#MissingType: Donating our ‘Bs’… because our Blood is Blue

Aug 23 • General News • 2522 Views • Comments Off on #MissingType: Donating our ‘Bs’… because our Blood is Blue

The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) is uniting with blood donor organisations across 21 countries to highlight an almost 30% international drop in people becoming blood donors compared to a decade ago.

This is being highlighted through a #MissingType campaign, that encourages participating corporates, brands, sports teams and individuals to donate alphabets from their names for a specified period of time. These alphabets will include As, Bs and Os, as they symbolize the blood types.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls, or should we say the Vodacom _LUE _ULLS have just accepted a challenge from the Xerox Golden Lions to donate both our letter ‘Bs’, as the men from Johannesburg give up their ’O’ and will be know as the ‘LI_NS’ for the next few days.

Throughout the campaign As, Bs and Os, the letters of the main blood groups, will disappear in everyday and iconic locations and from well-known brand names. The letters will be disappearing from famous locations in Australia,America, Japan, Ireland, England, and many more countries. Celebrities supporting the campaign include actress Jamie Lee Curtis and rapper LL Cool J, local celebs Thapelo Mokoena, Zizo Beda, Khaya Mthethwa, IFani, Bokang, Mzokoloko Gumede, Christopher Jaftha , Joe Mann, Sandile Kubheka, Cameron Classens and Phindi Gule.

Sillungile Mlambo, Senior Marketing Manager for the SANBS, the service that collects, tests and processes blood across South Africa said: “Blood transfusions save lives and transform health for millions across the world. But they are dependent on people donating blood. Whether it is patients receiving treatment for cancer, blood disorders, after accidents or during surgery, or new moms who lost blood in childbirth, blood is an absolutely essential part of modern healthcare.

“We really hope that people living in South Africa will be inspired by the Missing Type campaign and start saving lives by becoming blood donors. It’s incredibly easy and painless to donate blood, by simply visiting one of 86 donor sites, or 66 mobile teams in the country.”

Shanil Mangaroo, head of marketing at the Blue Bulls Company, called upon the #BullsFamily to get behind the cause. “This is an amazing initiative that will no doubt make a bold statement, and we are pleased that we can be a part of it. ‘Ons Bloed is Blou / Our blood is blue’ have been terms associated with our brand for many years, and we now call upon our fans that have spoken these words for many generations to stand by the slogan, and get behind the cause.”

A number of high profile brands, individuals and organisations are backing the campaign in South Africa.

According to the SANBS, just 7% of new blood donors are people between the ages of 16 and 25 (according to 2015 stats).

Hopefully by working together we can reverse the international decline in new donors.