Should Health Cause Marketers Get Involved in Health Care Debates?
Posted: 11/20/2009 9:24:37 AM by
Vinu Joseph | with 0 comments
Earlier this week a government-funded task force released new guidelines regarding mammography in the diagnosis and prevention of breast cancer. The announcement seemed to stir up everyone connected to the issue of breast cancer: the general public, the healthcare community and—most relevant for you—breast cancer causes.
While the causes came out with their respective positions on the guidelines, I didn’t see anything from the companies who just a couple weeks ago were falling all over each other to promote their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That said, I don’t know that I would want a department store or shoe company telling people how to handle major health decisions without a lot of due diligence to support their views.
We tend to focus on the “marketing” in cause marketing partnerships; but we can’t forget that the cause is far more than a logo. A cause can be a powerful organization with strong, potentially controversial opinions. I wonder what the corporate reaction might have been if a cause had gone against the grain of public opinion on this issue.
I also wonder if the on-going debate health reform will inspire even greater scrutiny of companies who support health causes. A company may be raising $100,000 for a cause, but is it sending even more to lobbyists pushing agendas that run counter to the cause’s position on health care reform? If the positions aren’t consistent, we might see a reaction similar to what greeted Whole Foods when its CEO wrote an op-ed on health care reform last summer.
Does authenticity demand that marketers stand behind a cause’s public positions? Do consumers care? I’d like to hear what you think.
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Filed under: cause marketing, legislation, backlash