Dear TomHa,
I think it is pretty amazing how with some shrewd marketing and a clever knack for fashion, one could do so much for charity.. Don't know what I am talking about? Well, I am talking about the wristband thing which I think I would be correct in saying that it had taken the world by storm. It was first started by Lance Armstrong( who happened to be my idol ever since I watch cycling on tv..) who himself is already a great marketing tool for his charity aid organisation that does research on cancer and also, to help out those needy cancer patients in US. Lance Armstrong came a long way from surviving cancer to triumph in 6 consecutive Tour de France.. Thus, this legendary story of extraordinary human will when the odds are all stacked against him serves as itself, another marketing tool that help in the sales of the wristband, LiveStrong. Since then, Standard Chartered, and some other charity organisations had all churned out many different coloured wristbands to help out other charity organisations like the blind and the tsunami victims, with yellow being the one for cancer, red for tsum=nami victims, and green and blue(standard chartered colours) for the blind. Must say all these are considerable efforts made to capitalise on the fashionability of the wristbands for a good cause. Well and good.
So, why in the world am I writing this entry about wristbands that I don't even have(Hey, I don't have credit cards to order them, ok?)? Today, I went WestMall to buy some cheese fries(Buy 1 get 1 free) when I walked past the Giordano outlet. From what I can see, they are selling wristbands too, in support of the tsunami victims, albeit in an array of colours that serves more to confuse you than to enlighten the bearer of its use. No matter. What pissed me off is that in very fine fine lines underneath, it wrote, $2 with any purchase. Clearly, they are capitalising on the consumers' sympathy towards the tsunami victims as a way to bolster their faltering sales! I find that seriously unethical as the common perception is that the wristbands are really cool and since I can do some good buying such a cool thing to put on, why not? Add that to a with every purchase tag, you get a revenue maximisation strategy.. great..