Wrapping Branding in Random Acts of Kindness

My Scrooge-like impulse kept the cursor hovering over the Delete button for a while, as I read the e-mail from the advertising end of the blog networks I’m affiliated with.

(First rule of journalism – treat the advertisers like a necessary parasite, but don’t feed them with praise or attention.)

Yet, I was intrigued by the concept – an online web-based chain letter that connects random acts of kindness around the world under the Starbucks brand.

The first few stories that I read in Cheer Chains were heavily product-focused, referring repeatedly to Cheer Cards that Starbucks apparently hands out in random acts of corporate kindness to some of its customers.

Ahah. It’s a thinly-veiled trick to capitalize on people’s charitable instincts by manipulating them into spreading warm and fuzzy thoughts about the brand to family and friends.

Except for extremely rare exceptions, I despise chain letters. They are almost universally sentimental in a crass way, pushy, and superstitious. They use the Assumed Sale trick that telemarketers and other sales people use, acting as if only a horrible wretch would fail to pass on such a heart-warming message to all their friends, neighbors and business associates.

As if it’s possible, chain letters are worse examples of writing than the case studies pored over by business administration students. Simplistic, cloying, heavy-handed and judgmental. What’s not to hate?

But then I heard a sound, down in Whoville, and I listened to the small gestures of goodwill being shared and celebrated by people who for whatever devious or innocent reason were drawn to the Starbucks site.

Compared to all the other marketing and PR campaigns out there, encouraging people to spend money they don’t have on gadgets they don’t need during what one part of the world considers the holiday season, I guess it’s not so evil, after all.

We spend so much time in front of the TV, at the movies, playing video games, flitting from website to website…. Where is the emphasis on hugging someone you love, doing something kind for a neighbor or a stranger, and for a few moments feeling goodwill to others? Not in Grand Theft Auto (well, maybe in the Coke version).

If you think of the Mormon TV commercials, the Tim Horton’s spots, numerous charities, and a few name brands, there are a few examples of corporations encouraging others to "pay it forward" for the sake of helping someone out.

So, just this once, I’m going to cast aside my cynicism and appreciate the companies and organizations that make an effort to instill some kindness in the populace.

Your stories may be overly sentimental, but you are at least making an effort to raise the bar of human decency in a business world that seems overly focused on the accumulation of wealth.

Whatever your motives, thank you for making the ad world a slightly better place.

(And thanks to the folks at Glam.com and b5media for dealing with the advertising contracts, so I don’t have to.)

Tags: ads, holidays, christmas, glam, b5media, charity, goodwill, ethics, business, brands, corporate, image