The third ad in the G8 series by Avaaz.org parodied Street Fighter II, the video game popular in the early nineties which "featured a roster of eight playable characters that could be selected by the player. Ryu and Ken, the main characters from the original Street Fighter returned along with six new characters from different nationalities." [Wikipedia]
[Download a printable PDF of this ad]
We incorporated the heads of the G8 leaders onto Street Fighter characters and Avaaz developed copy to play off the genre while drawing attention to global poverty: "For millions of the world's poorest, this is not a game." This ad ran worldwide in black and white in the Financial Times. (See below for the full text of the ad and click the images to view the tearsheet and a fullpage view of the ad).
G8: FIGHTERS NEEDED TO BATTLE POVERTY
POSES OPTIONAL
Today's closing of the G8 summit needs to be more than a photo opportunity. It must must mark a new fighting spirit in humanity's greatest battle: the struggle against extreme poverty.
At a special meeting of the United Nations this September, world leaders will again be measured against their commitments to halve world poverty by 2015. Some have worked to meet their promises -- but many have walked away, hoping the world would forget. Now, the drive to meet the Millennium Development Goals is in jeopardy.
G8 leaders: go home. Get to work. For millions of the world's poorest, this is not a game.