The vending machine that appeared in New York's Union Square last spring looked like just another vending machine.
It was selling water. On the front was a picture of a large water bottle, and over the coin slot were two blue water drops. Below were eight selections to choose from.
But this was no ordinary vending machine but a clever alternative media stunt to raise awareness of the plight of nations lacking clean water.
The large bottle pictured on the front said "dirty water," and the water was indeed dirty, brown with sediment.
The eight selections were each labeled with a disease common to cultures without clean water: malaria, typhoid, dysentery, cholera, dengue, hepatitis, salmonella and yellow fever.
The stunt was for Unicef’s Dirty Water Campaign, aimed at raising awareness and encouraging donations to help fight the problem.
Casanova Pendrill, the agency whose New York branch came up with the idea, had a $0 budget for the campaign. The agency wanted to come up with an idea that would create media frenzy, thus raising awareness without spending any money.
So it decided to actually illustrate the problem for New Yorkers during World Water Week in March. The agency repurposed an old office vending machine, replacing the vending tabs with the names of diseases that can be contracted by drinking contaminated water.
It bottled muddy water inside plastic containers, each with its own label.
On the machine was a short write-up explaining the idea behind the campaign and what passersby could do to help.
The campaigned worked on a lot of levels, and not the least was the shock factor--seeing a vending machine peddling water it touted not as healthful but carrying diseases of the Third World.
It related an abstract issue--the need for clean water--in very concrete terms: Here, drink this and get sick, as so many do around the world drinking dirty water.
It tugged on passersby's heartstrings but also their pocketbooks.
But it worked on a very practical level as well. People who wanted to donate could send a test message, or they could donate right there. The machine was set up to accept their donations on the spot.
Over the week of the campaign, the agency estimates that some 7,500 people saw the vending machine display.
It also got extensive media pickup. The New York Times and Channel One covered it, among other media, and it was featured in blogs around the world.
