Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Cause Marketing vs. the Virtue of Giving

Here's a link to an interesting article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy asking the question, "Does Cause Marketing Replace Virtue with 'Mindless Buying'?" Writer, Brennen Jensen, refers to an article by Angela M. Eikenberry, assistant professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, in the Stanford Social Innovation Review,in which she makes the case that
"the short-term benefits of cause marketing—also known as consumption philanthropy—belie its long-term costs. These hidden costs include individualizing solutions to collective problems; replacing virtuous action with mindless buying; and hiding how markets create many social problems in the first place. Consumption philanthropy is therefore unsuited to create real social change."
I think she makes a great point. Do we encourage more consumption in order to fund causes that have become causes because of consumption?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting article as for me. It would be great to read more concerning that theme. Thanx for posting that material.
Sexy Lady
Female escorts