Charity raises funds with homeless avatar
By Adam Reuters
SECOND LIFE, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A Spanish charity group has raised enough money through its Second Life awareness campaign, which featured a homeless avatar, to provide a month of healthcare and education for a real-life child.
Asociacion Mensajeros de la Paz (Messengers of Peace), which runs some 300 foster homes, created the avatar MensajerosDeLaPaz Jubilee two weeks ago with the help of the ad agency ArnoldFuel.
The avatar spent time in various locations within Second Life, including NBC’s simulation of New York City’s Rockefeller Center, without possessions or land except for a cardboard box.
The drive has netted about L$8,000, or US$30, as well as a number of virtual items, according to Alex Luna of ArnoldFuel.
“But the main goal is not only the money, but people’s awareness, mainly among young people,” he told Reuters in a Second Life interview.
Other charitable efforts in Second Life have included the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event earlier this year, which raised more than US$40,000.
This is very similar to an Australian TV commercial for the RSPCA - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lehXns1B7FM
Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:01am PST