{"id":21540,"date":"2024-05-27T22:23:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T22:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=21540"},"modified":"2024-05-27T22:24:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T22:24:59","slug":"unicefs-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/unicefs-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Brutal Honesty: UNICEF\u2019s \u201cLikes Don\u2019t Save Lives\u201d Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;Likes Don&#8217;t Save Lives&#8221; campaign by UNICEF was launched to raise awareness of \u201cslacktivism,\u201d where people post about real-world problems without taking further action. The campaign&#8217;s primary message is that while social media engagement can raise awareness, it does not directly contribute to the financial donations needed to solve critical issues like hunger, poverty, and disease.<\/p>\n<p>UNICEF&#8217;s campaign raises a crucial question: Does marketing always have to feel good? Sometimes, the best approach is to be brutally honest. Here\u2019s what marketers can learn.<\/p>\n<h2>Watch The Ad<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RwZEjiSHOqc?si=LAX-mWu6a81VSv-h\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The \u201cLikes Don&#8217;t Save Lives\u201d campaign was executed across various UNICEF branches worldwide. One of the most impactful ads features two young boys living in poverty, a stark representation of the real-world issues the campaign aims to address.<\/p>\n<p>The ad begins within a run-down building. Inside are two boys, one standing and facing the camera and the other seated on a thin mattress. Clothes hang from a line, and a tattered sheet blows in the window. The room is bare and damaged.<\/p>\n<p>As the camera moves close to the standing boy, He begins to speak:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy name is Rahim. I\u2019m ten years old. I live here with my younger brother.<br \/>\nSometimes, I worry that I will get sick. Like mom got sick.<br \/>\nWho will look after my brother?<br \/>\nBut I think everything will be alright.<br \/>\nToday UNICEF Sweden has 177,000 likes on Facebook.<br \/>\nMaybe they will reach 200,000 by summer.<br \/>\nThen we should be alright.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The camera then pans to the seated boy, and superimposed on the screen are two sentences:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cLikes don\u2019t save lives. Money does.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It ends with a disclaimer on the cost of vaccinating children against polio.<\/p>\n<h2>Confronting \u201cSlacktivism\u201d<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-21543 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/3.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"Unicef's ad\" width=\"270\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/3.jpeg.jpg 448w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/3.jpeg-207x300.jpg 207w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The ad at right hammers home the point: social media engagement isn\u2019t going to help UNICEF with its work.<\/p>\n<p>UNICEF is taking on \u201cslacktivism,\u201d or the use of social media as a form of activism. As the name suggests, posting about problems on social media takes very little effort \u2013 and while it can raise awareness, it does not help like donations of time and money.<\/p>\n<p>The strategy is counter to most advertising campaigns, in that it does not promise to make you feel good about yourself: in fact, it criticizes those who are posting about UNICEF! The campaign works by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Highlighting Real-Life Consequences:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> By highlighting the plight of these children (as a stand-in for children like them all over the world), UNICEF juxtaposes the ineffectiveness of social media against the stark need for funding. This is a powerful emotional call to action.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Bluntness:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cLikes don\u2019t save lives.\u201d It\u2019s as blunt a slogan as you\u2019ll find in advertising. Yet it makes the stakes real: UNICEF is not in a popularity contest, it\u2019s in the business of saving lives.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Guilt and Responsibility: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Guilt is a heavy spice in any story, much less a major ad campaign. It\u2019s a risk, but it works because it is so powerful. If you see this campaign and feel a tug of guilt, you\u2019re probably more likely to donate.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Other Brutally Honest Campaigns<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UNICEF isn\u2019t the only brand that\u2019s tried brutal honesty:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Carrefour:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This French grocery store re-dubbed itself as the \u201cBlack Supermarket\u201d when EU laws dictated that they couldn\u2019t sell produce grown from local seed strains. Their ad specifically called out the law and the organization\u2019s responsibility to defy it, turning their efforts into a brand awareness effort.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a3Kg14LS3Lo?si=5S9eA2hISxZ5pZAb\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Burger King:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It\u2019s no secret that fast food chains use extensive preparation to make food appear delicious in advertisements. However, to highlight their natural food and ingredients, Burger King showed a time-lapse of their famous Whopper as it aged and molded over time. While it may seem like a terrible idea to show your product decaying, BK saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of their food.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Aubn2Oh6Stg?si=_Mtph1AaKHzF0aVW\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These examples all seem counterintuitive to value-based, positive-association marketing. But all the components of good communication are here: a clear appeal to pathos, a simple and direct message, and a remarkable call to action. They work.<\/p>\n<h2>Marketer\u2019s Takeaway<\/h2>\n<p>Most of the time, brutal honesty isn\u2019t appropriate. Using negative emotional identification risks associating a brand with that negative emotion, and few of us want to produce marketing that sounds like a drag or a guilt trip.<\/p>\n<p>But sometimes it works.<\/p>\n<p>The gravity of UNICEF\u2019s mission adds to the power of this message: they are in the business of saving lives. Providing food and vaccines to children in poor areas is changing a young person\u2019s life for the better. That takes financial resources, not just retweets.<\/p>\n<p>So, when UNICEF calls out their audience for slacktivism, the message carries a weight that cannot be ignored. In turn, the bluntness of the message calls us to act.<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, we can take away a few key ideas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Consider the Context of Your Brand:<\/strong> If you\u2019re in the nonprofit arena, brutal honesty might be more appropriate than, say, a B2B tech company.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Ask Tough Questions:<\/strong> Avoid guilt as an emotional trigger, but don\u2019t hesitate to call out gaps or bad practices that customers might solve with your product.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Don\u2019t Hedge on CTAs: <\/strong>Some marketers will provide gentle CTAs to ease their customers into a sales funnel. But, to some, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbesbusinesscouncil\/2024\/02\/23\/why-the-marketing-funnel-is-dead-and-how-to-evolve\/#:~:text=For%20too%20long%2C%20marketers%20have,channel%2Dfirst%20tactics%20are%20over.\">the marketing funnel is dying<\/a>, which means making sure you grab a customer with a strong emotional appeal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>We\u2019ll be brutally honest: you\u2019re wasting money on your current agency. Our AI marketing assistants can help you create great sales and marketing materials for a fraction of the cost. <a href=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/user\/free_trial\">Try the Media Shower platform with a free trial<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/user\/free_trial\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21542\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2-2.png\" alt=\"CTA One-pagers that pack a punch\" width=\"600\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2-2.png 468w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2-2-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>See how UNICEF\u2019s \u201cLikes Don\u2019t Save Lives\u201d campaign made us rethink our brand strategy for crucial causes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":21541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21540"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21547,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21540\/revisions\/21547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}