Rafael Nunez Aponte: Know These 3 Social Responsibility Campaigns

Social Responsibility is about giving back to the communities that keep your business in a good position, maybe even ones beyond your reach. Having a social commitment and good culture allow employees know they are working for something that good and with a high impact. Business becomes something far from dimensional and, more importantly, it cares about people. People want to do things that matter; companies that encourage employees to participate in volunteerism and giving back all efforts are creating fulfilling environments to work in.

Let’s see some of the best companies that have great campaigns on Social Responsibility.

One for One

1. Toms “One for one” motto is a very popular phrase. They have recently upped the ante by donating a part of their sunglass sales to vision care for children in need. However, this is not just consumers that are involved in this social action for good, there are also employees involved. Toms’ employees participate in an annual Shoe Drop where they travel and donate a variety of goods to children. Their careers page specifically calls for employees that want to change lives and be a part of a movement.

Social Responsibility

2. IBM truly believes in corporate citizenship. Their social good projects extend across issues and needs of the society. Employees volunteer in environmental efforts, community economic development, education, health, literacy, language and culture. Their volunteer initiative goes all year long; it is called the “Celebration of Service,” logged over 3,000,000 hours of service. IBM has also established “On Demand Community” enabling employees and retirees to find volunteer opportunities, through trainings and placement.

PG&E Earth Day

      3. PG&E works very well serving the communities of California. On Earth Day employees help clean and restore 18 state parks. They are members of Habitat for Humanity and volunteer by providing solar panels on new Habitat homes. Employee volunteerism hits inside the home as well by participating in various food programs providing those struggling to make ends meet with care packages and thousands of pounds of groceries.

Charity through 3 Campaigns in Social Media

Social Media can definitely be used for charity. The list below represents the campaigns that not only generated huge publicity for their respective causes, but were also highly creative and made effective use of tools such as stunts, social media tactics and viral videos.

1.      “I like it on…”

Breast Cancer Campaign 

In 2009, Breast Cancer Awareness launched their purely Facebook-based campaign where girls were invited to post the color of their bra as a Facebook status while confusing their male friends who were kept in the dark about what these colors meant. As the campaign was a huge success and gained coverage not only all over the world, but also in print media, Breast Cancer decided to repeat the success with another campaign the following year.

2.      UNICEF on Youtube

Swedish UNICEF ran a campaign to highlight that likes on Facebook were not enough to help them save children’s lives. To do this, they created four YouTube videos, including one of a child saying ironically that he feels hopeful because of the amount of likes UNICEF’s Facebook page has achieved.

Each video ended with the powerful message that likes cannot fund vaccinations. The videos were viewed more than750,000 times across 195 countries, and led to more than 10,500 tweets during the campaign period.

3.      Marriage Equality

Marriage equality

The Human Rights Campaign changed their logo to an equal sign last year as a vote was taking place in the Supreme Court over marriage equality.

The image of the equal sign on red background went viral as thousands of people all over Facebook changed their profile pictures to also show their support. The support of the campaign was so visible that it would have been impossible for ministers to ignore it.

Rafael Nunez Aponte: Protecting Animal’s Lives in Three Campaigns

According to the Humane Society of the United States six to eight million animals enter shelters in the U.S. each year with only three to four million adopted. Thousands of circuses use them under terrible and illegal conditions around the world. Many of our important environments in the Planet are being negatively affected by the extinction of several animal species every year. Are we doing something for them?

These three campaigns, however, stand out as the most creative and genius ways to find happy homes and possible future life for the thousands of animals in need, defend the lives of these beautiful species and promote their rights.

1.      The Shelter Pet Project

The Shelter Project

The Shelter Pet Project is the collaborative campaign between the Humane Society of the United States, Maddie’s Fund and the leading producer of public service advertisements, The Ad Council. The goal of this campaign is to make adopting a pet the first thing people think to do when they decide to bring an animal to their home. The Shelter Pet Project website allows people to easily search for shelters and adoptable pets in their area while learning about the plight of homeless animals.

2.      Animals are not clowns

Animals are not clowns

These advertisements illustrate to the viewer the cruelty behind circuses by placing them on an animal’s point of view and using elements such as tone, mood, and word-phrasing to discourage indifference against the suffering of animals.

3.      Horrifying vs. More Horrifying

Horrifying vs. More Horrifying

The mission of the World Wildlife Fund is to conserve the earth’s biodiversity by protecting its species and their habitats. By emphasizing that, all of earth’s organisms form a complex, interconnected web of habitats that provide its life support system, the campaign communicates that mankind cannot survive without a healthy, sustainable ecosystem.

The approach highlights the threat by taking something perceived as threatening and highlighting how much more threatening it would be if it did not exist. With three simple words and images it captures the essence of the danger.