The Ethical Dilemma of Accepting Tainted Donations

Cause marketers and others have made much of the recent cause marketing campaign by KFC benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

My old pal Joe Waters at the Boston Medical Center and his many commenters have stated very well the ethical dilemma that charities can face in forging cause marketing relationships.

But, of course, the charititable fundraising business as a whole is fraught with ethical challenges.

Here’s a particularly challenging and recent one from the UK that has come to my attention.

Reginald Forester-Smith was a ‘photographer to the stars’ and royalty in the United Kingdom the 1970s.

In 1999 he was tried, convicted and jailed for repeatedly raping his young daughter over an 18-year-period. He spent eight years in prison. At least two other girls came forward to say that Forester-Smith had sexually abused them as well. His daughter, now aged 42, published a book about her experience in 2002.

Forester-Smith served his time and died last July at the age of 77. His wife, Sheena, died in 2001. Forester-Smith’s estate bequeathed more than £1m to three charities, including £312,291 each to the Macmillan Nurses Cancer Association and Cancer Research UK.

Now news has come out that Forester-Smith had also bequeathed £400,000 to Girlguiding Scotland, an analogue in the United States to the Girls Scouts.

So if you’re Girlguiding Scotland, do you take the money?

Here’s a few things to keep in mind.

Forester-Smith served his time.
Forester-Smith is dead.
Forester-Smith left nothing for his daughter.
Neither the Macmillan Nurses Cancer Association and Cancer Research UK have announced yet whether they will accept the gift, so Girlguiding doesn’t have any cover from them.
The estate made the gift to the Girlguiding Scotland in memory of his wife, who was an active supporter of the Girl Guides and Brownies.
Girlguiding Scotland is particularly well-placed to use the money to fight child abuse in all its odious forms.

All that said, you can appreciate why Girlguiding is taking its time thinking about this bequest.

Isn't accepting it tantamount to a whitewash of Forester-Smith's horrible crimes?
Forester-Smith's money is all but blood money.
His daughter has so far remained silent, but a family friend has said that it would be reprehensible for Girlguides to accept it.

I’d love to get your opinion. Should Girlguiding Scotland accept the donation or not?

Batting Your Eyelashes at Prescription Drug Cause Marketing

I’m a little chary about making sweeping pronouncements, but I believe I've just seen the first cause marketing promotion in the U.S. involving a prescription drug. The drug is from Allergan and it’s called Latisse , “the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough eyelashes.” The medical name for this condition is hypotrichosis. Latisse is lifestyle drug the way Viagra or Propecia are. That is, no one’s going to die (except, perhaps, of embarrassment) if their erectile dysfunction or male pattern baldness or thin eyelashes go untreated. Which means the positioning for a product like Latisse is a little tricky. Allergan could have gone with the sexy route as with Viagra or Cialis and showed lovely women batting their new longer, thicker, darker eyelashes. But I’ll bet that approach didn’t test well with women. (I’m reminded of a joke about the Cialis ads from a comedian whose name I can’t recall. He said, “Hey if my erection lasts longer than ...

Cause Marketing: The All Packaging Edition

One way to activate a cause marketing campaign when the sponsor sells a physical product is on the packaging. I started my career in cause marketing on the charity side and I can tell you that back in the day we were thrilled to get a logo on pack of a consumer packaged good (CPG) or even just a mention. Since then, there’s been a welcome evolution of what sponsors are willing and able to do with their packaging in order to activate their cause sponsorships. That said, even today some sponsors don’t seem to have gotten the memo that when it comes to explaining your cause campaign, more really is more, even on something as small as a can or bottle. The savviest sponsors realize that their only guaranteed means of reaching actual customers with a cause marketing message is by putting it on packaging. And the reach and frequency of the media on packaging for certain high-volume CPG items is almost certainly greater than radio, print or outdoor advertising, and, in many cases, TV. More to ...

Chili’s and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

I was in Chili’s today and I ordered their “Triple-Dipper,” a three appetizer combo. While I waited for the food, I noticed another kind of combo. Chili’s is doing a full-featured cause-related marketing campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There was a four-sided laminated table tent outlining the campaign on the table. When the waitress brought the drinks she slapped down Chili’s trademark square paper beverage coasters and on them was a call to action for an element of the campaign called ‘Create-A-Pepper,’ a kind of paper icon campaign. The wait staff was all attired in black shirts co-branded with Chili’s and St. Jude. The Create-A-Pepper paper icon could be found in a stack behind the hostess area. The Peppers are outlines of Chili’s iconic logo meant to be colored. I paid $1 for mine, but they would have taken $5, $10, or more. The crayons, too, were co-branded with the ‘Create-A-Pepper’ and St. Jude’s logos. There’s also creatapepper.com, a microsite, but again wi...

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