You know you’ve seen them, liked them, and shared them. Those posts calling for Facebook likes to right an injustice in the world, but do they make a difference? Nope. Sorry to pop your hope balloon.
UNICEF is calling out what so many of us know to be true as the laziest, do-nothing form of activism – the Facebook “Like.” The charitable organization to fight poverty and starvation has launched a campaign urging people to avoid the “like-it-mentality” and actually do something. So far, UNICEF Sweden has debuted several YouTube videos taking aim at the issue.
While the first two videos are humorous and feature a wealthy man trying to pay for something with “Likes”, it’s the third video which goes for the throat. A poor boy orphan boy in a dark, cold looking dwelling with his brother playing in the background. He then conveys that he’s lead to believe that if UNICEF’s Facebook page gets 200,000 “Likes” his brother and himself won’t die of disease.
The bold ad campaign was created by Forsman & Bodenfors ad agency and pulls no punches on the flatness of Facebook “Like” campaigns. UNNICEF acknowledges that social media retweets and shares can spread a message. Waiting for somebody else to do take action though, doesn’t save dying children.
