One of the biggest challenges that charities often face is how to make people aware of what they do. One common way to publicize their cause is by naming a particular day, such as Children’s Day or National Non-Smoking Day. The driving factors behind this phenomenon and what effects it may have will both be explored as follows in this essay.
It goes without saying that when a person notices that a particular day goes with a special name, it might evoke his/her curiosity to find out why and how that day was named. Afterwards, it is usually natural for them to do some research online and try to learn more about the relevant charitable deeds in the first place. They are also very likely to ask their friends, colleagues, or family members about the origin and meaning of that special day, which actually helps raise and spread the awareness of these causes appearing in those days’ names among people around them. If successful, it will spread from one person to ten people, and from ten to one hundred, so on and so forth, like a chain reaction or ripple effect whose spreading is rapid and wide. What these charities and organizations need is to draw more attention from the public, as in the age of attention, it is the key to success.
When charities plan these special days named after their organization, they usually have high-profile events which might be shown on TV or the Internet. For instance, on AIDS Awareness Day people would like to wear a red ribbon which they buy, and then the money goes to that charity. While this is supposed to be an effective way to show their support for the charity, many people wear these ribbons without truly understanding the charity’s purpose, possibly doing so merely to make themselves look cool or fit in because their peers do it too. Other charities may also use ribbons, like pink ribbons for Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and green ribbons for environmental charities, which can easily confuse people. The real problem is that, although actively participating in these large-scale events and happily putting beautiful ribbons on their shoulders, many people inwardly expect someone else to make the effort, and are not so willing to take the initiative themselves, which makes such events less relevant overall.