Minisode 1: Pink Whisks + Hot Deals on Tang

Hi, Clotheshorse listeners!

Welcome to our first ever minisode! Basically, it’s mini because, well, you’re only hearing from me. Oh, I forgot to say who I am. I’m Amanda and I’m the host. And this is Clotheshorse, the podcast that strives to decode and demystify the fashion industry, so you can make better choices for yourself, our planet, and humanity.

Wow, no pressure or anything!

Anyway, this is our first minisode. Like I said, in a minisode, you’ll just be hearing from me. No guests. And we are going to cover a really specific topic each time. Like, REALLY SPECIFIC.

So let’s get going on this one…

I know this is a podcast about fashion, but let’s get things rolling with a philosophy lesson:

12th century Talumic scholar, Maimonides, dentified the eight levels of charitable giving. Each level is higher than the preceding one. Like rungs on a ladder.

At the bottom is the grudgingly giving donations. Like, eh, I guess I have to do this but I’m definitely not happy about it.

The highest level is helping someone before they need charity. Maybe by finding them a job, or giving them a loan to start a business.

The levels in between range from giving less than you should but at least being cheerful about it, to donating anonymously and also not knowing the identity of the recipient. And there’s lots of nuance in between.

But it seems like there might need to be a new rung added for what we are going to discuss today: the donation with purchase concept.

I’m sure you’ve seen and heard some language like this recently…

A portion of the proceeds benefits Planned Parenthood

All profits of this collection go to Black Lives Matter.

Help show your support with this sick tshirt…

We see a lot of this on social media and even in actual stores.

And as a good person–i know all of you Clotheshorse listeners are good people who care about things, because otherwise you would just be listening to the Dateline podcast instead of hearing sad things about the fashion industry. And to be fair, I fucking love the Dateline podcast and I get sad on Fridays because there aren’t new episodes.

So as a good person…well, you want to do good things. Could buying something change the world?

Companies that give something back/make a donation with purchase are nothing new.

Some brands have built their entire identity and business around this premise:

For example, Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses for a every pair a customer buys.

And before Warby Parker, there was Toms, donating a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes sold. In fact, Toms gives away $1 for every $3 they make.

It’s no surprise that more and more brands are jumping in on this concept. In 2018, 38% of gen z-ers and 42% of millennials say they purchased a product that donated the proceeds to a charitable cause. In other words: there’s some big business happening here.

This practice is called “cause marketing.” I think it’s important to draw your attention to the name again. “Cause marketing.” Because it functions as a really low cost marketing tool

Cause marketing has been around since at least 1983, when American Express offered to donate a portion of a particular credit card’s revenues to the renovation of the Statue of Liberty.

Every time a customer used the card over a three month period, 1 cent was donated to the fund to restore the Statue of Liberty. The brand ended up raising about $1.7 million dollars, which is more than $4million dollars today. Card use rose over 30 percent!!!

And when you think about it, it felt like a win-win for the company and the consumer. The consumer got to feel patriotic. Like they were doing something good for the world, with a minimum amount of effort. Basically, you’re telling me I can be a hero just by spending money? OMG

And sure the company was losing one cent to this donation, but they were charging retailers and restaurants about a dollar for every transaction. So we are talking a loss of 1% here.

Furthermore, it’s hard to get good press as a credit card company. I mean, there’s nothing charitable or heroic about interest rates!

At the same time, 21 other companies pledged donations as part of a “sponsorship” role in the restoration. These donations totaled about $69 million. American Express declined the opportunity to officially sponsor the restoration because there were too many other brands involved and it was becoming “too hard to rise above the noise.” In other words, it would be too easy for the public to miss the company’s good deeds because they would be drowned out by the other sponsors.

Brands were beginning to see that cause marketing could be a huge benefit to them.

Remember Tang? I’ve since blocked out the terrible faux orange flavor, but I know some of you have fond memories. Well, sales of Tang rose 13 percent between August and December 1985. Was it a hot advertising campaign? Some great coupon deals? No the only promotion the company had used during that period was a sponsorship of a March across America to benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving

The fight against breast cancer has widely benefited from those campaigns. Or at least, retailers and brands have benefitted from these campaigns.

