Branding of Charities

On Monday we had a quick conversation about the branding of charities. I was particularly struck by the discussion about the breast cancer logo and how it sells. People want to feel like they are helping out a good cause, and I think it is wrong for companies to put caps on the donations they give. This seems like a breach of trust that the companies are participating in. But as I was thinking about branding and charities I immediately thought of the wristbands that are so popular. These bands became popular starting with LIVESTRONG I believe. I remember the yellow livestrong bracelets were all the rage the summer they came out. I wanted one, and many places were quickly sold out of them. Celebrities and people on the streets were rocking the yellow band and it became a very popular item. Every charity began to mass produce these bands and made about $1 by selling them. They claimed to be raising money although now I am skeptical about how much of the money goes to the charity or if there is a cap on it. There are now thousands of websites and places where you can customize your own "livestrong" type bracelet. I have a couple of them and I even wear one everyday for cancer. It is good for the livestrong company that people automatically first think about the yellow bracelets when this idea comes to mind.

So today there is an "awareness" bracelet for every cause. If there isn't one for your cause, you can create it. We can create a bracelet for awareness or basically advertisement on our person everyeday if we walk around with them. I think that this was a great and original idea that has really taken off. People are making statements about what they support by wearing them. Along with this idea also comes the idea that different charities and causes often times have their own color. Like we said, breast cancer has a specific pink, I know that colon cancer is blue, red for HIV/AIDs, and white for diabetes to name a few. These colors normally correspond with the bracelets that are made for the causes, or a ribbon people showcase in support. People are constantly showing their support in many ways, by wearing bracelets, wearing ribbons or putting ribbons on their cars. I think this is nice but I wonder about the fact that it is nice to support, but by buying that ribbon did you really support the cause? Maybe there is a cap on that product as well. Nowadays it is popular to support charities and everyone is doing it, but are people really passionate anymore? Or are people just doing it because everyone else is doing it? I'd like to think that people really care and are supporting in more ways then just showing a ribbon.