Compassionate Silliness
Ok. To be clear. Cancer is bad.
I am in no way trying to minimize the impact that cancer has on its victims or their families and friends. Nor am I trying to minimize the dedicated work countless doctors and scientists are engaged in trying to rid this planet of cancer’s scourge.
But the various color ribbon brigades or the rainbow of rubber bracelets being sold at almost every venue imaginable is just another example of how proper marketing can satisfy our need to feel good about ourselves without really doing anything.
The biggest campaign is the pink ribbons that adorn everything from women’s high end fashion to bowling balls. Retail stores have major sales with a “portion of the proceeds” going to benefit breast cancer research. I defy you to go through a Sunday newspaper and not find at least one advertisement that boasts support for breast cancer.
It’s not that I am against breast cancer research, or any cancer research for that matter. I doubt someone dying of colon cancer will sit back and say “Well at least I don’t have breast cancer”. Colon cancer is equally devastating but it wouldn’t make as catchy a marketing campaign and would probably have a far less attractive ribbon.
The point is that while all cancers are worthy of a cure, we as consumers gleefully contribute to these causes without the slightest idea of where the money is going, what it will be used for and most importantly how much of each dollar is actually going to the charity. I know for a fact that several of the major retailers that hold pink ribbon sales with the “portion of the proceeds” caveat actually donate only fractions of one percent to the charity. The intent behind the sale is far more about the advertising benefit than for the charitable contribution.
It’s not just cancer that has such exaggerated innuendo marketing. I used to donate regularly to what I thought was a disabled veteran’s organization. They would deliver a box of plastic garbage bags to my door for a $50.00 donation. The same grandmotherly voice would call me every few months, God blessing me and thanking me each time. It wasn’t until I carefully read the receipt that I came to realize that the veterans were only getting about a buck from my $50. The majority was going to the fundraising company and old Granny, who was probably also one of Dionne Warwick’s psychic friends and Mistress Dominique on a 1-900 number. I now only make donations directly to organizations and not through fund raisers that keep the lion’s share of the donation.
It’s all about the marketing. Americans are the most compassionate people on the planet, but we are also usually looking for a means to contribute so we can feel good rather than get involved in a truly meaningful way. The term “It’s the least I can do” did not come about by accident.
The same principle of marketing was in full force this past weekend with the absurd observation of “Earth Hour”. The sole purpose of this silly display was to make us feel good about ourselves and to continue the assault on common sense that the corporate friends of mother earth have been perpetrating since they discovered there is money in it.
We live in a world where over half the population has never used a telephone. There are people who still use dung to construct their home and use the left over bricks for heating and cooking fuel. 30% of the earth’s population doesn’t know the earth is round and most of them don’t know that the earth is a planet. Do you really think you are benefiting this earth by having McDonald’s dim the light bulbs in the Golden Arches for an hour?
Instead of turning off the house lights for an hour one day a year how about turning off the kids video games for one hour a week and just talking to them or reading them a good book.
It may not save the planet, but it will make living on it a whole lot better. At least until the sun’s rays creep through the holes in the ozone and cook us like lobsters.
In the mean time, it really is the least you can do.
Good post, retweeted for awesomeness.
I too wondered exactly what effect shutting off the lights for an hour would have… Beyond making it totally impossible to do anything productive in my house.
Hi, I just stumbled onto this blog and I really felt compelled to comment on it. I just wanted to say that I appreciate how thought out your post was, and I do understand what you were trying to convey, but I do have to disagree. I think that you may be missing the point of all that “marketing”. As a young girl that has lost two grandfathers to cancer, I can’t tell you how much I love seeing those “silly” little bracelets on people wrists, telling me that they support fighting what has caused so much pain in my family. It’s not just about the proceeds, it’s also about raising awareness. If every person did the least they can do, that’s a lot of change. I’m not trying to say that every person will go above and beyond, some people will stop at buying a bracelet or turning of their power for one hour once a year. But then, you also have people like me and my Mother, who’ve made a commitment to going turning off our power completely for an hour once a week, along with the many other things we do to support change. It’s actually quite disappointing that you would look down on anyone for doing whatever they can to help, even if it is just buying a bracelet. Maybe you should think a little bit harder about what you post, when the message that you’re sending is that the least someone can do isn’t good. I’ll admit that it might not always be good enough, but it’s always good. If that colorful bracelet catches the eye of just a few people who might want to know more, how much change can we make happen? And you know, if that isn’t good enough for you, I encourage you to do something more, and show people a better way to help. But I can tell you right now, discouraging people from doing the least they can do doesn’t help at all.