I’m sure you’ve become nearly immune to all of the pink product that is available for sale in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A wide range of products, from cake icing to socks to slow cookers, all promising a nebulous give back component, with a donation to a breast cancer charity.

However, this virtual industry of pink products has spiraled so far out of control, with little transparency and accountability for the companies selling the product. In 2002, Breast Cancer Action launched, Think Before You Pink, response to the growing concern about the overwhelming number of pink ribbon products and promotions on the market. This project pushes for more transparency from these companies–like how much is actually being donated? But Think Before You Pink is also pushing customers to do just that…think before they buy something pink. The term “pinkwashing” has been created to speak to the startling hypocrisy amongst these companies, who are often creating pink product using chemicals and processes that may cause cancer. Or at the very least, pretending to care about breast cancer while also producing other products that may cause cancer.

So back to the term for this: cause marketing. Companies don’t engage in cause marketing just because they want to give back so badly. In that case, they could just make a direct donation. And it would result in a lot less pink whisks and poly blend graphic tees ending up in Goodwill stores and landfills. They do it because they will get more of your business.

In fact, surveys show that almost 90 percent of consumers say that given similar price and quality, they’re likely to switch to a brand associated with a good cause.

So brands get your money and they get to bask in the glow of good press and fuzzy customer sentiments.

Remember the old American Express/Statue of Liberty campaign?

Well a year later AT&T sponsored the 1984 coast-to-coast Olympic torch relay. No word on how much that actually costed them (I’m expecting just some lighter fluid for the torch and gatorade for the runners, but I’m sure it’s more complicated than that). A later survey of telephone users found that they would be more likely to choose AT&T in the future because they had good feelings based on the torch sponsorship.

Cause marketing has really blown up in the Trump era, with so many things we care about being on the verge of destruction. We have to protect planned parenthood, we need to help undocumented immigrants get out of detention centers and back with their families, we need to ensure that kids of color get access to good education and healthcare, we need to reduce Black maternity mortality…and so on. I mean, I could go on all day listing things that I are about and things we need to change. There are certainly a lot of causes and issues that need our help–and our money–right now.

And savvy brands know this. As long as I’ve been working in the fashion industry, trend forecasters and industry analysts have been saying “millenials only want to buy from brands that are engaged in social causes.” And while I wish that were true–and maybe to a certain extent it is– it certainly doesn’t explain why we’re all buying filling our carts at Zara and Boohoo.

Cause marketing benefits brands in a ton of ways you might not be thinking.

For one, selling anything–even if you are donating most of the proceeds–provides cashflow for struggling brands. The sales of a fundraiser tee can pay the bills for a couple of months, with the donation happening after the company is in a better position. And I’m not saying that always happens, but it certainly occurs sometimes.

Next, it’s basically free advertising. For one, it gives the customers the warm and fuzzy feelings. The charity itself might give the brand some free publicity via social media and email. And maybe if the brands PR team is smart enough, some big news outlets will pick up the story, like Refinery 29 or Bustle or maybe even something mega huge like the Today show. Boom! New customer acquisition that didn’t cost the brand a dime. Because actually brands spend a lot of money trying to woo in new customers via promo codes and paid social media ads.

As an added bonus, when it’s time for these customers–both new and old–to buy something that they could get just about anywhere, like socks or a gift for a friend–they’ll remember how *this* brand did that super brave thing by raising money for Planned Parenthood or cancer research.

I’m sure we are all going to see a lot more cause marketing as the coronavirus pandemic, and all of the economic fallout progresses. Brands are going to be looking for new ways to bring in new customers as their established customers have less money to spend.

And lastly: a lot of brands that have already co-opted some sort of social justice/activism as part of their brand identity, like feminism or mental health or everyone’s favorite “girlbossing stuff,” or even just general “liberalism.” well, they kind of have to implement some sort of giveback structure here and there or they can easily be called out for using a cause or a movement as a means of making money. We’re talking places that are so regularly using a “cause” as marketing, that it’s actually part of their brand DNA.

I mean, because you really shouldn’t be making money off of feminism or socialism or really any ism.

So if you’ve made a big chunk of money selling accessories that speak to say, mental illness, then someone on social media is going to ask you “uh, hey, me over here…it seems really fucked up that you are profiting off of an entire community’s struggle with depression and anxiety.” And I fucking LOVE these people.

