Please pardon my bleeped out French, but that’s what the BP Oil Spill Crisis has been. So when I recently caught wind of a new marketing campaign titled UnF–k The Gulf, I thought heck yeah, good to see an organization getting real about this thing. I couldn’t help but immediately click on to their website, learn about their cause, watch the well-produced video, like their Facebook page, follow their Twitter account, order a tshirt and spread the word. Immediate emotional response and subsequent action, exactly what cause-related (as well as the majority of consumer focused) marketing campaigns strive to accomplish.
But you may be thinking, well yeah you have a personal interest in this thing so of course you did. Well not so fast. See, there’s this other campaign out there that rolled out at just about the same time. Be The One, presented by Women of the Storm, has a lot going for it, but it simply lacks the oomph and wowza factor of UFTG. It features a video call-to-action with bucket loads of celebrities, a well-designed identity and website plus a cool t-shirt with a QR code that links to a petition calling for restoration of the Gulf. Two great causes, two well-designed and well-implemented campaigns. But from an emotional standpoint, “Be The One” just doesn’t hit as hard as “Un F—k The Gulf.” It is not “stop in your tracks I need to do something NOW” kind of message.
It should also be noted that UFTG is receiving a lot of flack for their message. I get the ruffled feathers, after all it shakes conservative wisdom up. But this is the largest environmental disaster that we’ve ever witnessed. This will affect us all. It deserves an in your face, we’re f-in pissed off kind of message. If you can’t say it now, then when.
In the end, I admire both campaigns, whole-heartedly love and appreciate the work that they are doing and the help and awareness they are trying to provide. So go like, follow, order stuff and tell others about both causes. The Gulf Coast needs all the help that we can give.
