Esther: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. We are back with Chapter 3. We're gonna be talking a little bit about cause-marketing because there's a lot of stuff going on in the news right now about some corporations who are kind of promoting causes that make no sense for them to be promoting; and that's kind of what sparked the idea. But at the same time, we also wanna talk about some companies that are doing a great job with cause-marketing.

So, what sparked my interest, there's this outrage from the blogging community about KFC's relationship with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation because basically they have branded their buckets pink and you can now buy a bucket of fried chicken to support breast cancer research. Now, why that makes no sense is because they have done many, many studies to show that eating fried foods leads to obesity, and obesity - not only does it lead to increased chance of cancer, but it also increases your risk of death should you get cancer.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: So there is really not an obvious correlation between fried chicken and breast cancer donations. For me, this is a very personal issue because I have a lot of breast cancer in my family and I would never think that KFC would be a good fit. Now, if they were gonna make their grilled chicken only, if they were gonna make their healthy options, "This is what we're promoting breast cancer for and if you buy this, we'll donate money for you."

Katie: Yes.

Esther: That would be one thing. But fried chicken? I don't know.

Katie: And you know, even the healthy options - which of course you can get a bucket, oh, slightly healthier grilled whatever -

Esther: Right.

Katie: - like I get that, I do get it. But the branding, the brands do not go together.

Esther: They really don't. There's a lot of dissonance there.

Katie: Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'm just not - I'm not feeling it.

Esther: I also - I mean, I feel the same way about the cookies. When you see a box of cookies and it's got a pink ribbon on it. I don't think we should be promoting breast cancer research with cupcakes.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: I mean, I get that it's a sweet thing, and maybe if you were serving at a party it's one thing. But like, for that to be - I mean cause-marketing needs to make sense.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: And foods that are full of sugar and fat are not good for people with cancer. (Laughter)

Katie: No.

Esther: So -

Katie: I mean, it is a really tricky place to be because if the KFC and Susan G. Komen Foundations understanding with the way that, you know, these pink buckets of chicken are going, is that at a bare, bare minimum, KFC will donate a million dollars to Susan G. Komen. But, it could go all the way up. And their target is actually $8 million, which would be the largest donation that Susan G. Komen Foundation has ever had and that is a lot of money. So there's a lot of really gray areas to know what a lot of people call like "tainted money". You know, to say like, "Does the tainted money make it worth it because the after effects?"

Esther: It's certainly not tainted money in my opinion. I mean, I don't believe that we should be rejecting KFC's donation of $8 million to promote breast cancer research just because they sell fried chicken.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: But the problem is, people that are not very familiar with breast cancer and how it comes to be and what increases your chances of getting, are gonna buy this thinking they're doing something good; and they're gonna buy themselves a bucket of fried chicken and really it's -

Katie: It's not doing them any good. (Laughter)

Esther: It's not doing them any good. That's really the problem. That's where the marketing aspect comes in. It's one thing to donate money and to be philanthropic, which KFC is a billion-dollar organization. They can probably afford it and it would be great PR for them, great press to donate a lot of money.

Katie: Yes!

Esther: Just from a philanthropic point of view, but from a marketing perspective, which is what we're talking about here, cause-marketing, I think that KFC thought that they were going to reach a lot of customers this way that they wouldn't necessarily reach with this Susan G. Komen tie-in; and that's where they were coming from. But at the same time, makes no sense.

Katie: It does not at all. So I have no idea how to transition to this other example of what not to do for cause-marketing, so we're just gonna go right at it.

Esther: It's totally outrageous.

Katie: Mm-hmm, and of course I find it weird. (Laughter)

Esther: And little preface to the story is - well, actually you tell the story first and then I'll tell my story.

Katie: (Laughter) Okay. So another example of cause-marketing that you should not follow. There is this website called sinlesstouch.com, and as one might imagine, of course it is an adult toy store. It's a sex toy online shop. And um -

Esther: And what's that you were out of Katie?

Katie: (Laughter)

Esther: (Laughter) Just kidding.

Katie: Oh I have a bookmark, let me look right now. (Laughter)

Esther: Just kidding.

Katie: Just totally kidding. So okay, they do what they do. Apparently I'm sure they do great business.

Esther: Our producer John is really enjoying this little segment.

Katie: Yeah right.

Esther: He's on the website right now. (Laughter)

Katie: Are you Googling? Stop Googling! (Laughter)

John: Oooooo, looky there!

Katie: (Laughter) Inappropriate! (Laughter)

John: Purchase.

Katie: (Laughter) No comment. Totally getting off-topic. So Sinless Touch, a sex toy online shop, they have this ongoing charity that they're supporting very actively, that's actually - the company has sponsored - you know, you can do those international adoptions where you sponsor a child and help them to go through school, you write letters.

Esther: Play in USA and all that.

Katie: Exactly. So they've adopted three children - one in Argentina, one in Gambia, one in India, and they've been supporting these kids through this monthly adoption fee for I believe a number of years, or at least a couple of years. And so what they do in this ongoing cause-marketing - they have it all over their site, they have it in other ads that are online - is that they encourage people to do that kind of roundup change program where every time you're checking out, you get to click a little button that says, "Yes, I would like to help support the children." And actually, what they call it is, it's the Sinless Touch Adopt-A-Child Charity.

