Branding Good Works

I took off from work a few hours early today to knock out the tedius bullshit of tracking down a birth certificate, and using that to secure my new passport. A few minutes after jumping in line, a couple younger girls followed up behind me. One of them asked, "You getting married?" I sort of swiveled my head left and right, searching for the partner to whom I'd been betrothed. Thankfully, she doesn't exist.

"Umm, no. Getting my passport. I guess that means you are."

"Uh huh."

Couple minutes go by before I ask, "How old are you?"

"17."

Generally, I'd just bite my tongue, crank the Ipod a couple notches, and go about the business of answering emails. But, for whatever reason, I went on a fact-finding mission, instead. Didn't take much to unearth her huge mistake. He's 26, in jail for drugs, and will be there for the first 4 years of their marriage. He has two children, of two mothers. A real winner.

She wants to go to college, and become a lawyer.

But, she won't. Instead, she'll go from high schooler to mom overnight. Not so easy, especially with an absent father with no job to make money. And, when's his sentence is over, he'll be 30 and almost unemployeeable.

In 2007, we'll spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 275 billion dollars in advertising. But, how much will we spend to improve this stupid kid's path? Probably nothing. Sure, she'll see plenty of ads for crap she doesn't need, and for cars she can't afford. Regardless, that's a lot of money spent, mostly in a desperate attempt to raise a stock price just a little bit.

Maybe it's time, as advertising becomes less relevant, that we spend that money branding the good deeds we do. Maybe her college education is a little more important than that fourth or fifth prime-time television spot. It probably won't have the reach, but at least she may repay you with her attention.

Maybe one thing doesn't lead to the other, but it is something we should consider. We've got a lot of very big megaphones.