Nasty UNICEF campaign trashes "sluts", "dealers" and "drunks"

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this UNICEF campaign by Prolam Y&R, Chile, on Ads of The World. I can see where they came from — children need a good education to get out of poverty and the cycle of crime, sex work and substance abuse — but is this really the best way to show that?

First of all, the ads show a "negative" rather than a "positive" outcome. I guess the message is, "if you don't help these kids, where will their education come from?" 

But it does it in such a way as to assume that people in poverty end up in the underworld simply because of bad influences around them, rather than because their socioeconomic circumstances leave them few options. To blame the "slut" (I assume they mean "prostitute"), the dealer and the substance abuser in this way is not helping. It's shaming.

UNICEF does good work in education. But if they did actually approva this ad (one never knows, these days) they could do a much better job on educating the public about the political, social and economic causes and outcomes of poverty.

UNICEF promotes breastfeeding with minimalist mammaries

I'm not sure these really work. But they won two Bronze Outdoor Lions at Cannes this year for Y&R Beijing. 

Perhaps Chinese mothers will respond to the nutrition-labelling copy. But I still find the geometrical breasts (particularly below) a little bizarre.

Via Ads of The World.

UNICEF Sweden ad skewers social media slacktivism

The Drum shared this find on their Facebook page. It also showed up on Ads of The World. 

No provenance given. (And no sign of it on UNICEF Sweden's actual Facebook page.) But an interesting message regardless of origin.

UPDATE: Reuben Turner has posted the campaign on Osocio, including video:

So I guess it's more than a meme.

Trick or Read: UNICEF now using QR codes for digital donations

Ah, yes! The UNICEF box. An important part of the Halloween routine. After you got your candy, you'd get a handful of pennies in that flimsy cardboard box. Then you'd bring it back to school for rolling and counting.

Via Polite Dissent

I haven't spotted as many UNICEF boxes at my door in recent years, and I was wondering what had become of the "children helping children" charity. After all, it's not like a handful of pennies buys much these days, even in the developing world.

Turns out that UNICEF Canada discontinued the program five years ago because "Coin is very labour-intensive."

Is that the end of the tradition everywhere? The Cause Marketing blog today answered my curiosity: UNICEF USA has gone high tech.

"...the United States Fund for UNICEF has embraced a slick new way for kids to Trick or Treat for UNICEF. 

Today kids can Trick or Treat for UNICEF, raise good sum of money and never touch a single nickel of it. 

This Halloween the kids can print out a canister wrapper like the one at the left which features a QR code. When people scan the code using their smartphone they can make a direct donation to UNICEF 

What if the person who answers the door doesn’t have a smartphone or the necessary QR reader? 

Well a persistent Trick or Treater also knows that people can text “TOT” to UNICEF (864233) to make a $10.00 donation to Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. The $10 will be added to donor’s phone bill."

I'm a little skeptical about this approach. While QR codes have become a ubiquitous part of the print communication landscape, shortening the gap between it and the digital world, some feel they have already jumped the shark. Will the average suburban mom or dad really whip out a smart phone at the door?

The texting plan, however, is much more likely to work based on my experience with the medium.

And what about the whole healthy competitive aspect? We used to compare the weight of our UNICEF boxes when we brought them into school. It was part of the fun.

If someone is going to donate $10 per text, they are maybe going to do it once for the entire night. The donations would then no longer be a matter of how many kids came to the door with boxes. One exposure to the QR or TOT code might trigger an end to the night's donations. How will the other kids feel when they are told they're carrying the boxes for nothing? And how many dishonest but polite people will say they already gave?

I think it's great that UNICEF is embracing change. But I think they've lost their connection with the kids. The money was only part of it for us. What was really important was the reminder, during a night of gluttony and greed, of how lucky we really were. I hope that is not lost on today's Halloweenies.