There are many flavors of stupidity among stupid nonprofit ads. Some are good at heart but get lost in stupidity at execution. Others are stupid all the way through.
Here are one of each: stupid nonprofit ads that are radically different in the nature of their stupidity, but stupid nonetheless.
First, we'll examine this video from WATERisLIFE.com:
Or watch it here on YouTube.
This is actually a pretty good video: Trenchant, interesting, and well-done. And it's been getting some viral action. I like it.
The problem with it is the same as with almost all Stupid Nonprofit Ads: There's no call to action. It's designed to make you Think About Stuff.
Fundraising that works is always about concrete and specific action.
Here's another video, this one from the British Red Cross
Or watch it here on YouTube.
This one is more typical of the goofy and self-indulgent Stupid Nonprofit Ad genre. It combines high production values with confusion of purpose to create a message that will thrill insiders, possibly win awards, and have little or no impact on the organization's donor or mission.
It has the common premise that being literal is not persuasive, so it conjures up a metaphor: a creepy young woman and her scary dog stand for all the different disasters that might cause people to need help from the Red Cross. Why someone thought this was more clear, immediate, and emotional than actual disasters is a puzzle to me.
The problem with using metaphor is that it must be 100% apt, more clear, and more emotional than the thing it stands for. This is none of those.
More Stupid Nonprofit Ads.
