The future never looked so dim. Here are some examples of nonprofits who just lost their way -- usually with the help of ad agencies.
Some background: What makes a Stupid Nonprofit Ad stupid?
The most recent posts are at the bottom of the list.
- Domino effect: stupid nonprofit ad (World Wildlife Foundation video)
- Stupid ad makes cancer cute (Movember videos)
- Here's a nonprofit that stopped the stupidity (Kudos to Oxfam Great Britain)
- Stupid nonprofit marketing in the mall (Red Cross of Spain)
- Stupid disaster fundraising (the People of the United Methodist Church clumsily try to help disaster victims)
- Turns out disasters aren't especially funny (it's funny, but it's not fundraising)
- Brand cops mandate stupid Haiti ad (a look into the dark heart of branding)
- Nothing is stupid about this (food bank fundraising gets too clever by half)
- Stupid ad agency gives fundraising the runs (diarrhea is hilarious)
- Print ad unplugs a flood of nonprofit stupidity (Canadian Red Cross chooses extreme abstraction)
- Stupid ad imagines donors look like dead bodies (If you support the Millennium Development Goals, you are a zombie)
- Violent video explodes nonprofit's reputation (This one's an Evil Nonprofit Ad)
- Most stupid ad concept, bar none (It hurts your eyes, but it hurts the nonprofit worse)
- Stupid ad accuses repressive governments of absent-mindedness (Reporters as chewed-up pens)
- What a tangled, stupid web we weave when we try to win awards (Classic stupid link bait)
- Stupid ad trivializes tragedy (Dehumanizing Alzheimer's patients)
- The case of the stupid, barely visible logo (Find the logo, figure out the message)
- Stupid posters reveal the empty heart of abstract fundraising (The stunning unoriginality of stupid nonprofit design)
- Stupid cartoons fail to make the point or anything else (How to make an unclear point about something that doesn't matter to donors and undercut your whole premise at the same time)
- Self-indulgent anniversary video wastes opportunity (Anniversary celebration leads to stupid video)
- Stupid nonprofit ads: garbage in, garbage out (Students win an award for anti-fundraising video)
- Shadow of stupidity leaves the cause in the dark (Thanks to a weak pun, reality is replaced by a very clever hand-shadow show)
- Stupid ad displays stillborn creative concept (Child soldiers predestined to a life of suffering, thanks to stupid ad)
- Stupid ads succeed in stroking egos while avoiding response (Ad agency and booze company team up to stupidly waste a lot of money for a charity)
- Stupid but harmless assault on graffiti (Resume-padding without consequences)
- World's shortest stupid nonprofit ad (Concept triumphs over communication)
- Stupid kids -- get offa my marketing! (Invisible kids playfully destroy cancer fundraising)
- Stupid misconception about the inner lives of children (What's that you're saying about children?)
- Stupid nonprofit ads deserve to die (Multiple layers of misdirection guarantee lack of comprehension)
- Stupid metaphor equates education with being thrown from an airplane (Fight poverty by flinging girls out of airplanes?)
- 2 stupid nonprofit videos that fail to connect in their own different ways (Two very different ways to achieve stupidity)
- Stupid storm ad ignores the humanity (Ad Council wows us with interesting production, forgets to include humans)
- Stupidly hypnotized by the need to win an award (Mind-numbing attempt to win an award in the wrong language)
- This stupid ad will work when pigs have wings (Stupid ad, or conspiracy by the meat industry?)
- Melted wax makes a stupid metaphor in failed ads (Visual pun tries to motivate puzzled viewers to action)
- Stupid waste of donated space won't help many kids (Just because it's free doesn't mean it's smart)
- A whale of a stupid idea (Air-swimming whale signifying nothing)
- Donor centric but stupid? It's possible (Just because it's true doesn't mean it's a motivation)
- Help people float stupidly above the ground? (Reality is not good enough)
- Stupidly empty city reminds people why they don't want to donate (Abstract representation of a very real tragedy reminds donors why this is not a good time to give.)
- Stupid abstraction, not smart action (Yeah, that looks somewhat like a gun. Why are you telling me that?)
- Stupid video creates shadow version of the cause (Another clever abstraction is but a shadow of real fundraising.)
- Stupid threat of instant karma? (Charity ads accidentally threatens public with fatal disease.)
- Stupid ad fails to shed light on charity's powerful message (They have wonderful people doing amazing work, yet they choose marketing that turns their people into abstractions.)
- The stupid ending of a really stupid movie (Extreme poverty re-imagined as a classic film.)
- Stupid Batman is a registered trademark -- not fundraising (Brilliant use of famous trademarks still yields an empty message.)
- Stupid guy burns guitar, fails to help the poor, confuses everyone else (Raising funds by lying about what you actually do.)
- Stupid claim that a color can do your job for you (Marketing discovery of the century, or stupid nonprofit ad?)
- Stupid ads tell donors not to give (Finally, a fundraiser comes right out and says, "Don't donate"!)
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