These days, reality TV’s ridiculousness is rivaled only by its ubiquity. And the role of the youth audience has evolved from tangential spectator (The Bachelor) to active participant (My Super Sweet 16). But Range Rovers and rapper cameos are hardly “reality” for most young people. In fact, it would seem the very antidote to this brand of purported “reality” is a sobering statistic: there are over 1 million US kids who are homeless.
Virgin Mobile saw something compelling in this paradox. Through their The RE*Generation program, which connects organizations working to support homeless youth with young people wanting to help the cause, they recently launched a unique interactive marketing campaign called “Homeless Youth TV.” By spoofing popular reality TV shows - including Project Runaway, Meal or No Meal? and American Idle among others - they hope to draw attention to the issue of youth homelessness. Visitors can sponsor their favorite show for $1 to have their name appear in the “credits” which scroll along the right side of the page. To see it for yourself, check out http://www.homelessyouthtv.com.
We spoke via Twitter with Jill Okawa, manager of Virgin Mobile’s Pro-Social Marketing group which oversees The RE*Generation, to learn more. In standard Twitterview fashion, read from the bottom up!
