Natalie Balderson

I am a bargain shopper. I use coupons, I check the sales, and I don’t pay full price for anything if I don’t have too. But one commercial about TOMS Shoes got my attention. Here is an entrepreneur, Blake Mycoskie, with a keen sense of marketing. His commercials are aimed to hit right in the heart. For every pair of shoes that TOMS sells, one pair is donated to needy children.

The commercial shows Blake going to countries with a plane full of shoes. The children gather around him, jumping and hugging him. They are excited about something we take for granted; a pair of shoes. Well, needless to say, the commercial got me. I decided to check them out. The shoes are casual and come in all styles; but, the price was more than I normally pay for a pair of slip-on casual shoes. Remember, I don’t spend money on what I don’t really need. After seeing the commercial several more times, I decided to check out the mission behind his “One for One” program. Well, I was sold! I purchased my first pair of TOMS Shoes and felt good that I was a part of a program that would help at least one child in need. Since then I have bought several more pairs and each time I wear them I know a child, in some country is not walking around without protection on his or her feet.

TOMS Shoes shows social responsibility by the caring effort they put forth to provide impoverished children with footwear. They have seen first-hand a need to help prevent a child from contracting an injury or disease by walking barefoot. They have created a way to help these children; and they have done it in a way that allows everyone who purchases these shoes feel good about themselves.

It is hard to imagine what it must be like to go just one day without shoes; but take a walk down your road barefooted and just think about the implications this could cause if you had to do this every day. Yes, the advertisement by TOMS Shoes reached out and got me to buy. It made me think about what I have and what others don’t have. This was a situation in which I looked beyond my own “penny pinching” to help an unknown child in need.

Would you spend a few dollars more on a product, knowing that it will benefit someone in need?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal