A handful of cause-related deals announced this summer, all involving licensed characters, are a reminder of the potential for entertainment to help change behavior in society while enhancing the visibility and reputation of the properties themselves:
- Disney Channel paired with Girl Scouts of the USA to feature Disney’s new Hispanic princess, Elena of Avalor, in a Spanish- and English-language campaign to foster leadership skills among girls and their families. In the TV series, Elena becomes her kingdom’s crown princess after defeating the evil sorceress who threatens her realm.
- Hasbro teamed with FairShare, a U.K. organization working to reduce food waste, on an ugly-produce campaign centering on a custom-made, imperfect (“wonky”) version of Mr. Potato Head. The toy was auctioned on eBay to raise money for the charity and has received high awareness through a PR campaign. Supermarket chain Asda was also involved; it has a Wonky Veg project in which it sells imperfect vegetables at a discount. (Walmart also began testing sales of “ugly” produce in its stores in July.)
- Peanuts Worldwide is partnering with the nonprofit group Rock the Vote for a get-out-the-vote campaign this year, as it also did in 2008. At Comic Con, it put up a Peanuts Rock the Vote pop-up venue in San Diego, where fans could vote for the Peanuts character that would be their choice for U.S. president, as well as register to vote in the real election. Public service announcements featuring celebrities endorsing their favorite Peanuts-for-president character have followed.
All of these examples have several characteristics in common: They make sense with the property’s innate attributes; they are timely, hooking on to an up-and-coming trend or a specific, high-profile event; and they involve issues are positive and noncontroversial in the eyes of most of their fans and consumers.
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