Moments before sitting down to write today’s Magical Penny post I came across an article explaining a current viral facebook message, created to raise awareness of National Breast Cancer Month. Suffice to say, it got me thinking about the role marketing has in charitable giving, just as marketing has an effect on the level of discretionary spending we do in our daily lives. So today’s post is a little different to the norm.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s certainly a horrible disease, something that took my Grandma away when I was just a baby.
However, if I were to be detached about it , I would have to say Breast cancer has got an excellent marketing campaign surrounding it.
As one American commentor notes he’s already seen:
“pink fire trucks, football players wearing pink, even construction workers in pink hard hats, all to raise awareness about breast cancer”
This, in itself, is great news as millions of people are becoming more aware of the dangers of breast cancer and are learning how to check for early warning signs of the disease.
But what about other cancers and other diseases? Clearly, not all cancers are marketed equally.
The Significance of Marketing
It’s sad but true that well-executed marketing campaigns can have a significant impact to levels of specific charitable giving. Just like other forms of spending, we are encouraged by clever marketers to part with our cash, for good causes and bad!
Rather than write today’s intended Magical Penny article, I thought I’d try something different and create my own charity campaign in the couple of hours I had before bed (By the way I love this internet age…Imagine trying to do this in two hours before 2010!)
Rather than go down the common route and do an unrelated physical endurance task and ask for sponsorship (as is a common marketing-friendly fund-raising exercise), I decided to try my hand at presenting a fresh perspective of a less glamorous, but equally deadly form of cancer. And I mean it.
Introducing: Up *There*
Probing the issue...
“If anything was in need of a good PR campaign it’s a man’s Prostate gland and the deadly cancer that can grow in it.Spare a thought for the little guy. He might not be as pretty and he’s stuck in a dark place, up *there*, but he needs all the funding he can get.And one day it might be your father or brother or husband who’s life you save.
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