I think the idea of raising awareness is a good one. Not sure about the TV ad though for many reasons, like for example where would it air?
Who to go for, the consumer or the company? It's a bit chicken and egg right now isn't it? You tell consumers about bitcoins and the benefits, and they ask "Where ? Who accepts them?" You tell retailers about the benefits, they say "Who uses them, how much business will it bring me?" ..because they aren't altruistic or wanting to change the system, just do business.
However. There IS a large area where the use of BTC is win/win ...charities. Compare the way they raise funds now to using BTC which are as close to cash as possible, lose them all those fees ? Telephone or SMS donations are popular, they always lose a large chunk of the donation that way...IF they added a "donate to this BTC address" to each appeal..how much positive exposure would bitcoin get, how much trust would be built by being associated with charity, and how much money would be getting directly to where the donor wanted it to go instead of in fees?
I can't think of a good reason why a charity would say no to using BTC as a payment option. Seeing that logo in ads and in appeals would get normal peeps at least asking what it was...especially if they knew it was cheaper to use.
Peeps wanting to donate wouldn't be mining they'd be buying and that's good for us.
I think there's a lot of people who DO mine who are sitting on large amounts of funds they never thought they'd have so are quite likely to support good causes ..not least because it's money they didn't earn and they are more ethical than the average bear.
We can do this now. Us. Free except for a little time asking them to open a bitcoin wallet in an email and explaining how it works. I'm giving it a go.
