More than 1.5 million people around the world will Race for the Cure this month and into the fall to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer. The 27-year effort has been a tremendous success, rallying communities everywhere to think pink.
As I've noted previously, however, over-saturation and overkill of the color pink with seemingly every business jumping on the band wagon cause no business to really stand out. With so much pink, consumers become numb to corporate involvement.
Until now. KFC has launched Buckets for the Cure(TM), attempting "to make the single largest donation in the history of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®." On its home page today through an RSS feed is news that "Midlife Weight Gain Increases Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk." As others have pointed out, KFC is no diet food, so why would KFC and Komen partner?
Now we've reached a new problem, and nonprofit organizations and corporate leaders would be wise to take notice. Check out this initiative: the Think Before You Pink campaign, complete with an outreach initiative to KFC and Komen telling them to "stop the pinkwashing." What a nightmare.
Select your partners wisely. Consumers are not idiots, and they are counting on nonprofit organizations to have integrity, to stand for their causes and missions, and to partner with companies in alignment with the organizations' values and brands.
I tell clients and workshop attendees all the time that it's OK to say "no" to a potential partner who may have a check in hand but whose goals and agenda are not in sync with the nonprofit goals. The sponsorship will not be successful; the nonprofit will damage its credibility; and worse, imagine the impact of a social media campaign, like the Think Before You Pink, aimed at your two organizations.
Think before you partner.
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