Don’t “Throw” Away Your Future + Cars for Charity: Latest Advertising 2023 Entries

Advertising can be more than just getting you to buy something; it can also help promote causes, charities, and helpful organizations, just like with this week’s latest ad entries.

The GATDA is a support group based in Brazil that focuses on providing clinical treatment for people with eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. In their latest effort to educate and prevent these mental illnesses, the organization entrusted the creative agency Fuel Outdoor with making a 3D illustrated poster series entitled “Wasted Future” (above, left) that warns people about the effects of bulimia. As GATDA explains, bulimia is a serious, life-threatening eating disorder that disproportionately affects young women. In a brutal yet honest composition, the posters depict young women in the act of self-induced vomiting, but instead of food, the posters show each girl regurgitating their future self. The phrase “Bulimia makes you lose more than just weight,” alludes to the fact that those who suffer from the disorder are often forced to drop out of school, quit work, and put their dreams on hold when seeking help. With its graphic depiction, the series successfully sheds light on the very real consequences of bulimia while offering the GATDA as a support system. 

Next up is an ad series called “Bid on The Kendall Custom” (above, right) created by Bailey Lauerman for Kendall Motor Oil to raise interest in the auctioning of the Kendall Custom, a 67 Mustang Restomod that was featured in the company’s Youtube web series Titanium Garage. However, the best part of the car’s sale was that all of the proceeds from it would go to the non-profit organization Curing Kids Cancer. For their approach to the posters, Bailey Lauerman created a basic yet bold design that not only offers stunning visuals of the red car against the black backdrop but also uses taglines such as “Increase a kid’s chances of fighting cancer by 1080 HP” to promote Kendall Custom’s donation to Curing Kids Cancer. After their release, the ads did an outstanding job at highlighting the car and Kendall Motor Oil’s initiative, with the auction raising a whopping $450,000 for the charity.

“Ditch the Itch” (above) is an ad campaign created for the pharmaceutical company Zoetis, which produces medicine and vaccinations for pets and livestock. According to them, despite multiple clinical studies showing antihistamines are ineffective at treating allergic itch, “as many as 81% of itchy pet owners who call a veterinarian’s office receive a recommendation to treat with an antihistamine.” These recommendations often delay relief and can cause allergic itching to become a more serious problem for pets, owners, and veterinarians. To promote their range of products and to drive up prescriptions, Zoetis teamed up with Havas Life New York to create and launch a new web, social, and print campaign. To emphasize how inadequate treatment with antihistamines can often exasperate allergic itching, the agency decided to depict oversized dogs scratching themselves, with their owners and vets looking on with concern. The ads effectively show how the failure to receive effective treatment impacts the dog long term and makes a minor problem into a big one, and encourages veterinarians to rethink their own treatment practices for this condition while cautioning pet owners to not overlook the problem.

Tomorrow is the extended late deadline for submissions to our 2023 Advertising Annual. Click here to enter now!