CorpComms Magazine

Human rights group Amnesty International will only publish their latest advertising campaign targeting oil giant Shell in national newspapers if it can drum up the funds on social networks in the coming week.

The charity is now taking to Facebook, Twitter and Myspace in a drive to raise cash for column inches, with the advertisement scheduled to appear on 18 May, the day of Shell's annual general meeting in the Netherlands.

This is the first time that Amnesty has sought to raise funds directly for a campaign advertisement. Naomi McAuliffe, poverty & human rights campaign manager at Amnesty International UK, said: 'Amnesty is a campaigning organisation and advertising is a great way of exerting influence. Of course it doesn't come cheap, so we're looking to concerned members of the public to help us pay for a powerful ad.'

The full-page ad attacks the oil company for pollution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. McAuliffe added: 'Because of the activity of Shell and other oil companies, people in the Niger Delta are left to drink polluted water, eat contaminated fish, farm on spoiled land and breath in air that stinks of oil and gas. We want to expose the culprits and get them to come clean and accept responsibility.'

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet