Where does Charity begin?

I think businesses are resorting to a pretty disgusting ploy in South Africa and if it is happening here you can be sure it started somewhere else in the world and is happening all over.

There is a pen company that is enticing you to buy their make of pen and for every pen you buy they will donate one to a needy child for school.

A shoe company was running a slightly different buy one and get one free. Buy a pair of school shoes and one will be donated to a needy child. Will the child have to hop to school or sit at home waiting for someone else to buy a pair of shoes?

Now I see that they are advertising a breakfast cereal buy a box and they will donate a box.

Baby products - buy ours and we will donate an arbitrary amount to a children's home.

A fast food chain had a particularly disgusting ad. If you bought a certain meal some arbitrary amount was donated to charity. The ad showed street children clad in rags happily hopping and skipping after a well fed family who were gobbling food from their take away box and the street children were singing!

"Thank you very much,

Thank you very much,

that's the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me."

In what suspended TV belief could that ever ring true?

There are many more examples – most companies seem to be climbing on this bandwagon of suspended belief TV viewers.

I have a few concerns:

1. Why should my purchase motivate the company to give to charity? Is that really a charitable act on their behalf? Why don't they just do it?
2. While I am doing my charitable part are the directors sitting in the boardroom rubbing their hands together and licking their lips, nudging one another and saying "Another gullible fool bites the dust"?
3. Come tax rebate time I am sure they all standing there patting themselves and everyone else on the back and relishing their tax rebates because of their "charitable" acts.

Come on companies – don't send us on a guilt trip to help you boost your sales and make you look good on paper.