It’s always an interesting day when two unrelated events highlight the difference between saying and doing in marketing and in general.
October 15 is Blog Action Day 2008, “an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. [The] aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.” This year’s theme is poverty. As of this writing, 11,248 blogs are participating, reaching more than 12.37 million RSS readers. BAD 2008 (an unfortunate acronym for such a good cause) doesn’t track comments, but a lively discussion can be expected around the blogosphere.
October 15 is also the first United Nations Global Handwashing Day. Teaching children to wash their hands may seem like a trivial matter, but it is closely linked to eliminating poverty: “[h]andwashing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrheal and acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries every year.” The behavioral change toward regular handwashing will help meet UN Millenium Development Goals. (Incidentally, the UN October 17 through 19 are also Stand Up against Poverty Days, and there are many things everyone can do to take part).
The distance between discussion (raising awareness, saying) and action (doing) is vast, but if each is to be successful, it cannot take place without the other.
