April Defoor

It is unbelievable how emotional advertising can trigger something in our brain that says give them all your money. Watch the Feed the Children commercial blasting Sarah McLachlan’s “In the arms of an Angel” while a mother searches through her pantry for food, would make any person who has a heart and $18.00 pick up the phone and make a donation.
Here is the ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWP6kqFnAmk

The question that people should be concerned with is: How much of my donation is actually feeding the hungry?

According to the CEO of Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, a non-profit organization can actually spend ninety-five percent of every dollar collected for a cause, leaving only five percent for the needy families. So, this family portrayed in the Feed the Children commercial may only receive ninety cents from my eighteen dollar donation.

Is this company using deception and the power of guilt to get people to donate to their cause? The commercials do not explain that only a small percentage of your donation is going to needy families. The organization has a song called feed the children in which lyrics point out how can we live while others die because of filth, poverty, and lack of food. The question should be: How can CEOs for over 200 non-profit organizations bring home over a million dollars and not donate a chunk of their money to their own organizations? Does a CEO really earn a million dollars for running a charity operation? I have never seen a CEO for any charity organization stand in a line and pass out water or serve food plates to the hungry. If it only takes $18.00 dollars a month to feed a family, imagine how many families this CEO could feed with just a small portion of his paycheck. Do they not watch their own commercials with starving children and desperate mothers; because we know they don’t fly around the globe and meet them face to face. If they did, would they fly in a private jet or wear an expensive suit?

The American Institute of Philanthropy has dubbed this organization the “Most Outrageous Charity” in its 2010 Watchdog. This is due to the recent claim that Feed the Children had provided medical relief for over 12,000 people during the first month after the earthquake hit in Haiti when actually they were only able to treat about 100 people a day. This led many supporters for this organization to believe that their donations were making a huge impact during the natural disaster in Haiti. An eye opening report conducted by CBS found out that not only were they exaggerating the amount of medical attention given to victims, but they were also lying about camp sites that were set up by the organization. It turns out that these specific sites were actually put up by the local church, and they reported to the CBS crew that Feed the Children had not even set foot on the camp site or provided any food to aid in the work. These unethical practices have led to lawsuits and a low support rate, and maybe even the end of this organization. I know I wouldn't send a dime their way, because I want to know the truth about where my money is going.

Do you believe that Feed the Children uses emotional advertising and deception to gain donations from their advertisements? Do you think this is legal or fair for top executives to earn over a million dollars a year?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal