Clever Ad Eliminates Hunger and Sells Soup All at the Same Time

By Alex in Advertising, Food & Drink, Pictures on Jan 2, 2008 at 4:41 pm

Those smart advertising people at Canadian ad agency Leo Burnett [Flash] came up with this clever art/public service/marketing of Campbell’s Soup installation that tugged on your heart string:

In a grocery store 4,820 cans of Campbell’s Soup were used to build an installation piece that spelled HUNGER. Signage beside the piece encouraged shoppers to buy one and donate it to their local food bank. As shoppers bought cans from the display the word HUNGER slowly disappeared. This allowed people to see how their individual effort coule help bring an end to the problem of hunger.

Link via Hobson’s Choice


Email This Post
Tweet This Post 
Share This Post on Facebook


Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:


  1. Pablo
    Jan 2nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    Why didn’t Campbell’s just donate the soup to start with, that would cut out the middleman…

  2. Justin
    Jan 2nd, 2008 at 8:50 pm

    I’m sure the local food bank was just thrilled to receive a enormous flood of canned tomato soup. *eyeroll*

    A more varied donation display would have been more useful, but wouldn’t have looked as pretty.

  3. Miss Cellania
    Jan 2nd, 2008 at 10:00 pm

    Pablo, that would cut the profits, too. But Campbell’s does contribute to food banks; I don’t know how much. This is a clever display, but I’m sure a lot of folks took cans off it to buy for their own pantries.

  4. nok rap
    Jan 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 pm

    @Miss Cellenia and Pablo: Even if lots of people took food home for themselves, it raises awareness, something that Campbells donating directly wouldn’t do.

    @Justin
    Can’t tell who you’re rolling your eyes at… Maybe food banks where you live would be annoyed to get a couple of pallates of the same thing, but the food banks where I’m at would love to have anything. There are times of the year where they don’t have enough for everyone who needs it.

  5. a2
    Jan 2nd, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    It’s a clever way to sell soup!

  6. Amuseal
    Jan 3rd, 2008 at 4:19 am

    Marketologists make their bread very well!!! It’s a right way both to attract people to a hunger problem and at the same time to sell goods.

  7. algonkin
    Jan 3rd, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Very clever and I agree with a2…it’s about marketing and not about food banks.

  8. Tory
    Jan 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 am

    I dig the idea… and I’m sure Campbell’s does their part with helping out as well.

  9. Sid Morrison
    Jan 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am

    Yeah, anybody who has been to biz school can tell you this promotion is all about selling soup. Fortunately, there are plenty of guilt-filled consumers out there to fall for it.

  10. Jacki
    Jan 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    Food banks wouldn’t mind having the same kind of each can lol. Tomatoes are the cheapest actually (in my local grocery store). My class collected money and bought $100 worth of canned tomatoes and the rest of the class brought in diapers, other canned goods and we collected 3200 cans in the 3 week duration.


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Don't Miss: New Stuff | Bestsellers | The Cute Store
                   Funny T-Shirts | Zombie Shop

Need a gift? Get unforgettable gifts for:
Geeks | Pranksters | Kids | Hipsters | Shutterbugs

Lijit Search

Old school? Bookmark us! RSS Feed Twitter Facebook Page