Esther: Do they have to put their name in the -

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: - in the campaign?

Katie: And so, when you go on the website to this page where they're talking about the kids, they have the kids' photos, they have like details about where they're from. I mean they're really sweet kids, but it is, as a mom of a four-year-old, it is wildly disturbing to be on a sex, adult, very adult, toy site and have these sweet little kids popping up in the corners of the page.

Esther: Weird!

Katie: That is. I mean, they are doing good and they even have this really great statement about why they're doing this. I appreciate what they're doing, but again, KFC, Sinless Touch, it's just not matching.

Esther: No.

Katie: It's just not matching to me at all. And in fact in this case, in some way it's mildly offensive and I can't put my finger on why. Like it's just so unexpected and like, "Uhhh! Not here, not now!"

Esther: It doesn't make - right. You just don't ever wanna see a child's face on a porn -

Katie: No.

Esther: - or on a sex toy. Anything relating with sex you want completely disengaged from children -

Katie: Yes.

Esther: - especially little children like they feature on their site.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: I mean it's almost like kind of pervy, like you don't know who's visiting this child between this site.

Katie: It is. And it's so unfortunate -

Esther: And who knows what they're into and it's just strange.

Katie: - 'cause they're doing good stuff. And I get that their heart must be in the right place 'cause there's no way this would have been done on a whim. (Laughter)

Esther: Your first reaction is to go, "Whoa!"

Katie: My first reaction - and I read about this in a number of blogs earlier this year - I thought it was an April Fool's prank.

Esther: Really.

Katie: I really did -

Esther: Hey.

Katie: - and it's not, at all. (Laughter)

Esther: You know, another thing people really have to watch out for is greenwashing, because green and eco-friendly causes are so - they're like the new thing that you wanna put your name on. And a lot of corporations are coming under fire, major corporations for having these multi-million dollar marketing campaigns, but behind the scenes they're doing all of the shady stuff, you know. They're not - they have no eco-friendly practices, it's all for show -

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: - and you just have to do your research before you buy into this stuff.

Katie: Exactly, and talk about completely obliterating a level of consumer trust once it comes out.

Esther: Oh yeah.

Katie: And who knows, I guess it doesn't always come out but it probably will, so just -

Esther: Oh people are - the green police are on the prowl, so if you're lying about where your product is made or how it's made or what you're doing with the leftovers once you've made it -

Katie: Right.

Esther: - the green police will be on your ass and you will be in trouble.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: And the media will know about it.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: There are whole websites dedicated to outing companies who claim -

Katie: Make these claims, yeah.

Esther: - that they're doing - their practices are green or that they have some kind of recycling going on and they don't. So, be wary of that.

Katie: Totally be wary.

Esther: But you know, I also - when we talk about this, it really brings to mind Pepsi who, you know, didn't advertise during the Super Bowl this year and people were outraged. They were upset because after several decades of advertising always being there, Pepsi pulled out. They didn't wanna spend $3 million on Super Bowl advertising.

Katie: People were mad because Pepsi didn't advertise?

Esther: People were upset. They didn't understand. They didn't understand why a company who was so prolific in this area and always had such great commercials would just not be there this year, they didn't get it. But what they did was donate this money. They actually started a social media campaign called "Pepsi Refresh" if you remember that.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: And they are donating this money. Actually the initiative is a $20 million initiative. It's a grant and they're gonna fund projects in six categories. There's health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education. So, what's really interesting about this to me in this marketing campaign is that this campaign got so much more press than if they had advertised in the Super Bowl. I mean they got press in all these publications. I mean, obviously if they had done an advertisement like a TV advertisement, Adage and all these publications would have covered it and rated it, and we would have been maybe talking about it next year, maybe not if it wasn't that good.

Katie: Right.

Esther: But this we're gonna be talking about for a long time and it was a major, major topic of conversation at the time because it was so polarizing, like, "Why isn't Pepsi advertising? Well this is why." So -

Katie: Talk about an emotional connection. Like that's how you wanna be talked about.

Esther: Right.

Katie: Making a difference, doing good stuff.

Esther: Well I guess that wraps up another wonderful episode of the Overtime Show.

Katie: Yeah, I feel warm and fuzzy.

Esther: It's really been a nice show, I've enjoyed this.

Katie: I feel so zen and balanced right now.

Esther: I feel very good and balanced, I feel all about cause-marketing. I'm gonna go out and do good in the world.

Katie: Exactly. (Laughter)

Esther: And we hope you'll go out and do good in the world too, and come back and tell us what you did.

Katie: Exactly. We wanna know.

Esther: Join us on Facebook and let us know what your organization's doing to cause-market. If you're doing something, we'd love to hear about it.

Katie: We would.

Esther: You've been listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. I'm Esther Steinfeld -

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: And we hope you have a wonderful and balanced week. See ya next time.

Katie: See ya.