It all begins when your late night television is suddenly interrupted by a song “Eyes of an Angel” followed by images of severely impoverished children with bloated stomachs, frowning faces, and flies that buzz around the screen. Then comes an woman or man often of European dissent or Caucasian appearance slowly walk by the destruction around them telling you that for only =a dollar a day you can feed an hungry orphan in Africa. If you sign up and send in your money they will even send you a picture of the child you are sponsoring. However, sadly these commercials often do more damage than good for the global orphans and contribute to the false stereotypes of the diverse Africa continent and people of color.
Often times these sponsorship commercials are trying to play on the viewers emotions in order to get them to donate to an organization that is for profit. That means that though a portion of the donated money may be going to the actual cause, there is often a portion that is purely for profit. The reason why these commercials are typically seen late night, is because when you are tired you are more likely to make impulse decisions without fully thinking things through. Many of these sponsorship programs are marketing scams that manipulate the general population.
As you may have sensed, I am very wary of these sponsorship programs. However, even for the sponsorship programs are legitimately great programs I still have to disagree with them on a general basis. My resentment is mostly due to how these sponsorship programs allow the viewers to take part in what I call “lazy activism”.
“Lazy activism” is when people do as little as possible when supporting an effort such as donating a dollar a day or liking a Facebook post and call themselves being activist for the cause. Sponsorships allow people to lay in their bed and give as little as possible with an illusion that they are actively making a difference when in reality activist must be more active!
Often times these sponsorship commercials are trying to play on the viewers emotions in order to get them to donate to an organization that is for profit. That means that though a portion of the donated money may be going to the actual cause, there is often a portion that is purely for profit. The reason why these commercials are typically seen late night, is because when you are tired you are more likely to make impulse decisions without fully thinking things through. Many of these sponsorship programs are marketing scams that manipulate the general population.
As you may have sensed, I am very wary of these sponsorship programs. However, even for the sponsorship programs are legitimately great programs I still have to disagree with them on a general basis. My resentment is mostly due to how these sponsorship programs allow the viewers to take part in what I call “lazy activism”.
“Lazy activism” is when people do as little as possible when supporting an effort such as donating a dollar a day or liking a Facebook post and call themselves being activist for the cause. Sponsorships allow people to lay in their bed and give as little as possible with an illusion that they are actively making a difference when in reality activist must be more active!