Tea companies: How ethical is it to offer a sales % to aid Japan?
It’s been a little while since I posted. Many of you know what I’ve been up to since I last blogged because we talk on Teatra.de, Leafbox Tea, or on twitter. Perhaps even on all three. I don’t “steepster” so there’s no point looking for me on there..
Anyway, – Japan! Need I say more? We’ve all read the terrible news, and seen the haunting photos & vids. The magnitude of what has happened is almost incomprehensible to me. It’s on a scale that surpasses any Richter. Natural disasters like this one remind us – that no matter how technologically advanced we are – nature still has the upper hand. It is humbling.
Thankfully these last few days have seen an outpouring of people trying to help, both in practical terms by supplying manpower and supplies, or in financial terms by donations. Several tea companies have jumped on the “tea”wagon and are offering monetary aid too. That is great. What’s not so great, is that many of these pledges are tied to their sales. “Nothing wrong with that,” you say? I would say at the very least it’s controversial.
As I wrote on @keenteathyme’s blog:
I’m not impressed by these kinds of “charitable efforts” … When donations are tied to driving up sales, that makes me cringe. It makes me think that companies are actually trying to make money off tragedies, and disasters like the one in Japan. Basically the message is: spend more money on my tea, then I’ll be willing to part with some of it. Everyone wants their sales to increase, but making money off something like this, is unethical. Don’t make me feel I “should” be buying your tea, if I want to do good in the world. Because who is going to end up receiving more money out of these “aid” sales? The disaster relief fund, or the tea company? You bet, it’s the company. If someone is serious about their intentions, they should donate all their profits to a relief effort. I don’t care if it’s only the profits they make for a day. Because then, their “charitable” drive to increase sales is truly motivated by a sense of giving.
Sounds harsh? Think about this one. One tea company is offering to donate 10% of their profits. 10%! That’s nothing. As Pete said in his comment to @keenteathyme:
“For the company, it is the same thing as giving a 10% discount which they can do anytime because their prices are set for the kind of flexibility.”
Yes, that sounds just like an average sales promotion. Heck, it’s lower than that. Many promotions offer 15% or 20% specials.
Pete goes on to argue my point:
“I’m sorry if I sound cynical about this, but I would be more impressed if they said “all profits for the next three days will go to…”
There he said it, and I’ve said it. All profits for a set amount of time should be pledged to help Japan. That is commendable. Alternatively tea companies should follow obubutea’s example and organize a drive for donations. Not tied to their own sales. It’s wonderful tea businesses want to help. And sure, every little bit helps. Just don’t give me any charity hogwash about percentage based deals.
Tags: aid, charity, earthquake, Japan
March 18th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
I share the same feeling! And I have the same feeling about a lot of other charity events, the dressed-up, cocktail, big price-tag kind, that always make me think, wouldn’t it be easier and more efficient to simply collect money and send the money off to where it’s needed? But a friend in charity profession once told me that wouldn’t work, and the current ways work. So probably that’s how the world runs.
Besides, about the companies that donate percentage of their profits, it’s still good that they do give money to where it’s needed.
March 20th, 2011 at 9:08 am
I am not sure about this.
On the one hand, this is obviously a marketing/sales move; on the other hand, we are talking about private owned companies that are driven by profit…
Obviously, there are more non-profitable ways to help Japan but anything is better than nothing no?
This is provided of course that money goes where it is needed (which is not always obvious).
April 27th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
I had something to say, but I lost it reading the comments on your post. I think you need a spam filter. LOL.
Actually, I was going to say that this is exactly the problem (or one of the problems) I have with Fair Trade tea. I could be selling Fair Trade tea and charging my customers a premium for it, but why should charity ever be tied to sales? I don’t get it. It’s a marketing game I refuse to play.
Unfortunately, I have a lot of well-meaning would-be customers who look at me like I am a heartless bastard for not wanting to offer Fair Trade teas. How can I not care about those underprivileged people who are breaking their backs to provide us with a cup of tea?
Around Christmas time, I put the whole charity thing to a test. Instead of holding my customers hostage and forcing them to contribute to charity (via Fair Trade), I offered them the opportunity to contribute to a charity through a link on our website. We chose Mercy Corps’ program to help women in India achieve literacy. I told everyone that we would MATCH all contributions up to 10% of our gross sales for a certain period of time. I limited the match to 10% of gross sales strictly because I was afraid we might have a very generous outpouring that I wouldn’t be able to match–we are still a very small fish in the tea industry. Anyway, I guess I needn’t have worried. I think we did this for about 60 days and we received a total of $75 in contributions.
I guess I will always have people who look at us sideways for not offering Fair Trade teas, but I just don’t think we should be forcing people to give, nor do I think we should be able to boast about how our teas are benefiting underprivileged people, when we are just raising our prices to accommodate this.
We have a local burger joint that has been running a series of radio and tv ads that they are proudly announcing that the actors in the commercials earned the right to appear in the commercials by winning a charity auction that benefited xyz charity. Every time I hear these commercials, I cringe. It makes it sound like the restaurant is doing something charitable, but it’s the people who bid in the auctions who are really contributing. The restaurant is still just trying to sell us hamburgers. What gives them the right to try to make us think they are so pro-charity? Because they used some rich family who paid for the privilege to appear in the commercial rather than actually PAYING an out of work actor/actress?
So many games. The longer I am in business the less enamored of it I become.
April 27th, 2011 at 6:17 pm
This is an interesting point of view even if I don’t share it at 100%.
May 10th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
You are my intake, I have few blogs and occasionally run out from post
. “‘Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive.” by John Sheffield.