Commentary

How Do YOU Celebrate Arbor Day?

In the grand scheme of American holidays, it's doubtful that Arbor Day cracks people's top five.

In Brazil, the holiday is celebrated on Sept. 21 under the name National Tree Day, coinciding with the beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere.

To celebrate the holiday, Brazilian bank Banco Real ran a simple newspaper ad, created by Lew´Lara/TBWA Brazil, that stated, "September 21st, Day of the Tree." Underneath copy is Banco Real's logo and tagline, "The bank of your life."

The interesting component of this straightforward ad is that the period following the main copy is actually a seed.

"Don't let the celebration end here," says the copy, which names the seed planted in the ad as the Seed of Guajuvira (patagonula Americana), a tree native to Brazil.

Obviously the ad wants readers to plant the seed affixed to it, commemorating the holiday, but I doubt the seeds made it to their expected destination. First off, the seed could easily come off while reading the paper. Secondly, the seed is freestanding, without a small bag to transport it. Can you envision someone throwing the seed into a purse or pants pocket? I can, but the odds are more likely that the water it's given comes from a washing machine rather than a hose.

Would the campaign have been more effective had it taken the seeds used in the ad and actually planted them throughout the country? Rather than having a seed in the ad, copy could describe Banco Real's part in celebrating Arbor Day.

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