November 14, 2011
Companies Gobble Up Social to Help Those in Need
First published on Technorati.com by Steve Woods.
Pepto Bismol typically makes its advertising rounds on the days leading up to Thanksgiving with novel ways of letting consumers know just how effectively it can aid those of us who have, well, overindulged. Of course, this means the brand stands to lose the attention of those who either don’t plan to eat too much, or have stomachs made of cast iron.
This year, Pepto doesn’t want to just help those who suffer from an overly full belly. “In an attempt to cover everyone,” according to a recent company press release, Pepto “has decided to launch its first ever social good campaign and ask consumers to help create a ‘Feast for All.’” Visit Pepto Bismol’s Facebook page, and click on the Like button adorning the smiling photo of Modern Family actor Eric Stonestreet. For each Like received, Pepto will donate 8 meals to Feeding America, a Chicago-based charity providing meals to Americans in need throughout the year.
Why Stonestreet? “He has the Pepto sense of humor, and is a fun-loving person who’s interested in helping give back this year,” according to Pepto’s press release. Over 10,000 meals have been donated, but Pepto’s goal is 2 million – which equates to 25,000 Likes.
Pepto is not alone in enlisting its social networking presence to help feed those who, for whatever reason, find their cupboards laid bare during these tough economic times.
Tyson Foods, Inc. has been hard at it since September, after launching a “Know Hunger” campaign to inform us that 1 in 4 Americans are worried about having enough money to put basic food items on the table. Tyson invited social networkers to visit its Tyson Hunger Relief Facebook page and vote on which three out of ten possible food banks in critical locations would get to share 90,000 lbs. of food. Winning food banks were in Arizona, North Carolina, and Mississippi, and just a week ago, according to Tyson Hunger Relief’s website, the first two donations arrived.
John Deere has also gotten into the act this year, providing a Facebook page that allows anyone to design a can of food. For each virtual can, John Deere will donate a real can of food to their “Can Do” project. In an attempt to drive home the important role of farmers in overcoming hunger in America, the “Can Do” project will create a life-size S-Series John Deere combine out of the donated cans of food, and unveil the sculpture on November 17th, then donate all of the cans of food to a local community food bank. So far, over 2,500 cans have been donated.
Of course, Twitter is not left out of these hunger awareness campaigns, as @Pepto is planning to release a “Retweet to Donate” campaign on the popular microblogging site, with 8 meals being donated for each retweet occurring on November 16th (up to 100,000 meals total.) Pepto is asking Twitter users to add the hashtag #HelpPeptoFeedAmerica to their tweets, in order to help spread the word.
Pepto, John Deere and Tyson are not alone in their efforts, and it’s quite heartening to see just how far some companies have gone in reshaping their social networking presence, to not only market products to consumers, but to also take that same advertising soapbox and use it to give back to the community. Let’s hope they continue these efforts year-round, and are joined by a multitude of other companies and social networkers, in helping fellow Americans put food on the table.
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