Cause Marketing

H.L. Mencken, the legendary cynic, wrote, “nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Recently James Surowiecki, in his book “The Wisdom of Crowds” says that’s probably false of Americans (or any group in the aggregate). However, notwithstanding that, I do believe there’s a corollary that holds up very well: “you’ll make a mint catering to people who feel like outsiders.” Witness the success of the Harry Potter books and movies, for instance. And so it’s with mixed feelings that I review this campaign from the website Net-A-Porter.com. Net-A-Porter.com, part fashion magazine and part catalog, supports Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC), a fundraising campaign of the Council of Fashion Designers of America Foundation. There are also FTBC organizations in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Greece, Japan, Canada, and Portugal orgainized under different auspices. Since 1994, FTBC has raised more than $40 for breast cancer charities in 13 countries, the ad i...