My friend John is a word nerd. It’s one of the things I like best about him. He’s always playing with words, making them do things they shouldn’t be allowed to or should but aren’t. I think part of it is he was a linguistics major in college. I think the other part is he just gets a high from it.
Through my friendship with John, I’ve come to pay more attention to words. I pay more attention to what the words actually mean. This is especially true in marketing and fundraising. When a server at Old Chicago offers me a slice of Homemade Cheesecake, I’d really love to know whose home it’s made in. When Safeway checkers ask me if I’d like to donate to Prostate Cancer, I decline knowing that Prostate Cancer is killing plenty of people without my $5. And when a box promises me that “Anything is Possible with Popcorn“, I imagine the possibilities.
Yesterday Starbucks sent an email telling me that I could “help make a difference” on World AIDS Day and that I should “see how delicious doing good can be” with one of their holiday drinks. Awesome, right? Who wouldn’t want to help with that? Besides Fred Phelps, I mean.
The difference I could make? A nickel’s worth.
For every handcrafted beverage purchased, Starbucks will donate 5ยข. These drinks cost somewhere around $3.25 each. The profit is somewhere around $2.50. Of the four million drinks sold daily, a conservative estimate is that 90% of these are considered handcrafted. This means Starbucks will donate around $180,000 today that they would otherwise put in their pocket. Kudos for that. But I can’t help but think that this email has less to do with the 2% donated to AIDS research and more to do with the 98% going to Starbucks shareholders.
I’m not anti-profit or anti-capitalism. I’m all for people making a living. But when you market and profit on a disease, maybe you’re not making a living. Maybe you’re making a killing.
If you’d like to contribute to the work going on with out buying anything, visit the designated giving page for RED. See how good doing good can be.
I think you are being just a tad harsh on Starbucks, but that is just an opinion. Yes it is sales, yes it would be more noble if we knew they did this every day. But, in the end, 180,000 more is going to the good of those affected most.
Social Philanthropy is something Starbucks, as well as many others are trying to grasp. Yes, they need to make profit in so doing, but they also know that the people they are serving now are more globally aware, motivated and concerned then any generation that came before. Sell a few drinks while doing a little good… is that so bad?
I share your disdain for the “home made cheesecake” statements of the world. One does not have to sit through more then one commercial break to find at least one misnomer.
Your opinion is always welcome, Carl. That’s all I’m giving either. This is an opinion friendly zone.
It probably is harsh. But it’s a harsh topic, one that ends lives all too quickly.