Cause-Related Advertising


December 15, 2001



BOB GARFIELD: Americans prefer to patronize good corporate citizens. As a result, many companies have charity marketing deals, and many of them do wonderful work. Some only look wonderful. Recently though, what they mostly look is red, white and blue.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: No matter what they do, no matter what they make, companies want to be liked.

WOMAN IN VOICEOVER: In 1998 thousands of families were forced to flee the tragedy in Kosovo. [MUSIC] We at the Philip Morris Companies felt we needed to do something to help them.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Companies build good will by associating themselves with good causes, for instance, victims of war. But broadcasting one's own good works carries a risk. Philip Morris was slammed for spending vastly more on staging the commercials and buying the TV spots than it did feeding the Kosovars.

WOMAN IN VOICEOVER: You know it's funny. I thought I was coming all this way to do something that would touch their lives, but it turns out they were the ones who touched mine.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Critics may carp, but companies grow fat on their own largesse as American Express discovered when it launched what it dubbed "cause-related marketing" in 1983. Every time you used the card, the company donated a penny to the Statue of Liberty Fund. The result? Lots of good press. Lots of new customers. In 1993, a Cohen Roper [sp?] poll found that two thirds of consumers considering similar products at a similar price would switch to the brand that was the better citizen. After that, the deluge. Procter & Gamble allied with Give Kids the World; VISA put a million bucks into Reading Is Fundamental. Nicoderm's deep pockets won at the exclusive use of the American Cancer Society logo -- but the society had to take it back when the watchdogs yowled. Actually the deals often catch on ethical snags like that.

STACEY PALMER: A lot of people in the charity worlds felt that it was really not a good idea to start mixing business and charity and that charities might end up getting tarnished in the end.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Stacey Palmer is the editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

STACEY PALMER:But then it turned out that it was doing wonderful things for both charities and businesses and a lot of people gave up their objections.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:And so it is post-September 11th. In fact, now "more than ever," according to another Cohen Roper poll conducted in late October.

CAROL COHEN: Our results were astonishing.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Cohen's CEO, Carol Cohen.

CAROL COHEN: Our data showed that following September 11th that Americans expect companies more than ever before to take an active part in solving the needs of our society, and when they do that, Americans will reward those companies with their purchases as a consumer, their references in the community and with their investments as a shareholder.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Even after the attacks Cohen found that Americans still point health research and education near the top of their priority lists, but recently, you may have heard, the world changed. We have met the ultimate charity, and it is us.

GEORGE CARLIN: That's our latest mindless cliche -- go out and buy some jewelry and a new car. Otherwise the terrorists win. [LAUGHTER]

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Public citizens as mighty as the mayor of New York City and the president of the United States told us that one thing we the people can do to face down the threat is to lay our wallets on the line. The Bush Administration even went to the big automakers to underscore the point, charging them to focus on the patriotic objective of selling more cars. Admittedly, it was a stretch, but they did it. [CHOIR SINGING]

MAN IN VOICEOVER: The American Dream. We refuse to let anyone take it away. So GM announces interest free financing on every new car and every new truck, now--

BROOKE GLADSTONE:The combination of patriotism and zero financing was irresistible. General Motors' sales shot up an astounding 31 percent compared to the same period last year.

TERRY SULLIVAN: We're a very large impact on the U.S. economy.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Terry Sullivan, sales and marketing director for General Motors.

TERRY SULLIVAN: We saw a need to take a leadership role and walk that fine line between appealing to emotions, trying to take advantage of it, but making sure that the offer was a very generation offer that people would appreciate.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:The people said oh, my yes. And so did the durable radio commentator Paul Harvey. GM's Terry Sullivan just happened to have Harvey's quote handy.

TERRY SULLIVAN: "When they pass out medals for the many heroes of this war, let's reserve one medal for a man who at no small professional risk to himself, gambled on an unprecedented policy of zero financing which sold a record number of automobiles and resurrected Wall Street. General Motors' Rick Wagner. This is Paul Harvey. Good Day."

BROOKE GLADSTONE:To be sure, these are times that call for remarkable acts of heroism. Sometimes they masquerade as marketing ploys. Then again sometimes marketing ploys masquerade as heroism. For instance the New York Sports Club's call to Keep America Strong; Frederick's of Hollywood's marketing of red, white and blue thongs; a sign in a jewelry store in lower Manhattan declares in patriotic colors: God Bless America. Need to Raise Hard Cash. In New York nowadays, buying a watch can make you feel almost as warm and fuzzy as giving to a homeless shelter. The omnipresent images of victims' families; the livelihoods destroyed, obscure all the others in need. Stacey Palmer of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

STACEY PALMER: I think there are some mixed messages there about what really is going to do the most good and there's kind of some head to head competition going on between the charities and the businesses. CURT ASHER

MAN: The natural inclination is to say hello, hello, we're still here, you know? Over here; don't forget us.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Curt Asherman [sp?] is the head of marketing and communications for the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America. He says the real competition is not with other businesses but with other charities. CURT ASHER

MAN: We're hearing that almost every national charity has been impacted except for those that are obviously responding to the disasters. I'm not so sure there is a solution to the problem other than to just pull up the boots and get ready for next year.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Next year, patriotic marketing probably will have run its course.

WALKER SMITH:Patriotism as a theme in advertising probably has a short half life. It's not a very good way to differentiate your brand from other brands. Anybody can wrap themselves in the flag.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Walker Smith [sp?] is the president of Yankelovich, a leading marketing consulting firm. He says American consumer values started to shift about 18 months ago away from the celebrity-infatuated materialism of the '90s toward family and community and more work life balance, and he believes Americans have been skeptical of flag-draped promotions all along.

WALKER SMITH: The brouhaha about the General Motors ad about Keep America Rolling which was one of the first to come out and try and leverage a patriotic theme is certainly an example of people questioning the attachment to patriotism that was being used in that advertising.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: But it was a wild success!

WALKER SMITH: Well with zero percent financing you can sell a whopping lot of cars no matter what you say.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:General Motors has already dropped its zero percent financing and soon will be scrapping its patriotic theme. Next year it plans to market around the Olympics of which it is an official sponsor. In general, Smith predicts that corporations will return to form. Companies will support and occasionally exploit good causes without reference to Old Glory, and the businesses that did nothing this year but wrap themselves in the flag will be naked.