Opera music plays as a silver-haired gentleman reclines in a barber chair, a straight razor against his lathered neck. Someone enters the shop. A hand reaches to silence the bell above the door. Three women in white nursing uniforms appear at the man's side. One is holding cymbals, an evil gleam in her eyes. The camera cuts away.
"We're tired of asking nicely," reads the text on the television screen. "Give blood."
A logo for Florida Blood Services appears. The nurses, looking tough, stride down a darkened street to retro surf music a la Pulp Fiction.
The ad, called Barber Shop, began airing on Tampa Bay area TV stations two weeks ago and appearing in a dozen markets nationwide in late December. Eschewing the touchy-feely pitch of nonprofits - pictures of needy children or saintly givers - this appeal is aggressively in-your-face. Donate blood. Yeah, you.
The tone has not gone unnoticed. Florida Blood Services vice president J.B. Gaskins says that in his 25 years in the blood bank business, he has never received such immediate and emotional feedback on an ad. Most callers like its humor. At least one, a nurse, heatedly told him the ad demeans her profession.
"We always go low-key" with appeals for blood donations, says Gaskins, an Army reservist and 13-gallon donor. "But there's a sense of apathy now. I don't know what it is. Maybe people think someone else is doing it (giving blood) and they don't have to."
St. Petersburg-based Florida Blood Services covers Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Pasco counties, collecting blood and blood products from volunteer donors to be used for patients in 38 hospitals and 80 health care facilities.
To meet the demand, 750 donations are required each day in the four-county area.
At the national association for agencies and individuals in blood donation and transfusion medicine, AABB, they liked the ad's edginess and offered it to markets nationwide. "We wanted to break through the clutter," says AABB spokeswoman wearing a nursing uniform, Jennifer Garfinkel.
"It's not meant to be offensive. It's designed to generate donors," she says.
A previous campaign called Blood Saves targeted younger would-be donors. "Want to make the planet a better place?" it asked. "Become a blood donor." World War II veterans are America's single largest donor group and they're dying of old age. Young people volunteer at soup kitchens and for Habitat for Humanity, but "blood donation doesn't even register" with 18- to 24-year-olds, Garfinkel says.
The 30-second Barber Shop spot grabs a viewer's attention with its quiet foreboding. Filmed in grainy colors and heavy shadows reminiscent of The Godfather, the ad is cinema verite meets kitsch. The kitsch arrives with the three nurses, stern as a goon squad, but wearing white dresses and caps. What nurse dresses that way anymore?
The ad is humorous because it is over the top, from the scraping sound of blade on stubble to the nurses' maniacal faces.
A little notoriety may prove desirable. Elaine Ackel, a spokeswoman for Florida Blood Services, says she is often told by the media that blood donation is not a story. January is National Blood Donor Month. Who knew? Fewer than 5 percent of Americans who are eligible donate blood. But on any given day in any given month, 38,000 units will be needed in the United States for accident victims, transplant and other surgical patients, and to treat leukemia, cancer and other diseases.
In the Tampa Bay area, the supply is critically low for some blood types, down to one-day's worth for O-positive, O-negative and B-negative, Ackel says.
"It's our community, our families, that are needing this blood."
Florida law prohibits paying for blood. Voluntary donations in the four-county region support an organ transplantation program, burn unit, two pediatric emergency rooms as well as countless other needs.
When a nurse called to say the ad defames nurses, Gaskins replied, "Do you donate?"
"That's irrelevant."
"No, it's not."
Barber Shop was actually produced about five years ago by the renowned Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., which offered the concept to AABB and recruited donated production services. The award- winning ad aired briefly, then was shelved when the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought a glut of blood donations.
Now distributed nationally, the 25-second spot leaves five additional seconds for locals to add a tagline, as Florida Blood Services did.
Although Gaskins says he is not worried about negative reactions to the ad, the agency last week decided to add one more line after their logo and the words, "Give Blood."
"Please."
Susan Aschoff can be reached at [email protected] or (727) 892- 2293.
