23 Most Powerful Social Advertisements Ever

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.

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!

1. Torture Victims Are People Just Like You And Me

Advertising Agency: Advico Y&R, Zurich, Switzerland

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

Advertising Agency: Terremoto Propaganda, Curitiba, Brazil

3. 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 00″ (Advertising Agency: Iris, London, UK)

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

Advertising Agency: DDB&CO., Istanbul, Turkey

5. Your Skin Color Shouldn’t Dictate Your Future

Advertising Agency: Publicis Conseil, Paris, France

6. Deforestation Continues With The Turn Of A Page

Advertising Agency: LINKSUS, Beijing, China

7. Unhate

Advertising Agency: Fabrica, Italy

8. Save Paper – Save The Planet

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Copenhagen, Denmark

9. Air Pollution Kills 60.000 People A Year

Advertising Agency: unknown

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

Advertising Agency: Publicis, Singapore

11. What We See When You Smoke

Advertising Agency: JWT, Atlanta, USA

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

Advertising Agency: Lowe Bull, Cape Town, South Africa

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

Advertising Agency: Mudra Group, India

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

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

15. Censorship Tells The Wrong Story

Advertising Agency: Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, UAE

16. Distracted Driving: Think Of Both Sides

Advertising Agency: Red Pepper, Ekaterinburg, Russia

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

Advertising Agency: Scholz & Friends, Berlin, Germany

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

Advertising Agency: Herezie, Paris, France

19. Smoking Causes Premature Aging

Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG Australia

20. 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)

21. Tailgating Isn’t Worth It. Give Trucks Room