This url (http://www.saatchi.com/worldwide/newsdetail.asp?nid=143) takes you to a website advertising an award by the advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, that is grandly titled the ‘Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas’ (Issues: Advertising, p151):
“The global Award is made biennially by Saatchi & Saatchi, who established the Award to recognise, celebrate and promote ideas that have the potential to change the world. The US $100,000 prize consists of US$50,000 cash and the equivalent of US$50,000 in Saatchi & Saatchi marketing consultancy. … [The judges were asked] to choose the idea they believed had the potential to provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people or to a group of people with a particular need.”
It is great that a firm like Saatchi makes such awards, and the ten ideas that made the final cut for consideration this year seem to be immensely innovative and socially beneficial. In addition to wanting to make the world a better place (and receive some free exposure), however, it is less clear why Saatchi is sponsoring such an event, what qualifications the “high-profile panel of judges” have to evaluate the social value of the different ideas, and whether there might be better ways for the firm to use its money.
Have a good weekend.
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
