30+ Of The Most Powerful Social Issue Ads That’ll Make You Stop And Think

Many people complain about advertisements as an obnoxious way for companies to invade our everyday lives and cram their products down our throats, but that’s not all that advertisements are good for. The advertisements on this list are excellent examples of effective advertising strategies for social issue campaigns that let their voices be heard.

A well-made advertisement is designed to grab your attention and to remain in your memory long after you’ve left it behind, and that is exactly what many of these social causes need. Getting people to think and worry about various social and environmental issues (or even simply getting them to be aware of them) is important for raising public supporting and affecting meaningful changes. A few of these ads are, in fact, commercial ads, but it’s still nice that they champion socially or environmentally aware causes/products.

Just like with commercial advertisements, having just the facts is not enough. They are important, but the ad must also appeal to the observer’s emotions. Many studies have indicated that emotion can have a powerful effect on memory formation, ensuring that memories with emotion will last longer than those without.

According to “Father of Advertising” David Ogilvy, his contemporary, Howard Gossage, said that “advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest—it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes.” We definitely agree, which is why we wanted to share this list of social cause advertisements with you!

01. Torture Victims Are People Just Like You And Me

Advertising Agency: Advico Y&R, Zurich, Switzerland

02. Stop The Violence: Don’t Drink And Drive

Advertising Agency: Terremoto Propaganda, Curitiba, Brazil

03. Premature Ending: “If you smoke, statistically your story will end 15% before it should.”

“THE END. If you smoke, statistically your story will end 15% before it should. For help with quiting call QUITTLINE on 0200 00 22 00″ (Advertising Agency: Iris, London, UK)

04. World Wide Fund For Nature: Frightening vs. More Frightening

Advertising Agency: DDB&CO., Istanbul, Turkey

05. Your Skin Color Shouldn’t Dictate Your Future

Advertising Agency: Publicis Conseil, Paris, France

06. Deforestation Continues With The Turn Of A Page

Advertising Agency: LINKSUS, Beijing, China

07. Unhate

Advertising Agency: Fabrica, Italy

08. Elm Grove Police Department: Slower Is Better

Advertising Agency: Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee, USA

09. Save Paper – Save The Planet

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Copenhagen, Denmark

10. Air Pollution Kills 60.000 People A Year

Advertising Agency: unknown

11. Liking Isn’t Helping. Be A Volunteer. Change A Life

Advertising Agency: Publicis, Singapore

12. Bird Conservation: If You Don’t Pick It Up They Will

Advertising Agency: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, Johannesburg, South Africa

13. What We See When You Smoke

Advertising Agency: JWT, Atlanta, USA

14. Animal Anti-Cruelty League: That’s Not A Football

Advertising Agency: Lowe Bull, Cape Town, South Africa

15. Bangalore Traffic Police: Don’t Talk While Driving

Advertising Agency: Mudra Group, India

16. Child Soldiers: It’s Not Happening Here, But It’s Happening Now

Creative/Art director Pius Walker, Amnesty International, Switzerland.

17. Censorship Tells The Wrong Story

Advertising Agency: Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, UAE

18. Distracted Driving: Think Of Both Sides

Advertising Agency: Red Pepper, Ekaterinburg, Russia

19. Every 60 Seconds a Species Dies Out. Each Minute Counts

Advertising Agency: Scholz & Friends, Berlin, Germany

20. Innocence In Danger: Where’s The Pedophile?

Art Director: Michael Arguello, Copywriter: Bassam Tariq, Additional credits: Jason Musante

21. Sexual Predators Can Hide In Your Child’s Smartphone

Advertising Agency: Herezie, Paris, France

22. Smoking Causes Premature Aging

Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG Australia

23. You’re Not A Sketch. Say No To Anorexia

Advertising Agency: Revolution Brasil

24. Neglected Children Are Made To Feel Invisible. Stop Child Abuse Now

“To dramatize the issue of neglect, we placed mannequins dressed as children behind billposters. When the inevitable happened, we revealed a second message.” (Australian Childhood Foundation, JWT Melbourne)