Scottemojo":up4gde9n said:
I don't like anyone going after my dollars with promises of philanthropy. Happens all the dam time too, now. I swear, half the time a swipe a card the salesperson asks me if I want to donate some money.
Yeah, definitely FAR from unique to Wilson.
Being this miserly to promote that nonsense does, however, stand out to me a little bit.
If you want to sell some Vans slip-ons for $300 (which he is) that's fine, whatever, but claiming to be in the game for charity and social good because you're only pocketing $297 of it is just really aggressively challenging people to call BS on you in a way that most folks don't.
To be fair, to stick with the shoes example, When Toms started selling slip-ons for $60 and donating a second pair to match every pair purchased I thought that was pretty cynical and nonsense too, but upping the game to 1% of $300 to charity to sell the same line of bull makes those cynical Tom's guys look like friggin Mother Teresa.
BTW -- don't give money to charities at the cash register. Usually 60-75% of what you give goes straight into the pocket of the store that's asking you (their "fee" for asking all their customers).