November 18, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Oxfam America is asking you to give a [bleep].
To promote giving during the holiday season, Oxfam America has produced a slightly bawdy, but funny, video. With a nod to the censored word, Oxfam suggests viewers donate $12, which will provide manure to impoverished farmers overseas.
The slick advertisement begins with an earnest mom sitting with her child and saying to the camera: “I never knew how much difference I could make just by giving a [bleep].”
She then extols her dry cleaner, parents at a playground, and others to follow suit. Eventually she is driving around a leafy suburban neighborhood in an ice-cream truck using a loudspeaker to ask strangers to give a … well, you know.
On his blog, which features the video, Jeff Trexler, professor of social entrepreneurship at Pace University, in New York, hails the ad.
“Please, please, please let this replace ‘raising awareness’” as a catch phrase, he writes.
What do you think of the ad?
