March 5, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The new Buy (LESS) campaign — an effort to get customers to think twice about the popular Product (RED) marketing effort — should get all charities thinking about how much they disclose to the public about their marketing deals with companies, writes Katya Andresen, vice president for marketing at Network for Good, on her Web site, Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog.
Ms. Andresen says she initially thought the Buy (LESS) campaign made little sense.
“Bashing consumerism in our country is a losing proposition. It alienates the vast majority of people, because most Americans like to buy things,” Ms. Andresen writes.
“Asking people to donate directly to charity instead of shopping seems like an unnecessary sacrifice. The message doesn’t feel inspirational, it feels scolding. Can’t I shop and give?”
But she says after an interview with Ben Davis, a key figure in the Buy (LESS) effort, she saw the focus was mainly on educating people about the limits of marketing deals. In the interview, which she posts on her site, Mr. Davis says, “it is our hope that with greater scrutiny, transparency, and possibly increased regulation, cause-related marketing can be less manipulative and can drive even greater and more certain levels of donations to charity.”
He says the campaign was prompted by questions about who benefits from Product (RED) and what he says was a lack of disclosure from its backers.
Ms. Andresen asked Project (RED) herself and one of its representatives wrote back to say that $20-million has been generated for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and she provides details about how much companies in the campaign are giving. That interview is also posted on Ms. Andresen’s site.
