There are ads everywhere. The proof: the Royal Bank managed last fall to embroider its logo on the front of the jersey of the Montreal Canadiens. On your wireless too, the last space devoid of any advertising is now taken over by advertisers. Rejoice: it’s for a good cause.
Imagine for a moment that it is possible for you, without any effort other than plugging in your phone to recharge the battery, to save people from starvation, to protect animal species from extinction or to advance social justice elsewhere in the world. Thanks to advertising.
Well, good news: it is possible.
In any case, this is what Samsung promises. The Korean manufacturer teamed up a few years ago with the leaders of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to help the latter achieve its many objectives.
17 targets for 2030
In 2015, the UN set itself 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030. These range from the fight against poverty to better protection of biodiversity, through increased access to drinking water and a more great respect for human rights. We see it every day in the news, the achievement of these objectives is not progressing at the same speed. There are even places in the world where just a few days are enough to erase decades of social and humanitarian progress.
This does not mean that nothing should be done, or that efforts are in vain. But many people are discouraged. If they don’t already fall into a certain cynicism or downright apathy which prevents them from acting. Children in cobalt mines? That doesn’t stop many people from buying a phone. Or a Tesla…
In short, many are wondering where to start. As we know, the Western lifestyle, which is extremely energy-intensive, is part of the problem.
Ironically, two gigantic multinational organizations, the UN and Samsung, are asking you to act. No doubt that for the Korean conglomerate, known in Canada for its household appliances and computer products, but which is also a giant in Asian shipbuilding and heavy industry, all of this is a quick and easy way to fill environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments made to satisfy any militant shareholder.
However, and this is the beauty of the matter, the people who convinced Samsung to commit to the UN program not only anticipated the famous ESG criteria, but also understood that part of the public was not ready to actively engage in the fight against inequalities, injustices and pollution.
They have come up with the best way to do it effortlessly. To help without losing steam. To contribute without taking out your wallet. They created an app that loops advertisements on the locked screen of smart phones when plugged into a power source.
Like all the others, this application derives revenue from this advertising display. The money generated goes directly to the UN’s sustainable development programs.
No special effort on your part is required, except to install the application on your mobile.
300 million, and counting
Samsung launched the Global Goals application in 2019. Last month, its leaders drew up an initial assessment of the operation. The numbers are impressive. Samsung, after all, is the biggest phone maker on the planet, alongside Apple. The Korean brand has sold almost 300 million phones over the past 12 months.
It is enormous. This is also a problem, although of a completely different order: all of this turns four or five years later into electronic waste. There are other goals that the wireless industry has set for itself. This is another subject, to which we shall return later.
In the meantime, it still creates a huge pool of devices for this app that helps the UN. Especially since, without trumpeting it too much, Samsung installs it by default at the factory on all compatible devices.
Over the past four years, 50 million people around the world have discovered the app and have enabled display ads on their mobile’s locked screen. Result: since 2019, 10 million US dollars (13 million Canadian dollars) have been donated to UNDP to help it achieve its objectives.
Sums that go “where it is most urgent to send money” when the check is cashed, we are assured by the organization affiliated with the United Nations. Without much effort on the part of participating wireless owners, one must add.
Even the most pessimistic will agree, between that and doing nothing to help others, the effort is not particularly greater. And as from time to time, the pub on the locked screen is replaced by a small tooltip informing the user of the progress of the 17 objectives established by the UNDP, the user will have something original to say in the event of a possible dinner cocktail during which the subjects of conversation would run out.
After all, we can’t just talk about the Montreal Canadiens all the time…