TO LEARN MORE
For more information on blood donation, go to:
www.fbsblood.org
www.aabb.org
www.bloodsaves.com
Illustration
Caption: A farcical nurse makes her point with a potential donor in a Florida Blood Services ad urging the public to give blood and save lives.
"We're tired of asking nicely," reads the text on the television screen. "Give blood."
A logo for Florida Blood Services appears. The nurses, looking tough, stride down a darkened street to retro surf music a la Pulp Fiction.
The ad, called Barber Shop, began airing on Tampa Bay area TV stations two weeks ago and appearing in a dozen markets nationwide in late December. Eschewing the touchy-feely pitch of nonprofits - pictures of needy children or saintly givers - this appeal is aggressively in-your-face. Donate blood. Yeah, you.
The tone has not gone unnoticed. Florida Blood Services vice president J.B. Gaskins says that in his 25 years in the blood bank business, he has never received such immediate and emotional feedback on an ad. Most callers like its humor. At least one, a nurse, heatedly told him the ad demeans her profession.
"We always go low-key" with appeals for blood donations, says Gaskins, an Army reservist and 13-gallon donor. "But there's a sense of apathy now. I don't know what it is. Maybe people think someone else is doing it (giving blood) and they don't have to."
St. Petersburg-based Florida Blood Services covers Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Pasco counties, collecting blood and blood products from volunteer donors to be used for patients in 38 hospitals and 80 health care facilities.
To meet the demand, 750 donations are required each day in the four-county area.
At the national association for agencies and individuals in blood donation and transfusion medicine, AABB, they liked the ad's edginess and offered it to markets nationwide. "We wanted to break through the clutter," says AABB spokeswoman wearing a nursing uniform, Jennifer Garfinkel.
"It's not meant to be offensive. It's designed to generate donors," she says.
A previous campaign called Blood Saves targeted younger would-be donors. "Want to make the planet a better place?" it asked. "Become a blood donor." World War II veterans are America's single largest donor group and they're dying of old age. Young people volunteer at soup kitchens and for Habitat for Humanity, but "blood donation doesn't even register" with 18- to 24-year-olds, Garfinkel says.
The 30-second Barber Shop spot grabs a viewer's attention with its quiet foreboding. Filmed in grainy colors and heavy shadows reminiscent of The Godfather, the ad is cinema verite meets kitsch. The kitsch arrives with the three nurses, stern as a goon squad, but wearing white dresses and caps. What nurse dresses that way anymore?
The ad is humorous because it is over the top, from the scraping sound of blade on stubble to the nurses' maniacal faces.
A little notoriety may prove desirable. Elaine Ackel, a spokeswoman for Florida Blood Services, says she is often told by the media that blood donation is not a story. January is National Blood Donor Month. Who knew? Fewer than 5 percent of Americans who are eligible donate blood. But on any given day in any given month, 38,000 units will be needed in the United States for accident victims, transplant and other surgical patients, and to treat leukemia, cancer and other diseases.
In the Tampa Bay area, the supply is critically low for some blood types, down to one-day's worth for O-positive, O-negative and B-negative, Ackel says.
"It's our community, our families, that are needing this blood."
Florida law prohibits paying for blood. Voluntary donations in the four-county region support an organ transplantation program, burn unit, two pediatric emergency rooms as well as countless other needs.
When a nurse called to say the ad defames nurses, Gaskins replied, "Do you donate?"
"That's irrelevant."
"No, it's not."
Barber Shop was actually produced about five years ago by the renowned Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., which offered the concept to AABB and recruited donated production services. The award- winning ad aired briefly, then was shelved when the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought a glut of blood donations.
Now distributed nationally, the 25-second spot leaves five additional seconds for locals to add a tagline, as Florida Blood Services did.
Although Gaskins says he is not worried about negative reactions to the ad, the agency last week decided to add one more line after their logo and the words, "Give Blood."
"Please."
Susan Aschoff can be reached at [email protected] or (727) 892- 2293.
TO LEARN MORE
For more information on blood donation, go to:
www.fbsblood.org
www.aabb.org
www.bloodsaves.com
Illustration
Caption: A farcical nurse makes her point with a potential donor in a Florida Blood Services ad urging the public to give blood and save lives.