Ideas to Inspire

A story on www.brandweek.com written by Elaine Wong recently ran about the new Doritos bags. The excerpt is below:

Millions of Doritos bags have started featuring the faces and stories of good deed doers, as part of a joint effort between Frito-Lay and Dosomething.org.

They are the stories of 17 people—all under the age of 25—who have performed social and charitable work in their communities. They are also this year’s winners of $200,000 in grants, awarded by Dosomething.org, which focuses on teenagers. The winners will use the money for projects such as building new health clinics and convincing others to become bone marrow donors, said Nancy Lublin, CEO of Dosomething.org.

One story that ran on a Doritos package shows 19-year-old Chad Bullock of North Carolina with the title, “anti-smoking activist” below his name. Text reads: “Chad grew up in tobacco country. After losing family members to lung cancer, he became an anti-tobacco activist and a consultant for youth advocacy and tobacco prevention.” Tagline: “Doritos recognizes those who do something.”

“What we love about this campaign is that it’s not just slapping a ribbon on the front of a box. The consumer actually learns something—about the kid, about t he cause, about Dosomething.org and about what Doritos stands for,” Lublin said.

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I was intrigued because as my son gets ready for his senior year at KS, he’s been talking about what he wants to do for his senior legacy project, and one of the things he’s interested in is starting a non profit to benefit young kids and teens who are interested in art. I went to the Dosomething.org website to see what it was all about.
Do Something believes teens have the power to make a difference. They work to inspire, support and celebrate a generation of doers: people who see the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. At DoSomething.org they provide the tools and resources for teens to convert their ideas and energy into positive action. They have a YouTube video with some of today’s hottest young people to inspire teens to take action.

Five guidelines Do Something lives by:

1. Believe in teenagers. Teenagers can lead today. We don’t require adults.
2. Trust teenagers. We provide reliable, easy to access information and activation strategies, but teens decide for themselves what to do.
3. Celebrate teenagers. We think all measurable contributions from teens are valuable.
4. Respect teenagers. We understand that teenagers have diverse abilities and
   constraints.
5. Value teenagers. Our programs and products are free. We’re not after teens’
   money; we want their passion, time and creativity.

If you have a teenager that wants to get involved, definitely steer them to this site. They have ideas, resources, grant and scholarship opportunities for those kids that are willing to do good for their community.