Keep up the good work.

Because enough of us aren’t asking questions or stating the tough truths.

Brands see these comments, even if they aren’t acknowledging them. And they are frightened. There is true fear that all of a sudden all of their customers will stage a revolution against them for profiting off of mental illness or feminism or general human rights.

So cause marketing can kind of keep the wolves at bay.

The wolves are us, btw.

And, there may be brands who are capitalizing off of beliefs from the other end of the spectrum, hawking shirts that say “no abortions for anyone” or notebooks that say “i’m racist and i love it.” Maybe a wall hanging that says “Up with Patriarchy.” i have no idea, but once again, i’m assuming that these brands (which hopefully don’t exist) would also feel pressured to give back since they are co-opting a movement as a part of their brand identity

Most of the cause marketing we see these days comes in a few primary forms:

–a special, limited, one of a kind, created just for this fundraiser item like a tshirt, i’ve also seen lipsticks, bags, pins and patches, notebooks. Really just about anything.

Or a blanket “everything we sell for a limited time only, up to a certain limit” Or maybe it’s just a specific “collection” or group of products.

Today I want to help you make sense of when you should buy into this cause marketing and when you should just pass.

First off, before we go further, let’s talk about when we see our favorite vintage seller, artist, or Etsy shop donating profits or a portion of sales to a cause. In this situation, you absolutely should support them IF YOU NEED THE THINGS THEY ARE SELLING. You’re not only supporting a cause, you’re supporting a small business. And I like that! Furthermore, these small businesses of one or two or maybe three people are literally donating a part of their paycheck to causes they believe in by running these special promotions.

Most of the discussion today is really about brands and retailers that are more than just a handful of people working on something.

So let’s talk about the overall drawbacks of cause marketing.

More stuff gets made, more stuff gets sold, more stuff ends up buried at the bottom your closet or in a Goodwill bin or i hate to say it…in the landfill

And often this “stuff” isn’t the best quality ever. Because the brand doesn’t want to lose money on selling this to you. And we’ll go through all the different language and what that says about the donation. That will help you understand why it’s in the brand’s best interest to not use some kind of ethically made, long lasting product for this fundraiser. So this tshirt is probably going to be a poly blend, the fit might be strange because it’s an off the shelf blank instead of something with a custom fit.

And also, let’s not forget the carbon footprint of making something, shipping something to the warehouse, shipping it to you and so on. And there’s the polybags and the boxes and shipping labels. Even if this stuff is recyclable, it’s still consumption. Energy is still required to make it all!

If we really wanted to go deep into this, we could also ask ourselves: who made this? Like, who are the workers sewing this, screenprinting it, packing it, driving it to the shipping depot. Are those people being paid fairly and does their quality of life align with not only our values but the values of the organization that this is supposedly benefitting it? Because we don’t know, right? And once again, if the idea–at least ostensibly– of this product is to maximize the donation to the nonprofit, then the product itself should be pretty cheap in nature. And we know that cheap goods have a human price.

Another concern: the donation usually ends up taking a long time to reach the source. A brand is going to want to hold off on actually writing the check to the charity until everything has been shipped to the customers and any returns or damages have been reconciled. Furthermore, someone has to actually calculate the donation and how that correlates to the actual cost of the product. And sometimes that can take a long time (months and months) because often the product hasn’t even been made at the time you order it. That’s another way the brand mitigates the risk. You can’t put a bunch of very specific fundraiser tees on markdown because you bought too many. THAT’S A REALLY BAD LOOK. So the product is usually made after the customers order it. They are going to order exactly the number bought, with a few extra units throw in to account for replacements for lost packages or damages.

Waiting to make that donation is well, kinda messed up. Anything urgent can’t wait three months. I mean, the main part of the crisis could be over by then.

Cause marketing can also be confusing and vague. It’s always good to check out the fine print. Like is it “$1 donated up to $5000, or even $500” It’s important to look for this information. And if it’s not there, ASK. Frequently there is a cap on this kind of donation. And as a customer, you have a right to know the full picture.

So let’s detangle the language. There are two primary phrases that are used to “explain” the charitable donation.

