The Problem With UNICEF's Tap Project

Water has been the source of a lot of personal irritation today. On the one hand, it's raining and my clothes are drenched. Furthermore, the bottle of water I bought from the dining hall is only half as full and half as cold as it was when I got it. These two "problems" are the frivolous, stupid musings of a privileged, white American college student who has no immediate worries in life. After all, my life doesn't hang in the balance on a daily basis nor must I ever look at water as a luxury. But, unfortunately for hundreds of millions of people around the world, this is not a common trait. Indeed, the lack of clean water in underdeveloped countries has been a major problem for years and various organizations have done their best to reverse it. In particular, the United Nations Program, UNICEF, has been at the forefront of delivering clean water to children in such countries.

UNICEF, an acronym for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, has dedicated itself to saving and improving "children's lives by providing healthcare and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more."  A noble cause that I doubt any person with an ounce of empathy would take issue with. Setting aside the mission statement, however, let's take a look at UNICEF's most recent project. All around the internet, fellow privileged college students have been sharing the UNICEF Tap Project and urging their social media friends to use it. In case you haven't been made privy to the newest social trend, the UNICEF Tap Project aims to give clean water to children in need while also raising awareness (we'll address this in a minute). To accomplish both the former and the latter, the program is urging people to download an app and then not touch their phone for ten minutes. For every ten minutes that you don't touch your phone, UNICEF pledges to "provide one day of clean water for a child in need."

So, what's the problem?

Let us revisit the concept of "raising awareness" for a minute. This is an oft used phrase that, for college students, typically means "Telling my friends how socially aware I am." Contempt aside, however, raising awareness is all well and good in theory, but is creates a culture of narcotizing dysfunction. In the interest of brevity, I shall reduce the definition thusly: knowing shit and therefore, feeling like you're helping. People nowadays tend to equate being aware of a problem with being a better person for it. In all fairness, knowing about a problem is certainly half the battle. We do tend to live in a very sheltered environment that ignores the problems of the world in favor of a far more convenient reality of American exceptionalism. But knowing about a problem and dealing with a problem are two very different things. 

The issue with American college students (among others) is that we don't like to put forth an effort if we don't have to. UNICEF's Tap Project makes it so that all we have to do to help is nothing. I mean, hell, that's the dream isn't it? Being able to sit around and then smugly announce that you helped African children by not playing Flappy Bird for thirty minutes. 

Ok, but regardless of our attitude, we're still helping children, right?

Sort of. But mainly you're helping Giorgio Armani. Confused? Let's take a closer look at UNICEF's website. On the page explaining the Tap Project (link provided above), there is a noticeable watermark that recognizes Giorgio Armani as the national sponsor for the campaign. Furthermore, if you find yourself on the UNICEF USA home page, you'll find a conveniently placed link that leads here. If it weren't for the UNICEF logo in the top left corner, I would swear that this was an advertisement for Armani's cologne. And that's because, dear readers, it is. Unconvinced? Let us further delve into the UNICEF website. Aside from the home page, Giorgio Armani is also mentioned on the "People and Partners" section of the site (obviously) but also prominently featured in the "UNICEF's Work" section. For a program that aims to deliver clean water to developing countries, it sure does have a fixation with high end cologne.

Allow me to state several disclaimers: there is nothing wrong with advertising. There is also nothing wrong with being aware of an issue. There is, however, something incredibly wrong with using the tendency of lazy college students to do nothing as a method of advertising your product. I would argue that it is not merely useless for thirsty children, but harmful.

But Giorgio Armani is STILL helping!

Sure, but their help comes with the stipulation that they only contribute as much as people pay into their system, be it with time or with money. This not charity; it is an exchange being made between you and a company. If they were TRULY concerned with the lack of clean water, they would make a sizable donation with no strings attached. But Armani expects you to buy their cologne (or at least be aware of it) before they will do anything. I can't really fault them for doing so, though. They are, after all, a business whose primary concern is generating profits. But when UNICEF and the people that buy into this project claim that this is helping, it's no better than liking a page on Facebook and feeling warm fuzzies from your supposed contribution to the cessation of thirsty kids. 

Yes, I have no doubt that UNICEF and Armani truly intend to donate a hefty sum of money to projects looking to provide clean water, but this merely a short term solution to a problem. It's cool that they're giving kids clean water for however many days this project racks up, but its certain to be a short-lived trend that will inevitably lose steam until the next trend comes along. What we currently lack (and what things like this are impeding the progress of) is a long term solution to the problem. Raising awareness is, like I said, half the battle, but you have to do something MORE if you want to actually make a difference. There have to be massive shifts in how we as a country deal with developing countries and their denizens. But, because these shifts are so large in scale and so heavily debated, we don't like to consider them. Thus, small, seemingly harmless campaigns such as this one come into existence and make us feel like we're helping. 

I believe that my generation, while lazy and often stupid, truly wants to make a good difference in the world. I also believe that we are some of the most global and empathetic people that have ever occupied the planet and I think that we have the potential to do amazing things. But we have to stop looking at problems as social media trends that can be solved with the touch of a button and before breakfast. We have to see these things as the gritty (and often nearly hopeless) issues that they are. It's tough and no, you can't make a real difference by not touching your phone. But that doesn't mean the problems aren't worthy of examination. Personally, I don't have the answer, but the discussion (including this one) has to go on so that we can work towards a realistic solution to providing clean water for everyone.