According to the media, the magical underwater city of New Orleans needs my money for relief operations. Being a relativly apathetic person, I gave them nothing.
But if I did want to donate, who should I donate to?
There are litterally thousands of retail chains and corporations attempting to climb aboard the bandwagon.
For instance I note that Avon is now selling
this keyring for only $5 - of which $3.75 will go directly to god knows where.
Now why would a pyramid scheme like Avon sell this rubbish? You might suggest it is out of the goodness of their heart; some form of corporate social responsibility. Perhaps it is a great marketing gimmick, or more cynically an excellent way to open a sales dialogue with people, in order to sell them more useless junk.
Are companies like Avon 'cashing in' by doing this? Obviously not in the direct sense, they gain no profits from the keyring; but whats wrong with simply donating to the Red Cross?