Multiple Scleroris (MS) is an onnoying disease. It is common to have several symptoms and it is very difficult to explain the disease to people, and to explain how it effects your body. Grey invented a cool idea: in collaboration with neurologists, physiotherapists, patients and bicycle repairers they incorporated the virous symptoms of the disease in a bicycle. So now everyone can feel exactly what it’s like to have MS.
Broken gears, wheels and brakes, it’s all on the bicyle. If you have used the bike for 20 minutes it becomes clear that you are using certain muscle groups that you’ve never used before. And it is very clear that the human body acts like a machine; also machines are able to get terrible short circuits and MS is perhaps the best example for that.
Do you remember the times when you went from door to door to sell lottery tickets for your sports club? I always skipped some houses from which I knew that they would slam the door in front of my face or never donate money and at others I found it fun to go to because of the piece of candy I often got there. My parents are both collectors and once a year they go from door to door to raise money for the ‘dutch heart foundation’ and the ‘skin burn foundation’. They note that less donations have been given every year, probably because of de reduce of small money that people keep in their pockets.|
I irritate myself often for students who come to the doors or waiting in front of train stations to raise money, they work for big companies such as ‘pepper minds’ and make lots of money with it, while they exchange charities everytime they have to work. I never get the impression as if they really stand behind the charity. I usually end up by writing my bankaccount because I think it’s difficult to say no. But it’s simply not possible to support every charity and that’s why I only want to support foundations which I consider as important. Persuade people to donate money would never by my cup of tea.
I think it’s important to create awareness and to anticipate on social control. You have to face them with social problems, create the guiltiness and the way of approach has a major impact. Once people are unpleasant or won’t tell a good story I will donate less. Another thing, it should be easy for people to donate. And finally we usually would like something in return if we donate, like a gift, or to show others that you are doing a good job and to have a better karma. I want to share some social campaigns with you from which I think they have a good approach.
Hope Locker
When you go swimming, you probably should always have a coin with you for the lockers. And you will always get it back at the end. But now you can also omit the coin.
For example Agency Proximity Londen came with a new Idea. For their charitable customer WaterAid, they wanted to create awareness and obtain donations. To make the goal relevant to the audience and create a donation option, the agency put the focus on the swimming and fitness industry. A place where people are constantly using water; they swim in it. Therefor she developed, together with MediaMonks, the Hope Locker.
The Hope Locker is a locker just like any other in gyms or pools. Here, you also insert a coin to safely store your clothes. However, this system has been made more interactive and sets in a message after your swim. The report responds to the amout of water you’ve swallowed, it’s probably an experience you’d rather forget if it’s happened to you. ‘But it might just make you think about what life is like when you have no choice about the water you drink – which is were the Hope Locker comes from’ (Wateraid). The report will ask you at the end if you’d like to donate it to WaterAid.
Because of the small amount everytime and the and the guilt that they generate, people will donate faster.
A table to end hunger
In Australia, an organization has started with a clever charitable concept. In Australia it’s in the weekends almost impossible to book a table at a restaurant, simply because the demand is too great. Not a first world problem to mention when compared with the 795 million people that are suffering from hunger around the world. Therefore McCann Sydney came with ‘A table to End Hunger’. A concept in collaboration with E-bay where tables were auctioned among interested parties. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to banish the hunger in the world by 2030.
MEANS online food bank
MEANS was started with the blief it should be easy for those with excess food to share it with those in need. It didn’t take long to find people who agreed.
MEANS is a web-based, searchable database that lets member food pantries and suppliers share information about whether they need specific products or have an excess of products so that pantries can make better use of resources and avoid waste.’They are now in 42 states and counting, helping divert food from the trash to local emergency feeding services with the ease and speed of the internet’ (MEANS).
MEANS works as following; the donors can simply post what food they want to donate to instanly connect with food distributors in their area and the food banks and pantries get real-time notifications on food donations and can claim what works for them. If they can’t pick up something or don’t won’t it they can just ignore the alert.
Artist, Hélène Gugenheim makes scars sparkle with gold leaf. A few months ago the French artist met a woman. When she had to change clothes for the occassion, Guggenheim notcied that this woman had a huge scar on the spot where first her left breast had been.
This was the start of the project ‘Mes cicatrices, Je suis d’elles, entièrement tissé (my scars, I am completely interwined with them). In a series of photos and video performances the scars of participants had been painted in a subtle manner with gold leaf.
We all bear scars, on our body or invisible to the eye, but showing through our behaviours. They come from appendicitis, broken heart, injustice, mastectomy, accident… (Gugenheim).
Each scar tells a story of which we are the hero. A scar is the mark of a wound. But it is also the vibrant proof of the healing process, the sign that we have come to terms with a traumatic experience. A wound separates us from our former self and disrupts the course of our life. The healing process enables us to recreate a functional entity – but an entity that is not a return to our previous state, because the wound has changed it forever. The scar is therefore a witness of our reconstruction and the sign of our capacity to adapt, to reinvent ourselves and even mutate. In this respect, we are all gods (Gugenheim).
Gugenheim was inspired by the principle of Kintsugi, this is a Japanese art form in which broken pottery is glued with a mixture of gold and epoxy in which the fracture will be visible. It makes the original plate or teacup even more beautiful; imperfections become a sign of beauty.
Like the broken ceramics, scars will be a sign of strength and life, rather than a painful memory. Afterwards the gold will be removed and dissolved in a pot of alcohol as a permanent memory of this moment.
In metropolitan cities like Londen, Amsterdam and New York, is the street in recent years brightened by mipsters (muslim + hipster) they conquer the streets and social media worldwide.
They are usually women who love fashion, art and creativity, but also want to live according to Islamic traditions. I have sometimes asked myself; because the muslim women wear a hijab they don’t want to stand out, right? But then I had to admit that I can’t judge here because I actually know to little about their religion.
I think it is important that everyone can be who he or she wants to be. I see them as an inspiration in terms of style and I would check their blogs just like I do with others.
The multicultural approach to beauty is in line with the trend transparency. They won’t let them held back by what others think, they make their own choices and show who they want to be.
The hipster-video from several years back has caused uproar in the American Muslim community. What does it mean to be Muslim in a western society? Can a muslim dress herself as western as she wants? The makers of ‘Somewhere in America’ think so.
The trend has been going on for a longer period, but a few days ago it was announced that Dolce & Gabbana has designed traditional dresses for female Muslims.
Dolce & Gabbana is the first coutoure house that is launching the first clothing line for Muslim Women with hijabs and abayas, headscarves and covering long dresses. A breaktrough for Muslim women, and an economically smart move by the fashion house. ‘The exuberant clothes from Dolce & Gabbana suits the Arab woman’.
With the collection, the fashion brand combines it’s extravagant Sicilian character with the traditional Arabian dress.
Earlier H&M already pleaded for diversity. They did this by the end of September with launching an advertising campaign in which a model was wearing a headscarf. When you show Muslims in a normal context, it will contribute to the acceptance of the group, said civil rights lawyer Ibrahim Hooper then.
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