UNICEF Wages Guerrilla Warfare
CS 4-1. Do you think UNICEF’s campaigns will be affective? Why or Why not?
I think UNICEF’s campaign will not be really effective. By setting a brightly colored vending machine at Manhattan’s Union Square, a place always crowded with many people, UNICEF makes a good choice on location where they have high potential to catch the attention of more people. However, they will have to compete against the thousands of ads for glamorous things around the Square that distract people which will be a big challenge to UNICEF. UNICEF may also have to confront with other water vending machines from the other competitors who offer various flavors from the brands that people are familiar with. The bottle design with “special flavors” labeled make those bottles of water seem become catchy than ever, people can take a picture with the vending machine and share it through social media channels like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so on just because of the strange and abnormal design of the bottle, not many of them will really care about the information on the machine. New Yorkers are known as busy and rushed people, they will not have time to stop by and read the whole information and message that UNICEF is trying to pass to them. The labels of flavors on the bottles are attention catching, but people would not be willing to spend money on them. It’s simple that the words “malaria, cholera, typhoid, dengue, hepatitis, dysentery, salmonella, and yellow fever” as flavors will make people not want to drink it. It’s also so awkward if people see you drink something like that when they don’t understand the purpose.
UNICEF’s street campaign for landmine awareness will also have low effectiveness. By saying “In many other countries, you would now be mutilated! Help the victims of landmines!” on the stickers it may slightly effect the pedestrians’ awareness that somewhere else in this world, there are landmines where it’s dangerous to walk on. The words are cold and flat, they are not enough to fully convey the emotion and seriousness of UNICEF’s message to make people keep landmine victims on their mind. These stickers may be considered a way to trash the roads, and that would make this marketing method is not welcome in many places.
CS 4-2 Guerilla marketing tactics deliberately intend to “ambush” consumers in public places. Is this an effective marketing technique, or is it a violation of our right to go about our business undisturbed? Do these tactics intrude on our lives? In other words, is there a point where they cross a line? Guerilla could be an effective marketing technique if it is used in the right way. In some cases, this marketing technique may cause annoyed feeling to people that it ambushes when people are in hurry. So these tactics could be taken as crossing the line sometimes. In UNICEF’s case, it is justified in my opinion. Because UNICEF is a nonprofit organization, they don’t using these tactics for business. They use them to serve a noble purpose to help people around the world.
CS 4-3 What are other ways UNICEF could spread the word about its causes such as the dangers of dirty water?
UNICEF could spread the word around the world through media such as the internet, television, magazines, newspapers, and radio. Making short touching videos to reflect the hardest reality of people suffering everyday is a way more effective idea to pull the strings of people’s heart, raise up their emotion and kindness to be willing to give a helping hand. UNICEF’s website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter would be the easiest and least expensive ways disperse the information and send out the message around the world directly to gain consciousness and human sensibility.