No nonprofit organizations were harmed in the production of these Stupid Nonprofit Ads. It's a step in the right direction.
The lack of harm isn't because of a lack of stupidity. It's because the organization the ads are for, Americans for Grammar doesn't actually exist.
Inept marketing for a non-existent organization? Sounds pretty Zen to me.
(More information, and another, similar ad at Ads of the World
The posting of these ads at Ads of the World is accompanied by a rambling statement:
The objective of this project was to create a movement for all Americans to stand up and take control of (and call out) a growing problem: Poor grammar.... The print ads drive to a blog where people can post their own found mis-tags, as well as donate money to an urban language and grammar school.
Except you can't post your own examples of bad-grammar graffiti, and you can't donate to anything. There's just a blog that has five posts, all of them from the same day last November. There's no indication who's behind it and no other action you can take no matter how hard you search.
If there were an organization called Americans for Grammar, I think they'd know the difference between grammar and spelling. And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be focused on incorrect graffiti as the problem that needs solving.
It's another clever, strange, misdirected stupid nonprofit ad. But this time, no harm has been done.
It's probably a desperate attempt by struggling agency employees to create full-looking portfolios. If you go to the ad blogs where these ads are posted, you'll see an echo-chamber of people in the comments who think these ads are just awesome. The Ads of the World post credits Y&R Chicago as the agency. It also credits a Chief Creative Officer, Copywriter and Art Director (both of whom are also Associate Creative Directors), and a Director of Innovation(?).
Maybe things aren't going well at Y&R. Most ad agencies are extremely busy places, with over-the-top workloads to keep up with real, paying clients. So they make up fake clients to work on.
But why complain? No money, time, opportunity, or reputation was squandered by any good cause. If we could get the agency hacks who love creating stupid nonprofit ads to keep them to imaginary nonprofits, that would be wonderful!
Thanks to Osocio for the tip.
More Stupid Nonprofit Ads.
