Coca-Cola and Japanese Red Cross have rolled out a vending machine that lets users donate money directly with the vending machine. The simple introduction of the charity button is aimed at making it easier for users to donate towards the rebuilding of areas hardest hit by disasters in Japan.
Users are given the option of donating either ¥10 or ¥100, and similar to a normal purchase, the buttons will light up when the money is inserted. But instead of receiving a beverage when pressed, the machine emits a loud ‘Thank you very much for the donation’.
The units themselves are branded with the iconic red cross and have some images of the work carrying out by the Japan Red Cross around the world and in Tohoku as part of the ongoing relief efforts.
Fun facts about Red Cross
- A gruesome battle sparked the idea for the Red Cross. In 1859 Swiss entrepreneur Jean Henri Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in which some 40,000 troops were killed or wounded in a single day. Since neither army had much of a medical corps, Dunant organized a group of volunteers to bring food and water to the wounded, to treat their injuries and to write letters to their families.
- The Red Cross has won more Nobel Peace Prizes than anyone. Dunant played little role with the Red Cross after a court held him primarily responsible for the 1867 collapse of the bank Crédit Genevois, where he served as a director. Nonetheless, he secured the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 along with leading French pacifist Frédéric Passy.
- From 2004 through 2008, 51 percent of the disasters to which the IFRC responded were weather related.
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