Live a Fulfilled Life: Get Into Social Advertising

As I was flicking through TV channels I came upon an unusual advertisement. It depicted a group of young ladies enjoying a get together and eating snacks. The advert takes an imaginative twist when their harmless chitchat turns into a gossip session. Suddenly the girls start to grow animal-like fangs and devour raw meat. This fictitious image is used to drive home the religious message about the harmfulness of gossip.

Public service announcements have increased in popularity and number in the past few years. In such adverts, the star is neither a product nor a service. These announcements advertise a belief, or a law, or have some other awareness-raising message. Public service announcements are advertising designed to educate or motivate target audiences to undertake socially desirable actions.

TV is increasingly being used to address social issues, as it is known to influence behavior especially among the youth. I recall the Prayer Campaign, a series of adverts that targeted the youth to take up prayer, as well as one-off adverts calling for giving “sadaqa” (charity). Another warned of the dangers of driving too fast. Another advocated the employment of handicapped people. They all have a common goal: To shift the behavior of individuals in order to improve social conditions.

I spoke with Eissa Bougery, a seasoned advertising professional, about the trend of using advertisements as a tool for social change. Public service announcements, also called social advertising, are in part the result of so-called Cause-Related Marketing, or CRM, where a businesses joins with a charity or causes in order to market a product or service by linking it to positive social values and causes.

Bougery credits American Express, the US credit card company, for innovating CRM in 1983 when the company pledged to donate one cent of each time a card was used and $1 each time a new card was issued for the renovation of the Statue of Liberty. Over a three-month period, American Express saw a 28 percent increase in card usage compared with the previous year, and new card applications rose by 48 percent.

Public service announcements can be government funded, where a particular ministry is the sponsor of the advertisement. In that sense, the sponsor of a particular CRM could be a government ministry rather than a private company. The methods are essentially the same.

“The popularity of CRM in the region probably started in the year 2000 when the prayer commercial hit the airwaves, for two reasons. First, the subject of prayer had never been addressed through a commercial, and second because of the upgraded production quality of the commercials,” notes Bougery. Numerous adverts have followed suit, matching the production standards set by the prayer adverts.

“For CRM to be effective, it needs to be structured and holistic rather than ad-hoc,” says Bougery.

For example, running a non-smoking advert on TV highlights the problem and improves awareness of the health risks. The advert should then be supported with other forms of communication to provide smokers with the tools to quit the habit. Lobbying governments to increase taxes on cigarettes as well as educating children in schools about the dangers of smoking are other methods that would make the initiative more effective in the long run.

“Abdul Latif Jamil Co. (ALJ) is probably one of the few companies in the GCC who have approached a cause in a holistic manner. The company has taken up the cause of eradicating unemployment,” says Bougery.

ALJ runs commercials on TV that aim to improve productivity among the youth, encourage them to work in blue-collar jobs or to open up small businesses. The company also grants micro-loans to young people who present strong business plans for new small businesses, and support micro-loan grantees with information and guidance on how to make their businesses successful.

The main obstacle to effective and sustainable social advertising is funding, which is usually solicited from government bodies, charities, individual do-gooders, and an increasing number of companies who recognize CRM as a credible marketing tool.

Limited funds coupled with the lack of long-term commitment are a recipe for ad-hoc short-term efforts that do not instigate change.

CRM by private companies are paid advertisements because the aim of private CRM is to increase the profits of the company. Public service announcements, like the prayer campaign, are not linked to products, or companies and are therefore nonprofit social advertising.

Looking into the future, Bougery believes companies and individuals will focus on directing public and private CRM in a few problem areas: Reducing unemployment, encouraging socially responsible behavior (e.g. mature driving, respect for others, and stronger work ethics) and decreasing smoking rates among the youth.

Bougery encourages young ambitious people to get involved in social advertising. “Instead of just giving SR100 to charity, dedicate your precious time to a cause and live for it. The only way to fulfill your life is to have a mission that improves the surrounding society. You can own all the best material things, but all that will remain in the end is what you’ve done for your community.”

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