Both these development projects feature slick marketing. But I find myself liking Mocha Club and really disliking Girl Effect. Beneath the surface are they essentially naive microfinance schemes? I’ll let you have a look. I plan to talk about these ideas over the next few days.
First, Mocha Club:
Now, The Girl Effect:
Your comments are welcome.
HT: Kruse Kronicle for The Girl Effect. You can see my initial reactions together with Michael’s excellent response there.
One of the first marketing campaigns like this was the Band Aid song with gems such as “There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas… Where nothing ever grows No rain nor rivers flow Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?”
The lyrics (which seem to verge on racist) are part of a generation of media which has created the destructive stereotypes that the first video is now attempting to challenge. Full circle?
On a separate note, I believe that the most important way we in the West can change the world is to stop consuming. That should presumably include charity t-shirts? (typed from my comfortable living room, surrounded by DVDs, computers, books, etc)
Good marketing involves simplification. I don’t have a problem with that if the actual “product” is good.
I really want things like microfinance to work but I tend to thing that policy making (ala Blood Diamonds) can make the biggest impact.
From a purely marketing point of view I love mochaclub.org – just the fact that it has a web 2.0 feel gives the impression that it’s about community, and linking people directly with people rather than going through a big organisation.
It’s started my mind ticking about how we can do a similar thing in Wycliffe UK…
By the way that’s an interesting observation about Band Aid – I guess it’s a reminder that marketing has to have integrity (and wherever possible have input from those it is supposed to be serving), however tempting it is to just be driven by what the target audience will respond to.
Thanks for your perspective, Mark. I’ve been on the road so I haven’t had a chance to dig deeper into these organizations but I’d like to understand what they’re really proposing. It’s beginning to dawn on me that a right mindset about development work is crucial to doing development right. That’s kind of a “duh” moment but nothing I’ve ever stopped to consciously ponder before.