headed by Glenn Close and three mental health organizations, this campaign’s goal is to remove the negative stigma and misconceptions associated with individuals suffering from mental illness.
Directed by Ron Howard, the first PSA features Glenn Close and her sister who suffers from bipolar disorder. As people walk through Grand Central Terminal, their shirts reveal what others fail to see at first glance, their mental illness. What makes this ad effective is not the label on the person suffering from a mental illness, but the person standing next to them. For instance, one man’s shirt says “Post traumatic stress disorder,” while the shirt on the person standing next to him says, “Battle buddy.”
This ad parallels our discussion on attitudes, specifically forming and changing these attitudes. The goal of this campaign is to change the stigma linked to individuals suffering from a mental illness. Since these attitudes are primarily built around negative cognitions or beliefs, the objective of the campaign is to inform the public about mental illness, thus stimulating more positive associations with these individuals.
Levi’s Campaign for Harvey Milk Highschool
Posted by: | CommentsLevi Strauss & Co just recently launched the “Give them hope Now” Campaign. This campaign is to raise money for the Hetrick-Martin Institue, which is a non profit organization that that supports the Harvey Milk High School. As you can imagine the Harvey Milk High School is dedicated to support and help gays, lesbians, transgenders, and bisexuals during there time of need. They like to think of themselves as a school that is there for them when their family isnt. When their family kicks them out of there houses and wont support them. The school provides after school support groups and support services. At first when i viewed the ad i was unclear of what the message was for…Here is one of the commercials… What are your thoughts can you tell what it is for?? Also with Levis supporting a messsage like this do you think that people that are againt gay marriage and are homophobic may stay away from a company like this and stay away from purchasing their products? they have gone about delivering this message in a very modern way Rob Toledo, senior account director, Razorfish, Seattle says “We’ve put together a very impactful social media outreach strategy. We’ll be reaching out to bloggers and like-minded organizations and people in the LGBT community,” Do you think they did this because this topic is more of a modern issue and traditionalist might not agree and therefor they figured they could reach more of there target market? or because it cost less to get the message out??
Tom’s Shoes goes national!
Posted by: | CommentsI had to do a double-take when I saw this commercial… actually, I rewound it 
AT&T is featuring Tom’s Shoes in their latest commercial!!
I really don’t have a whole lot to say (probably because it’s nearly midnight and my brain is fried from wrapping up final projects) but thought everyone would want to know.
BARE YOUR SOLE…
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Earlier in the semester I introduced TOMs shoes to AdVirtues, a shoe company with a mission, to provide shoes to people all over the world. For every pair of TOMs shoes you buy they donate one pair to a person in need in a third world country. While most may not 
think that providing someone with shoes is that important, think again. Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infections, allow entry points for parasites living on the ground and even cause diseases that cripple you, all of which are preventable by wearing shoes. Because of this, people all over the world in developing nations are dying daily because of a parasite that entered through the soles of your feet. In order to raise awareness, TOMs declared today, “bare your sole”
day in which they called people all over the nation to leave their shoes at home. Walking on the SMU campus barefoot was a new experience and gave me a glimpse into the lives of those less fortunate. It hurts and little pebbles seem to find a way to lodge themselves into your soles. It taught me a great deal of what life might be like in places like these and taught me the value of shoes so go outside, walk around and
BARE YOUR SOLES
and together we can change the fate of people halfway around the globe.