Portion of profits: This one is pretty simple to untangle. Well, sort of

We are talking about the money that is left over after deducting the cost of the actual item, any design or production costs, any screeprinting or embellishment like embroidery, all of the things we have talked about in previous episodes like labels, stupid hangtags, shipping from overseas (if applicable). You’re expecting that right?

But remember, there are other overhead expenses that must be deducted before we get to an actual profit number. We discussed this in episode 2 with Janine.

Marketing costs (usually pretty high), and that can include any paid (social media) advertising, the graphic designer who created the marketing assets, the number of hours the marketing manager worked on this project, etc.

A lot of brands are also going to deduct the “handling” costs associated with receiving and putting away the product at the warehouse. Ie, the wages of the workers involved.

They might also deduct the number of hours and the subsequent wages for the buying team members that worked on it.

So let’s travel back in time for a moment to episode two, when Janine talked to us about the average profit margin for a “specialty” retailer. It was about 7%. Okay, remember that number…

Now let’s assume that the special giveback item you are about to buy is a $40 t-shirt.

If the brand is donating profits in its purest, most literal form, then 7% of $40 is $2.80. So the brand will be donating about $3 to the designated charity from the purchase of that shirt. It might be as high as 10%, so like $4

Here is where I would ask you to ask yourself a few questions:

Do I actually want this shirt for reasons that having nothing to do with the charitable component? Because maybe it’s super cute and you think you’re going to wear it all the time. In that case I would say, okay, go ahead and order it.

But let’s say you do some soul searching here, and you realize that “eh, i’m only really buying this because of the give back component and I already have too many shirts that I don’t wear.” In that case, I would say, don’t buy the shirt and donate $40 to the charity in question. In that outcome, you’re not sending another shirt to the landfill in a few months or years. AND you’re giving a lot more money directly to the charity.

But also, it’s really important to scrutinize the language that the brand is using. For example, some brands might say something like “1% of profits,” and now we’re looking at a very different number. And to be clear, I see “1% of profits” used more often that i would like.

Let’s go back to the $40 tshirt. We’ve already determined that the profit in this situation would be $3-4.

1% of those profits would be 3-4cents. Yes, cents.

And even if the brand is saying, “10% of profits,” well then we are looking at 30-40 cents.

Once again, I would want you to ask yourself “do i really want this shirt for reasons that have nothing to do with charitable giving?” because that’s the only reason you should buy this shirt. The charity donation component is nonexistent. I mean, we are talking less than a dollar here.

And if you pushed me harder for my opinion on this, like maybe i was trying to be nice and not totally womansplain this to you…I would say that you shouldn’t ever buy anything from this brand ever because they are exploiting a cause as a marketing ploy, because this donation is negligible and unless they sell one million units, this fundraiser will have no impact for the recipient.

And to be clear, lots of brands do this % of profits of sales goes to this charity maneuver. The only number that’s really acceptable in this situation–in my very cynical opinion–is 100%… and even then, I would say that the impact on the charity is really minimal.

Another phrase that we often hear is “proceeds of sales go to xyz charity”

In its most basic form, proceeds should mean every cent that the sale of the garment generates.

That would mean that the brand is donating the actual thing you’re buying, so the cost of making it will not be deducted from the donation.

So if you’re buying that 40 dollar tee, $40 is going to charity.

This is a lot more impactful, and to be honest, denotes a greater commitment on the part of the brand, because they are actually giving something too: their own cash investment or inventory.

And in that way, it’s almost more like they are matching your donation.

Once again, however, I would ask you if you want that tee because it’s cute and you’re going to wear it…or because of the charitable donation.

If you promise me you’re going to wear it at least 20 times, then buy it.

If you’re still only buying it because of the charitable giveback, stop right there. Goodwill isn’t looking for more tshirt donations any time soon. Just give $40 directly to the charity.

But back to this “proceeds” idea. Often times the language is “portions of the proceeds,” which could literally be just about anything.

In this situation, I would advise you to ask the brand exactly what that percentage is. Or better yet, ask them precisely what the dollar amount is. It might be hard to get an answer here, and that’s a red flag that you should stay away from the brand.

And one more thing to call out when we talk about “proceeds.” The language there is pretty murky and it can actually just refer to profits. Which as we have learned, could be just a few dollars.

Honestly, there just isn’t a lot of regulation in this area!

