September 2, 2005
Hurricane Relief - BS Marketing Tactics
The following message (below) was sent out by my friend,
Armand Morin.
As you can imagine, everyone is feeling frustrated by the loss
of life and the difficulty in relief reaching the victims.
Earlier this year, I did donate all the proceeds from sales
of my “5-Steps To Getting Anythng You Want” to victims of the
tsunami…. so I’m not sure I 100% agree with the second part
of Armand’s rant… however, I understand his frustration and
I have seen how people are using this for thinly veiled profit
motives.
Maybe a better way to do it is to say, “Hey, if you donate here, here or here for this amount or more… and send me
a copy of your receipt, I’ll GIVE you my product (whatever it is).”
That way we know the money immediately goes directly to the source that needs it… and people’s giving is not delayed by a 3rd party.
I 110% agree, however, that any… repeat, ANY profiteering on the coattails of this disaster should be dealt with swiftly, and the offending parties have their body parts removed 17th century style!
My 2-cents…
Jim
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
From: Armand Morin:
Re: Hurricane Katrina
I normally don’t write about things like this, but sometimes
you have to speak up about things that are just plain wrong!
I have been watching the news about Hurricane Katrina as I am sure
you have been too. My heart goes out to these people and I pray
they get the assitance they need as fast as humanly possible.
What makes me sick are the emails I have been receiving over
the past few days from people “claiming” to help. Maybe they
are sincere maybe not. I don’t know.
————————————————————-
Case #1 - A Scumbag Marketer
————————————————————-
One marketer sent out information about how you can help. I
clicked on the link because I want to help out as much as I
possibly can.
Here’s what made me sick to my stomach…
He had the nerve to actually require you to enter your name
and email address into an optin box in order to get the info!!!
What a marketing SCUMBAG! I normally don’t talk like this, but
this one really got on my nerves. Why not just give the info?
Is this guy really that bad off that he has to profit
from these poor people? That’s about as low as it gets!!!
————————————————————-
Case #2 - Buy My Crap and I’ll Donate (I don’t think so)
————————————————————-
I am certainly not going to buy anyone’s stuff and HOPE that my
money goes to these people. Think about it, it first has to go
to this person and then they have to take out their supposed
costs and then, MAYBE, they’ll forward they money on to a worthy
charity.
I DON’T THINK SO!!!
What is this person thinking? Hmmmm… if I use this DISASTER
which has left thousand of people HOMELESS… I can get my
product into the hands of more people… YOU IDIOT!
Again… another person who seems to be high on crack!
If you want to by a product, then buy a product. If you want
to donate, then donate directly to the source. PERIOD!
You don’t have to buy a product in order to donate your
money to worthy charity or organization. Just do it.
Let me make my stance PERFECTLY CLEAR!
YOU DON’T PROFIT FROM OTHER PEOPLE’S MISFORTUNES!
These people are devastated, they lost their jobs, their homes,
some lost their loved one’s lives, or maybe even their own life
due this major catastrophe…
How dare these people try to profit from this distaster!
I urge you to NOT support these SCUMBAGS!
————————————————————-
If You Want To Help The Hurricane Efforts
————————————————————-
Here’s two links to legitimate organizations to donate you
money to if you want to help.
FEMA - http://www.fema.gov
Red Cross - http://www.redcross.org
Feel free to pass this message on to someone else.
Take my name off of it… I don’t care. I just want to make
sure your kindness goes in the right direction and you are not
putting faith in people who are trying to profit from this.
Help someone and donate what you can today.
Armand Morin
Popularity: 27% [?]
5 Comments »
September 2, 2005
Donna :
I’m organizing a conference call for Sunday afternoon to open a dialogue about the aftermath of Katrina.
Since Katrina, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that maybe there is something we can do. I just knon’t know what it is yet, so I’d like to invite you to explore the ripples and threads that have been created by this devastation.
Please feel free to invite anyone you think might be able to benefit from or contribute to the call.
Here are the details:
Sunday, September 4. 2005
3 pm eastern.
Call number: 712 580 7700
Access code: 27001 # (press the # key after the access code)
More info or to post your comments: http://donnadickerson.blogspot.com/
I would be grateful for your attendance and your support. If you can’t make the call, please send white light to those who are lost in the dark again tonight.
Thanks.
September 3, 2005
Rob :
I think Armand’s “rant” is 100% right on and perfect.
If someone is figuring out an angle to get traffic as to forward money to the relief organizations, then, well, they have an angle. That’s too bad.
This is what I did last night. I spammed my entire address book in Outlook Express. I wrote an email asking peole to go to www.redcross.org and donate NOW. $5.00. $50.00. Whatever you can give. Then I asked them to forward that email to ALL of their friends. It’s simple. And it will make a difference.
If anyone wants a copy of the email I sent out, feel free to contact me at roresteen@comcast.net. I will send it out immediately. Or better yet, maybe I can just post it here and you can cut & paste it. It’s not smooth. It’s not polished. But it does ask for a call to action right now…
************************************************
Sept. 2, 2005
Yea, I spammed my whole address book.
You should too.
You are receiving this message because we have had communications of some kind with each other via email over the past few months. You are friends & family, people from eBay, or someone I’ve exchanged email with.
Please give to the Red Cross right now. Here’s the link:
http://www.redcross.org/.
Please go there now and give what you can. I know gas prices are up and we think that’s a bitch. But we are on easy street compared to the people down south. Just give $5.00 if that’s all you have. Give $50.00 if you can.
How about this idea…open up your email address book and create a new email “group”. I called mine “Katrina”. Put everyone in your address book in there. Forward this email to your list. No one will get mad and you will have started something. This email can reach around the country and maybe the world in a day or two, and will bring in a ton of money, maybe millions if all of you keep it going. Please don’t break the cycle.
*** If you absolutely can’t give any cash to the Red Cross, at least use your computer to ask as many people you know to donate to the Red Cross. ***
http://www.redcross.org/
This will take just a few minutes of your time.
Thanks,
Rob O.
Wheaton, IL.
PS - For Outlook Express users…
1. Go to “tools” / “address book”.
2. Click the “New” tab then click “New Group”, the second one down.
3. Name your group “Katrina” or “Hurricane relief”, etc.
4. Click “Select Members” and your entire email list will appear on the left hand side.
5. Click the very first name at the top. Just highlight it.
6. Then scroll down to the very bottom and last name you have. Press the shift key then click on that name.
7. This will select everyone in your address book. Click the “Select” button then click “OK”.
8. You have easily created a new group.
9. Now go back to this email and select “forward”. In the “To” field, simply type in the name of your group. It should pop up automatically after a few letters have been typed.
10. HIT SEND AND BE A HERO!!!!
Those of you who can add a quick tutorial on how to do the above for Mac, Linux, & Eudora users, please feel free to add it here…..
Keep this going!
*************************************************
Mike Sigers :
Jim,
Here’s a way for business owners to help out.
http://www.thementalfitnesscenter.com/blog/armycom-helps-katrina-victims-find-work
If you have any employment openings, or think you will in the next year, go read this message.
September 6, 2005
Brian Robinson :
I too agree with Armand’s rant and, frankly, I am glad that someone of his renown laid it on the table. Instant karma is going to get those that prey on the praying.
September 9, 2005
Hone Watson :
Gary Halbert had some interesting comments about his personal experience with the Red Cross and Fema which makes me think twice about giving money to them.