Help website asks people to give charities the finger

LONDON - Help, a website offering fundraising support to UK charities, is asking people to give charities the finger in a subversive campaign which actually aims to get people to use their fingers to make a donation online.

"Give us the finger" campaign breaks on May 26 and will include a series of provocative ads across TV, buses and billboards.

It will kick off with a viral campaign before rolling out to 5,000 buses and 3,000 billboard sites across the UK. Finally a TV campaign will launch on June 16 across satellite and cable channels.

The aim is to provoke a reaction from the public on issues from homelessness to cancer. One print ad features a child in a wheelchair, with the caption: "Give these guys the finger… so that I might get back on my feet."

Other print ads include images of a homeless man, a distressed dog and an elderly woman, with the strapline: "All we ask is… Give us the finger."

Posters and images from the campaign will be available free of charge to all the charities using to support their fundraising, and can be overprinted with a charity's own message and details.

Martin Lord, Help's communications director, said: "Many needy causes are 'given the finger' every day -- ignored or overlooked due to donor fatigue. Help's campaign aims to make viewers do a 'double take'.

"The 'Give us the finger' campaign is designed to court controversy -- charity advertising is a crowded marketplace and we want to provoke a reaction on the charities' behalf.

If some people are offended by this approach, we'll know we've done a good job."

Help assists charities of all sizes to save time and increase their income by enabling them to take credit and debit card donations, and offering fundraising support and gift aid processing, all under one roof.

It was established in 2006 and is based in Birmingham.