When in doubt, just ask the brand. And if they won’t answer you or the response is a vague word salad, skip it. Once again, we shouldn’t be rewarding brands that use serious causes as a marketing tool. Remember, your money is as powerful as your vote. Don’t vote for assholes. And a brand that uses the suffering of immigrants or inadequate healthcare as a marketing tool is definitely an asshole

Another giveback tactic that brands use is “a portion of profits from all sales today or all the profits from all sales today,” some variation of that language

Basically, anything you buy from that retailer on that day will result in some sort of donation.

We know by now, by doing $40 tee exercise that odds are pretty high that the donation will not be significant because profits/a portion of profits tend actualize at just a few dollars in the best case scenario, or mere pennies in the worst case scenario.

As you probably guessed, it’s time to ask yourself some questions

Were you planning on purchasing something from this brand in the next few weeks anyway? If the answer is yes, well then by all means, proceed. If you were planning to buy something anyway, this is a good time to do it. It’s sort of like using Amazon Smile to make your purchase if you’re going to buy from Amazon. At least you can know that something will be donated to a charity you support. That said, don’t go above and beyond in your purchase. Just buy what you were already planning to buy. Don’t buy extra stuff in hopes of driving up the donation.

If you weren’t planning on buying anything from this brand, then stop right now. If you’re being motivated by the charitable give back, then just donate directly to the charity. Odds are high that your direct donation will be more impactful because it’s more than a few cents or bucks and it will happen in a more timely manner

Okay, well what if the language is really specific. One you’re probably seeing a lot right now is “for every mask sold, a mask is donated.”

I like this approach because it’s straight forward. Still, I would double check for language that indicates a maximum donation like, “up to 500 masks.” Because what if youre the 501st customer? Maybe it doesn’t matter because you still probably need a mask. Still it’s important to know.

But once again….i bet you know what I’m going to ask you to ask yourself….do you need this item or are you buying it because of the give back component?

If it’s a mask, I bet you do.

But if it’s something random like a purse or calendar, maybe you would be better served to donate to an organization that is already providing masks to essential workers.

I think it’s also important to call out that all of this cause marketing actually can hurt the charities. A 2011 study found that people gave less money in direct donations to charities when they made cause-marketing purchases. Basically they were saying to themselves, okay I already did my charitable giving for the year.

The same study also found that this cause-buying had a tendency to decrease happiness. Probably because–at our core–we all know that buying a $40 tshirt with a tiny giveback is self serving when we could just give $40 directly to a charity.

I also have to tell you some other bad news: Corporate giving–including these fundraiser items–is a tiny part of the money donated to non-profits in our country. The organizations need us and our money. They would prefer that we just donate directly to them.

So what’s my ultimate advice to you? I guess I would say this: If you need something, like genuinely need this specific item and you promise you’ll wear it many many times, and it happens to have a charitable giveback component…then go for it. You have my blessing.

But be aware that there are hidden, somewhat intangible costs to cause marketing. Creating new stuff to sell just to maybe donate a few cents or dollars to a charity, is still MAKING NEW STUFF. So there’s consumption of energy and raw materials and peoples’ time…possibly environmental damage from dyes, washes, screenprinting chemicals, and so on. And this product–no matter how good and pure the intentions behind it–has a carbon footprint, from numerous rides in trucks, maybe a boat, and possibly an airplane.

So if you’re just motivated by the beguiling mix of a cool brand and a cause you support….well, step away from the computer, put your phone away, and get out your checkbook….and write a check directly to the charity.

Okay, wait, you could probably just make the donation online so go back to your computer, close the window with the irresistible graphic tee that will inform the world that you did something good…and open a new window, google your favorite non profit organization, and get your credit card number ready.

Thanks for listening to our first ever minisode. Do you have any callouts about cause marketing? More questions about it? Maybe you totally disagree with me? I want to hear from you! If you have a topic you would like me to untangle, drop me a line. I’m always looking for suggestions! You can reach me at [email protected]. Or DM via instagram, @clotheshorsepodcast.

And new! Now we are on Twitter. @clotheshorsepod

Hopefully by the time you listen to this episode we will have tweeted something!

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Special thanks to Dustin Travis White for our sick music and all of his audio expertise.

Byyyyyeeeeee