Bullied woman in the US underlines the importance of random acts of kindness in an era of hyper-connected consumers.
A middle-school student posts in his Facebook a video showing the bullying of the 68-year-old bus monitor Karen Huff Klein and his video was shared by millions of people. In it, four boys call her fat, poor, ugly and worse and she tries to ignore them.
Social media is making these uncomfortable truths increasingly difficult to ignore and the video has now been seen more than 6m times. Thanks to that, this story has a happy ending. Max Sidorov felt compelled to launch an appeal to raise $5,000 to pay for a holiday for Klein, and donations have topped $650,000 by now!
The social-media revolution has empowered consumers to act in response to any perceived injustice. The growth of crowdfunding and campaigning platforms have given new opportunities to connect.
The fundraising for Karen Klein is just one of many examples on the web. In these austere times, brands could learn from this generosity. From Pret A Manger giving consumers coffee to Starbucks teaming up with Apple to offer shoppers songs and books, small acts of kindness can make a big impact.
Read more about Karen Huff Klein and her story.