With Red Nose Day coming up in the US (May 21!), I thought it’d be fun to look back at other charity fundraiser campaigns that utilized comedy to bring awareness and/or money to a cause. Red Nose Day has made over 1 billion USD over thirty years off of good laughs and good people. They’re not the only ones that have succeeded in this department though, so let’s take a look!

1. Ice Bucket Challenge

Image: Flickr: Anthony Quintano

Remember seeing videos all over Facebook last summer of people dumping ice cold water on their heads? The campaign to raise awareness for ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) went so viral that 115 million USD were raised!

2. Feelin Nuts...

Image: Flickr: J-No

Another campaign went viral shortly after the Ice Bucket Challenge to promote awareness about testicular cancer. Celebrities such as Hugh Jackman and Nick Jonas were a couple of the many that posted photos of them grabbing their crotch as way to encourage men to check for signs of testicular cancer.

3. Radi Aid: Saving Norway one radiator at a time

This was a satirical video that went out about Africans saving Norwegians from the cold by sending them their heat. The lesson it wanted the world to learn was to stop stereotyping Africa as poor. There might be extreme poverty in parts of the continent, but that's not the full picture.

4. Malarious

This one is simple: a hilarious campaign to stop malaria, hence MALARIOUS.

5. Promoting CPR

When the British Heart Foundation wanted to promote CPR awareness, it recruited actor Vinnie Jones to put together a chuckle-worthy video on how to perform CPR.

6. Na na na na na na na na ....Batkid 

This one isn’t funny as much as it is adorable, but how could I not include the Batkid? Make a Wish Foundation put together a campaign that went viral and had the entire city of San Francisco behind the idea that this little boy was Batkid all day. He got to dress up as Batkid, and “save” the city from villains, all with Batman by his side. Granting that one wish not only made this kid’s day, but it brought a lot of well-deserved attention to the Make a Wish Foundation.

7. Woolly Hat Day

Image: Flickr: Staceyjoy

UK Charity St. Mungo’s put together Woolly Hat Day as a way to help the homeless. Companies, schools, universities and celebrities wore crazy hats and donated them.

8. Movember 

The month of November has been dedicated Movember as a way to promote awareness for men’s health by a simple task: growing mustaches.

9. Make Bieber stop 

Image: Flickr: Tony Felgueiras

A group of students at a high school in Illinois subjected their students to the nonstop playing of Justin Bieber’s song “Baby” until the students paid to make it stop. They raised their goal of $1000 in three days and donated the money to their arts center.


There are plenty of ways to laugh for a cause, comment below if you know of any other great ones!

Editorial

Demand Equity

Laugh for a cause, 9 campaigns that worked

By Alex Vinci