Has it come to this? Has the public's attention span become so short that we can only engage with issues as powerful as poverty, human rights abuse, and disease if they are distilled to simple colours and friendship bracelets? Organization such as Windfall and CARE deserve better. These causes deserve better. Cause marketing efforts should challenge the public. Yes, these are complex issues – and yes, it is difficult to be heard above the marketing fray – but the public can handle it. Now, I understand that budgets don't always afford grand campaigns but co-opting colours and pseudo-jewellery is just plain lazy. I don't have the statistics to back this up, but I'm willing to bet that the effectiveness of this approach is questionable at best.

I truly believe we need to rethink this cause marketing trend. We need to focus on the quality of engagement versus the quantity. Issues like poverty or breast cancer won't be solved overnight; it's going to take a long and concerted effort. Approaches like using colours or bracelets to represent causes might stick in consumers' minds in the short-term, but they are hardly solutions for any long-term, meaningful conversations about an organization's cause.

There are many talented (and not so talented) people in marketing and communications. Surely, we can create effective campaigns without breaking the bank. Non-profits and NGO's must challenge us to do so. More importantly, we creatives must demand this of ourselves. The world's disadvantaged and suffering are counting on us.

I wonder if this movement has any legs?

Watch the slideshow and find out here.

I admit, I haven't fully looked into these claims, but one thing is clear – Twitter is slowly becoming a tool for activism globally.

You can read the article here.

Update: Apparently, Boing Boing dropped the story first. Read it here.

If you've never heard of Idealist.org, here's a quote from their site:

Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

Regarding their financial situation:

You know how sometimes in life you go through a bad moment, and when your friends hear about it later, they say, "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you ask?"

That's where Idealist is now, and that's why we are asking for your help.

Very briefly, here's what happened. Over the past ten years, most of our funding has come from the small fees we charge organizations for posting their jobs on Idealist. By September 2008, after years of steady growth, these little drops were covering 70% of our budget.

Then, in October of that year, the financial crisis exploded, many organizations understandably froze their hiring, and from one week to the next our earned income was cut almost in half, leaving us with a hole of more than $100,000 each month.

That was 16 months ago, and since then we've survived on faith and fumes, by cutting expenses, and by getting a few large gifts from new and old friends. But now we are about to hit a wall, and that's why we decided to ask.

If over the past 15 years Idealist has helped you or a friend find a job, an internship or a volunteer opportunity; connect with a person, an idea or a resource; or just feel inspired for a moment, now we need your help. Thank you!

Please visit idealist.org for more details.

Visit iWantFlash.com for more details.

I just listened to an interesting piece on CBC's The Current about the apparent sham that is Robert Kiyosaki's real estate seminar. Apparently, unsuspecting attendees are pressured and bullied into buying more expensive courses in excess of $45K!

Make sure to check out the full report tonight on CBC's Marketplace. Here's a link to the teaser video.

Note: Guluwalk sounds fascinating. I'll try and write something about this small non-profit in a future post.

The obvious next question is, "Now what?"

Or maybe more specifically, "How do we move from "awareness" to "action" to "effective action"?"

Maybe you have an answer. If so, please do share it.

That said, this October 24th is the International Day of Climate Action. Thousands of events will be hosted throughout the world with the purpose of acting in solidarity to reduce carbon emissions to a sustainable level. To learn more or to find an event near you, please visit 350.org for more details.

Premieres: Venice Film Festival

Wide release: October 2nd