Advertisement review: charity: water

I have been wanting to blog about charity: water for quite some time. The nonprofit started back in 2006 and raises money to build wells in countries lacking clean water. It’s not an organization I know a lot about, but I enjoy following the communications and campaigns it does.

The first print advertisement for charity: water was seen in i-D magazine in 2007. The magazine advertisement is simple yet effective. The ad does an excellent job connecting visuals and text to create a unified message. The left side uses a picture with multiple people to illustrate that more than a billion people do not have clean water. The right side uses a close-up picture of one person to bring the message to a more person level.

The advertisement has a clear call to action. The audience is told to start making a difference by helping one person get clean drinking water. The organization's website and logo is placed near the call to action. The advertisement grabs and keeps attention because the message is easy to read and moving. In two sentences, the audience knows the problem and what the advertisement wants them to do.

Sometimes we just stumble upon things in life. I honestly can’t remember when or how I learned about charity: water, but as a communications major, I love that the work is clean, concise and creative. I am inspired by ads such as the one done by charity: water.