With a Master’s in Marketing Communications, I love looking at marketing campaigns…and this one is really cool. Look, I don’t believe poverty or hunger will ever be iradicated. But, here’s a campaign that is at least trying to fight poverty in an intelligent way.
As the Acton Institute website explains,
For people of faith, compassion for the poor is a non-negotiable. Compassion alone, however, doesn’t help the poor. In fact, many poverty programs exacerbate the very problem they were intended to solve. So how do we insure that we not only mean well, but also do good?
We have to learn to think economically. Don’t worry. At its base, economics isn’t supply/demand charts and complicated math. Rather, the “art of economics,” as Henry Hazlitt puts it, “consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”
And, the ads are eye-catching and interesting to boot. Who could ask for more?
Who would have expected these words from Bono’s mouth? According to a Reuters Blog posting by Lesley Wroughton,
Bono acknowledges that four years ago when he toured Africa with then U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, bringing private sector with him would never have crossed his mind.
It’s a signal of changes in Africa over the past decade, but in part it’s Bono’s own advocacy that has helped shift attitudes toward the African agenda.
“I think it is bizarre that Africa got me interested in commerce,” chuckles the U2 lead singer in an interview with Reuters. “I am an activist but I looked at the mosaic of problems facing this magical place and I could see so many of the pieces intersected with commerce, trade and entrepreneurial spirit.
“And I’m saying, I believe that Africa can compete with China in terms of offering jobs to its people in the apparel sector, I believe Africa can compete with India in terms of offering jobs to people in the IT sector, if this problem of business efficiencies and strangulation of red tape and corruption can be dealt with,” he said. Africa’s political leaders know the influence he wields. Lesotho’s Minister of Trade and Industry Mpho Meli Malie is one of those who knows that having Bono pitch for Lesotho’s apparel sector could bring new investments. “A celebrity like Bono and with his organization DATA they should be able to penetrate and encourage some of the brands to consider Lesotho as a destination,” said Malie.
Hat Tip: Acton Institute Power Blog