Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Buzzword 2010.5 - Charitywashing

Charitywashing. Verb. Gaining the trust, good faith, or simply the business of customers by aligning your product with a charity. Often takes the form of statements that claim "...x% of sales of this object will be given to charity." See also embedded giving.

The most egregious charitywashing practices include, but are by no means limited to,
  • not naming any specific charity,
  • not stating whether the percentage is of the retail price, total profit, or total sales, and
  • not including any kind of contact information that would allow anyone to follow up and see if you kept your word.

HT to @nathalierose of www.givealittle.co.nz

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1 comment:

Mongcon said...

A version of this is "adventurewash" when a grand exploratory adventure is planned in order to support a charity, but in fact it is all a way to get paid for organizing and adventure and build a career of motivational speaking, book sales, public appearances and swag from sponsors.

3:07 PM

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