Seizing an opportunity to give back.

In the spring of 2014, Ben Aronson, founder and editor of the lifestyle blog www.JonesandB.com, started making plans to head to Brazil for the World Cup.  As Ben started writing about his upcoming trip,  brands started contacting him with requests to sponsor his trip with gear in exchange for their inclusion in his blog and social posts.  Awesome, right?  Ben thought so, and signed on to receive product from Burton, Reef, HUF, and Von Zipper.

As Ben's trip neared and the gear started to arrive, Ben started to realize how much free product he had received.  Shirts, and shoes, and jackets and packs - while Ben is not a rich guy, he was quick to acknowledge he didn't need all of this free gear.  The fact that he was traveling to Brazil, a country known for it's economic problems and extremely impoverished Favela communities, only added to Ben's growing sense of guilt for receiving so much free stuff that he didn't really need.  But then, he had an idea.

What if he packed up all the gear that brands sent him for free in one bag, which he would review and promote throughout his trip, and then he would pack a second bag of old items he no longer wore to give to charities in Brazil?  Ben would pack one old item in his 2nd bag for each one of the new items he had received for free from the sponsored brands.  Hence the "141" or "One-for-one".

A digital strategist for brands and agencies, in addition to his hobby as a blogger, Ben quickly realized the amount of products that other bloggers must be sent every day.  How many of these bloggers, influencers and media outlets really need all of this free product?  Ben assumed few, if any really needed anything for free.  That's not to say that they didn't provide a service for those brands, but rather that they simply didn't need to accumulate such a surplus of clothing and goods.  There are so many poor and needy people in the world, it just felt like the right thing to do to take advantage of the good fortune some of us have because of our status as "influencers", to actually give back.  There seemed to be something to this idea.

A few weeks after returning from his trip to Brazil, with overwhelmingly positive response from his posts on Instagram and Jones And B about his "social giving", Ben was committed to bringing his idea to life.  After a few months, a few favors from amazing friends in design and digital, and a little last push of inspiration from a co-worker, in November of 2014 the 141 Initiative went live.

If you want to engage with or learn more about Ben, follow him on instagram @benaronson