• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, August 11, 2009

The trouble with so many cause-related campaigns, especially in the last lazy weeks of downbeat summer, is that they're, well ... buzz-killers. (Who wants to contemplate world hunger whilst flipping budget burgers on a backyard staycation?)

Perhaps that's why Cone Inc., a Boston-based consulting company that specializes in cause-related marketing, has identified a trend it calls "cause lite," and believes that recession-weary consumers are becoming somewhat less receptive to activist messages, no matter how good the cause. "In difficult times, urgent messages about critical social needs may alienate stressed-out consumers," the company says in a report released last week. "Instead, these organizations are taking a light-hearted approach to talk about their causes, hoping a little bit of humor will go a long way."

Cone names its three favorite examples of lighthearted do-gooders, with comedian Will Ferrell leading the pack. His image appears on three sunscreen products (yep, that's him in the Coppertone pose) -- Sexy Hot Tan, Sunstroke and Forbidden Fruit. All proceeds from the lotions -- "a sunscreen that continues to work years after applying" - go to Cancer for College, an irreverent charity that gives young cancer survivors college scholarships.

Equally cheeky is "Twitter for Sh-tters," a campaign aimed at driving donations for Wherever the Need, which uses funds to build eco-sanitation toilets in the poorest regions of the world. Not surprisingly, the tweets, known as "Daily Dumpers," use more bathroom humor than most.

"With thousands of worthy causes, perhaps all of which are admittedly 'sexier' and more approachable than sanitation, we felt it was important to create a grassroots communications initiative for Wherever the Need that addresses the issue in a bold manner," says Todd Lieman, founder and co-president of Skadaddle Media, Inc., in a release explaining the new campaign.

Finally, Cone mentions a much more local effort, on behalf of the Blood Center of Central Texas. Instead of predictable pleas for giving blood and saving lives, TV spots show people in everyday bad acts - closing an elevator door on someone with an armload of boxes, mooching a neighbor's WiFi, pushing a grocery cart into the grass when the cart corral is just steps away, or dropping a burger on the floor and then serving it anyway -- and urges them to "Redeem yourself." Ads remind people that giving blood can "make up for just about anything." The ads sparked a 20% increase in blood donations.