Nick Kristof thinks social good needs a new marketing campaign.
At the 2012 Social Good Summit, The New York Times columnist and humanitarian spoke about how big businesses and products seem to have smart and successful marketing strategies, but important world issues like poverty and clean water never get the publicity and attention they deserve.
?People flinch at the idea of marketing for those [issues] because marketing sounds like something companies do,? Kristof said. ?But it?s so much more important to market about issues of life or death.?
Kristof?s frustration with the lack of widespread knowledge about important issues defended his other claim about humanitarian work ? that it?s not easy to make a change. ?There?s no silver bullet,? he said.
But Kristof managed to discern the secret weapon, of sorts, to impacting change: education. Mainly, educating women and girls, he said, adding that its not about quantity of education but quality.
?Women and girls are the leverage to change the world,? he said. ?The result is a virtuous cycle of change that benefits not just half the nation, but everyone.?
Simple efforts like iodizing salt in developing areas will dramatically increase the rates at which kids grow, learn and attend school, according to Kristof.
But it takes awareness and money to get the right people to take these steps, and Kristof felt that the best way to get out the word was though something unexpected and fun ? games.
So Kristof and partner Asi Burak, the co-president for Games for Change, developed the Half The Sky Movement that is creating a series of Facebook and mobile games that work to be both entertaining and educational, but mostly is a way to mobilize the vast gaming community on social networks ? approximately 300 million players each month ? to make a real difference.
Like games such as Farmville, The Half Sky Movement games work by allowing players to unlock levels that make donations to various humanitarian organizations. Kristof said it was important for his team to not only ?create achievements for gamers but blur the line between game play and the real world.?
To that end, they are working with corporate partners like book publisher Pearson, which will put $250,000 towards getting ?real books into the hands of real kids,? Kristof announced, and Johnson & Johnson will foot the bill for fistula surgeries for women awaiting that procedure.
Games have yet to be exploited for their ability to create change in the way genres like music and movies have, Burak said. But if other genres can send those messages, his team felt that games should be no exception, that they should ?expand the boundaries.?
The Half the Sky Movement is also attempting to put games in the hands of those who need them the most ? in developing countries where mobile is more common than television. In those contexts, Kristof said, if a game about deworming pills can be made ?fun,? then they can prove extremely effective.
?It?s not about the number of people who play the game,? Kristoff said. ?It?s about the number of kids who get books for the first time; it?s the number of kids who get dewormed because of the mobile game ? because that ultimately is the impact we want to have.?
Do you think games have the power to create change beyond entertainment? Tell us why or why not in the comments below.
View As Slideshow ?In 2006, MTVu released a flash game to highlight the struggles millions faced in the Darfur region of Sudan, while the country engaged in a bloody civil war. Darfur is Dying was created to illustrate the difficulty of living among modern genocide.
The game begins when the player selects a member of a Darfuri family living in a refugee camp. That player must then run several thousand meters to the water well and back, while hiding from trucks that contain janjaweed militia members looking to kidnap them on sight.
If kidnapped, you learn what happens to captured Darfuris. Then, the game asks you to pick another family member and retry the water run. Succeed and you are taken to another portion of the game: a top-down view of the refugee camp, which you must keep fed and protected.
The game prompted users to donate to humanitarian groups or contact representatives to encourage U.S. involvement. Although the crisis in Darfur is over, the game still exists online. MTV said that in its height, 1.2 million people around the globe played Darfur is Dying.
While Grumpy Goats resembles Angry Birds a little too much, this goat-chucking game also serves a noble purpose. The game's creators teamed up with World Vision, a humanitarian group helping impoverished families, to encourage gamers to give wisely. The game asks players to donate a goat to a family in need. The animal can offer food and income for several years.
The biggest irony of Phone Story is that you play on the type of smartphone the game denounces in the first place.
It was created by Molleindustira, an activist interactive group responsible for several games that focus on serious issues. It brings awareness to the labor practices it says go into manufacturing smartphones and other coveted gadgets.
The game takes the player through several gameplay vignettes, such as preventing suicides in Chinese factories or chucking iPhones at zombie-like consumers as they walk toward characters that resemble Apple Store employees.
The game was originally released for iPhone, but was banned from the iTunes store shortly after. However, it is still available for download on Android.
Molleindustira said it donated all the proceeds of the game to people injured in manufacturing plant accidents. You can also play for free online.
Survive125 simulates what it's like to live as a working mother in poverty, on only $1.25 a day. The game presents a variety of harrowing choices, like whether to send your daughter to a factory known for enslaving girls into prostitution rings. At the end of the game, you're invited to donate to charities that help similar women for 30 days.
WeTopia town-building Facebook game uses many of the freemium elements of popular social games to help charities. Players gain JoyPoints with every action, which they can use to help charities featured in the game. Players can learn from short videos embedded in game, and then donate earned or purchased currency to help that charity.
Sojo Studios, the game's creator, said it donates 50% of its profits to 20 non-profit organizations around the country, including profit made from advertisements sold around the game.
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Read more of Mashable?s coverage of the 2012 Social Good Summit:
Day One:
Day Two:
Day Three:
Source: http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/nick-kristof-gaming-social-good/
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