I was reading this morning and in it there’s a huge ad from a company called eton with an idea of how to help disaster victims in Japan. My initial reaction was “Great! I’m in, where do I sign?”
Anyone paying attention to the multiple crises unfolding there should have the same reaction.
The basic idea seemed really solid, there’s an image or an emergency radio that doesn’t require batteries – there’s a hand crank to generate the energy needed. Brilliant. Very specific item that helps in a really obvious way, and from the looks of it I would be surprised if the radio is more than $10.
Much better than just giving $10, you are giving something really tangible with very clear impact. I love it.
But then I started reading the fine print next to the logo for the American Red Cross, and from what I could tell, it seems they actually want me to buy the radio and send it in.
Why not just set up a number to text like they did for Haiti and say just send a text to this number and my credit card will get hit for the amount to give and ship the radio. That seems like a much easier way to do it, and the Haiti cause already got us familiar with that format. I went to the web to look for a copy of the ad, but I found an eton blog and it explains all of the information you need to provide about yourself to participate in this. Way too complicated, and they shouldn’t need any information about me – my money for the radio is what’s going to help Japan, not my name and e-mail address. . .
Hopefully they will rethink this promotion and I will happily be the first to text in the help.
-Ric