Straight talk for all you bilateral, multilateral, international NGO, and big aid brands: Poverty is not your PR. Struggle isn’t your stage. Crisis isn’t your campaign. And the aid logo arms race in the global south is neocolonialism.
Because it’s colonial when branded gifts or rations are meant to remind the receiver whose money it is.
Jan Egeland from Norwegian Refugee Council, or NRC, recently wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “It is increasingly distast[e]ful, the excessive branding by donors, UN agencies and us in INGOs of everything from school bags to tents, shelter, latrines and health posts. Children in need should not have to advertise their donors.”
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About the author
Kevin L. Brown
Kevin L. Brown is CEO of Mighty Ally, a B Corp brand consultancy that maximizes funding with growth-stage nonprofits and foundations. As an American with three daughters from the global south, he’s lived in three African countries. He’s an Acumen Fellow and Roddenberry Foundation adviser, currently writing his first book.
