Hasta La Creative!

Familiar baritone Morgan Freeman has lent his voice to a Human Rights Campaign marriage equality spot which debuted November 25. In the spot, entitled Dawn of a New Day for Marriage Equality, Freeman intones, “America stands at the dawn of a new day. Freedom, justice and human dignity have always guided our journey towards a more perfect union. Now, across our country, we are standing together for the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry the person they love. With historic victories for marriage, we’ve delivered a mandate for full equality. The wind is at our back but our journey has just begun.”

Just recently, Maine, Maryland and Washington joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and District of Columbia as states that allow same-sex marriage.

Hahaha. Yet another We Are the World Spoof. Africa comes to the aid of Norway with…radiators because, well, it’s freezing in Norway and frostbite kills too!

Oddly, Africans really have nothing at all to do with this bit of aid. It’s the work of the Norwegian Student’s and Academics’ International Assistance Fund along with Operation Day’s Work and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. Oh and the Norwegian Children and Youth Council. Hmm. That’s a lot of Norway in a supposedly African-based aid program.

Of course the entire effort really just flips things on its head and in reality is a PSA campaign of sorts for Norwegians which calls attention to Africa and aims to change the world’s view of the country. The campaign claims world view has been skewed by too many campaigns that portray the country filled only with starving children with distended bellies

The campaign urges everyone to take a deeper view of Africa and consider how western countries can have a negative impact on Africa’s development. The campaign raises four main points:

1. Fundraising should not be based on exploitive stereotypes.
2. Better information is needed about what’s really going on in the world.
3. Media should show respect and become more ethical in its reporting practices.
4. Aid should be based on real needs, not good intentions.

Will it work or will it just be seen as a silly spoof?

Here’s a heart warming, pro-family PSA entitled Invisible family that asks us to focus on the importance of parenthood, the choices they make, the choices that are made for them and the sacrifices they make to love their children. Enough said. Just watch.

Since he once worked on the Coke business while at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, one could argue Alex Bogusky is being hypocritical in creating an anti-soft drink video for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The four minute video, which features Coke-like polar bears, is a litany of facts and figures about how sugar is wreaking havoc on humans.

Or, one could argue he’s simply providing awareness to the other side of the story; the story told by various cause groups that don’t have enough clout to counter the billions spent on messaging by soft drink brands.

Either way, the work is good. It’s informative. It’s not over the top and doesn’t pontificate too much. But, as is always the case with food and drink, it’s not the brand that pours the stuff down people’s throats. It’s the people themselves. Which, if you believe that line of thinking, is support for Bogusky’s effort here. All he’s doing is providing the information people need to make an informed soft drink buying decision.

Sugar doesn’t kill. Too much of it, though much like anything else one consumes, can have deleterious effects. No, soda shouldn’t be banned. But people do need to know what they’re consuming and the effect it can have. That may seem like common sense. Sadly, it’s not which is why we need efforts like this to educate.

Well this would certainly be a surprise. At several Belgian schools, Duval Guillaume pranked the girls into thinking they would be doing something special for the day while the boys headed to class. Well after thinking they’d be doing something fun, the girls were informed they’d be peeling potatoes, washing floors and cleaning toilets. Of course, they hated it.

When asked why they were being made to do these tasks, they were told, “Because you are girls.” And when the boys wondered where the girls were, they were told, “The girls do girl things and the boys do boy things.”

In the end, the girls are informed by (insert name of famous person we don’t know but are working towards identifying) that 75 million girls who don’t have access to education have to to this sort of work every day…just because they are girls.

The message comes from Plan Belgium, an organization that aims to eliminate exploitation of girls and to get them the education they need to insure they don’t end up cleaning toilets for the rest of their lives.

Which, of course, begs the question…who will clean the toilets? It’s not like toilets are going to suddenly become perpetually antiseptic on their own. Someone’s going to have to clean them. Admirable as this effort may be, isn’t it just a continuous shifting of duties from one class of people to another?

Yes, education is very important. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to skate through life without ever getting your hands dirty nor should you look down upon certain mandatory tasks that go along with living. Shit needs to be cleaned once in a while. And there should be no shame when it comes to cleaning a toilet or mopping a floor or peeling a potato.

The One Love Foundation, in partnership with the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and the Michael and Kim Ward Foundation, have launched “Be 1 For Change,” a new campaign to combat relationship violence among 16 – 24 year olds. Created by Renegade Communications, the campaign is in honor of Yeardley Love, the University of Virginia Student who was murdered by her boyfriend.

A new PSA introduces a Danger Assessment App that aims to function as a relationship violence threat assessment aid.

The one minute PSA depicts a violent relationship between a college-aged couple – in a glass fishbowl scenario – and how the One Love Danger Assessment app can be used by friends of the victim to help them. Rather than standing idly by and doing nothing to help.

To call attention to the fact “men get breast cancer too,” MCAC and CoppaFeel are out with with a promotional event called The Topless Female Trampolining World Championships. Yes. Seriously. Why should female breast cancer have all the boobie-based fun? OK, it’s not a real event but the promotion, the girls and the cause are very real.

You can check out the promotional video below in which Lars Larson, topless trampolining health and safety officer and a bevy of topless female trampolining world champions do their thing. Sadly, the toplessness is black bared and blurred.

There’s also a promotional site (called The Bouncies, naturally), a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Calling attention to the plight of children in Third World countries, Weapon 7 has created a Pinterest board for UNICEF that highlights the items the world’s poorest children around the world need. The Pinterest board was created using the profile of Ami Musa, a real 13-year-old girl living in Sierra Leone but the focus of the effort is to call attention to children like Ami all over the globe.

All of the pins lead to a UNICEF site on which people can make donations towards helping these children. Admirable effort

Eschewing fear tactics, Minneapolis marketing agency Haberman just launched Myself, My Health, a campaign for Hennepin County, MN, to promote the use of sexual health clinics by youth and young adults, particularly among audiences with higher prevalence of unplanned pregnancy.

To aid in the creation of the campaign, the agency formed a youth leadership board to give input which led to a more empowering approach to teen pregnancy prevention by emphasizing personal responsibility and knowledge.

A welcome change from Robotripping and Montana Meth.

In reaction to political unrest and violence in Assam, TBWA New Delhi has launched a Facebook-focused PSA which aims to caution people on how they use Facebook. Ad copy reads, “You’re Like can hurt someone’s feeling,” “You’re Like can inginte a riot” and “Your Like can lead you into danger.” Each of the three ads carries the tagline, “Use your Like wisely.”