Bill Gates makes $249,435 every time he goes No. 2. Well, that's according to the team at Rehab Studio.
In order to raise awareness about the importance of World Toilet Day, the technology company launched Give A Crap -- a website that provides the "guestimated crap value" of 200 of the world's most influential entertainers, business leaders and athletes. The site encourages viewers to tweet at the change-makers using the #GiveACrap hashtag in order to garner support for the cause.
Rehab Studio found the figures by calculating data on the individuals' net worths, a 5 percent interest rate and the "average crap time."
The website puts a lighthearted spin on a day that highlights a dire global situation. According to the United Nations, approximately 2.5 billion people around the world do not have access to improved sanitation. But the consequences have an impact on everyone.
Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Southeast Asia (SEARO) regional director for the World Health Organization, told The Jakarta Post that a lack of proper sanitation systems has played a major role in the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
"Good sanitation is proven to prevent water sources being contaminated, protect the environment, prevent infectious diseases and help reduce malnutrition, stunting in children and mental stress," Khetrapal Singh said, according to the news source. She also noted that investing in healthy sanitation systems actually saves money long-term, as "every dollar spent on sanitation yields about [$9] in savings on treatment, health care costs and gains from more productive working days."
Not only can poor sanitation mean less economic potential and more infectious diseases, it can also result in dangerous circumstances for women and girls. With no toilets offering privacy, females often risk rape and abuse when they are forced to defecate in the open, the U.N. points out. In May, two Indian girls were gang-raped and murdered after leaving the safety of a home to relieve themselves outside.
To Rehab Studio, the company is in the perfect space to shed light on the issue.
"The creative industry is better than any other at encouraging behavior change and capturing people’s attention in imaginative ways," Tom Le Bree, a strategy partner at the company, said in a press release given to The Huffington Post. "As creative technologists at Rehab Studio, we wanted to use our collective talent to raise awareness of, and encourage action on, an issue that we all cared about."
View more Give A Crap campaign visuals from Rehab Studio below:
Related
Before You Go
