Sure, Ebola containment suits are apparently a popular Halloween costume this year. We get it: the costume is easy to put together, timely, and some people find it amusing. Yet when they take off their fake hazmat suits (or their incredibly fake sexy hazmat suits) will any of the people wearing this costume think about the health care workers in western Africa whose lives depend on the real versions of these suits?

Doctors of the World, an aid organization founded by one of the founders of Doctors Without Borders, is taking advantage of this costume trend in the most helpful way possible. In a slick ad campaign produced by slick ad agency Publicis, the group makes the argument that “Here, it’s a costume. There, it saves lives.”

Don’t send your old costume to Liberia, since that’s a very inefficient way to send aid, even if your costume were a real hazmat suit. However, if you have $80 to spend on a containment suit costume, perhaps you can match that amount with a donation that would buy an apron, booties, and a mask for a real health-care worker. You can even spend an extra eleven bucks and get them gloves and a pair of goggles.

If you want to buy a real hazmat suit, that will set you back $250. A protective hood costs $500.

This was a great idea: instead of just complaining about the trend, the group is turning a silly current-events costume into a fundraising campaign. The donations won’t be used to literally buy the amount of each supply that donors pick out, but instead the e-commerce style site shows what items their donations could buy if and when it’s needed.

Wearing a Fake Ebola Hazmat Suit for Halloween? Donate a Real One Instead [AdWeek]
More Than a Costume [Doctors of the World]

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