Retro Article Of The Week: Hard-Hitting Ad Campaigns

Tomorrow we will be releasing the newest edition of The NonProfit Times, so today we will be looking at an article that also came out in one of our September 15th issues.  The year was 2008, and the article was about a controversial ad campaign by The United Way of Greater Milwaukee (UWGM).  The campaign was for statutory rape awareness, and the proposed ads contained imagery that caused a frenzy: The faces of adolescent girls were superimposed onto the bodies of full-figured, adult bodies.  This particular campaign was eventually scrapped when it was leaked on the internet.

Although this particular campign was scrapped, UWGM moved onto other campaigns, including one that showed images of pregnant teenage boys to shed light on teenage pregnancy.  Here's an excerpt from the article:

A poster featuring a busty, D-cup model will turn heads. Couple it with a precocious, pig-tailed face of a little girl and it will stir an Internet frenzy.


That's what happened to The United Way of Greater Milwaukee's (UWGM) statutory rape awareness campaign when the faces of adolescent girls were imposed on full-figured, adult female bodies. But before the campaign could launch, the ad images leaked on the Internet and the campaign was tossed, even though the ads tested well in focus groups.


"It was obvious that the ads were being misconstrued," said Nicole Angresano, the community impact associate director for UWGM. Angresano said that changes were made to the images and text and the leaked versions represented earlier design prototypes.


"If we were to move forward, those were not the versions they would have seen," said Angresano, who explained that the ads were created to discourage adult men from having sex with under-aged girls.


Some 71 percent of babies born to teen girls in Wisconsin are fathered by adult males older than 20. In 20 percent of those cases, the fathers are at least six years older than the mothers, according to the Wisconsin Subcommittee on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention study. The UWGM assumes that the statistics have stayed relatively the same since 1998, through case studies and anecdotal evidence from law enforcement, said Angresano. A new study is under way but results have not yet been released.

Whether you disagree with this form of advertising or not, there's one thing that's can't be argued: It generates a lot of publicity.  To read the full article, head on over to our website.

Site Spotlight: The Library

With The Library section of The NonProfit Times website, nonprofits will be able to fulfill all of their white paper needs.  The Library is an advertiser driven page in which white pages, videos, webinars are uploaded and are searchable by subject and category. Right now we have three white paper pdfs that tackle various subjects like donor prospecting and financial software. We hope to add plenty more white papers in the months ahead.

When you get a chance, check out our Library page and see how it can help your nonprofit organization!

Kellogg Co. To Nonprofit: Lay Off Our Toucan!

What does a nonprofit created to defend indigenous Mayan culture have in common with a sugary cereal?  According to Kellogg Co., a toucan.

In a report in The Battle Creek Inquirer, the cereal company is requesting that Maya Archaelogy Initiative (MAI) stops using an image of a toucan in their logo, claiming it infringes on Toucan Sam, the mascot that promotes their Fruit Loops cereal.  MAI has denied the charge, saying that the image in their logo is made up of "iconic images." 

It does seem slightly strange that this would even be an issue.  Kellogg and MAI have absolutely nothing in common, so there is really no competition there.  What do you think?  Battle Creek Inquirer has both images posted in their article, so check it out and decide for yourself.

Retro Article of The Week: Shock And Awe Makes An Impression

For this week's Retro Article, we go back to September 15th, 2008.  On this day in history, the largest bankruptcy filing in US history occured when Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  This was one of the many financial institutions that fell because of the impact of the Great Recession.  In happier news, The NonProfit Times published their September 15th issue, which contained the following article about controversial ad campaigns:

A poster featuring a busty, D-cup model will turn heads. Couple it with a precocious, pig-tailed face of a little girl and it will stir an Internet frenzy.


That's what happened to The United Way of Greater Milwaukee's (UWGM) statutory rape awareness campaign when the faces of adolescent girls were imposed on full-figured, adult female bodies. But before the campaign could launch, the ad images leaked on the Internet and the campaign was tossed, even though the ads tested well in focus groups.


"It was obvious that the ads were being misconstrued," said Nicole Angresano, the community impact associate director for UWGM. Angresano said that changes were made to the images and text and the leaked versions represented earlier design prototypes.


"If we were to move forward, those were not the versions they would have seen," said Angresano, who explained that the ads were created to discourage adult men from having sex with under-aged girls.


Some 71 percent of babies born to teen girls in Wisconsin are fathered by adult males older than 20. In 20 percent of those cases, the fathers are at least six years older than the mothers, according to the Wisconsin Subcommittee on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention study. The UWGM assumes that the statistics have stayed relatively the same since 1998, through case studies and anecdotal evidence from law enforcement, said Angresano. A new study is under way but results have not yet been released.


If you wish to read the full article, simply head on over to NPT's back-issue archive.

Tumultuous Time in Business Sector Opens Up Opportunities

As the tsunami of job cuts continues in the American marketplace, economists’ predictions are making the year 2009 look pretty bleak. Major American companies like Home Depot, Sprint Nextel, Caterpillar, and Pfizer, announced thousands of job cuts today and it looks like the trend is expected to continue for the next six months.

While the news is bleak there is a silver lining to this cloud. Prime television and radio space is available at bargain basement prices. Also, talented employees whose jobs have been eliminated are available for hire.

Bargains are everywhere… that is, if you have the money to take advantage of them. This might be the perfect time for nonprofit groups to shore up their workforce and broaden advertising plans to include television and radio. According to AJ Khubani, president of Telebrands (the folks who make all of those “As Seen on TV” gadgets for “Just $19.99") this is a boom time for businesses with low priced goods and services.

Nonprofits could take a lesson from this “infomercial” advertising model. According to Infomercial DRTV, “Infomercial production costs generally start at $75,000 and go up from there. An infomercial media test cost is typically $10,000-$15,000.If the test is successful, then media expenditures will increase, which can translate into in a larger ROI.

For example, if your infomercial campaign spending is at $10,000/week and bringing in $20,000 in revenue, if you can maintain that same 2:1 revenue to media expenditure ratio (Media Efficiency Ratio or MER), at a spending level of $100,000/week, then your campaign will generate $200,000 in revenue.”

Opportunities abound for those who have a sense of innovation. When the going gets tough, the tough really do get going. What are your thoughts?