• ( egoistic ) • activistic • architectural • audible • cinematic • conceptual • graphic • sensorial • strategic • surface • urban • wireless
It has been around for a long time but it seems that charity is increasingly being built into consumer products, services and interfaces.
Perhaps, a sign that materialism is no longer an aim in itself - consumer lifestyle must also match our increasing need for holistic meaning.
Apple's special edition iPod RED (a part of the joinRED business model) is an example reflecting the trend. It's cleverly designed to let consumers support a good cause, while making a fashion statement about it.
At the other end of the scale are the bottle-recycling machines in Sweden (image). Bottle deposits are relatively high in some parts of Europe and the machines simply lets you decide between donating the money to charity (yellow button) or cashing it in yourself (green button).
As of February 2007 you can also get yourself a climate conscious credit card, which align your consumer behavior with a compensation mechanism. Dutch bank Rabobank is about to launch the 'climate card', which will look at the type of purchase you make (consumer goods, petrol etc.) and channel a proportionate sum into projects run by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The more you sin, the more you pay.
• Join Red • Deposit Machine on Flickr • Rabobank Climate Card + Eco-cards on Treehugger
COMMENTS (3)
Sebastian:
We are seeing lots of companies in the US do well by doing good, some through the support of charities, others by supporting a cause (like Toyota Prius/environment; Wal-Mart pushing sustainability). I have chronicled a number of these efforts on my blog www.MarketingForGood.net.
Hi Drew,
Thanks for the link!
I think companies in the US are much more accustomed to making individual charity-donations than in the EU/Denmark where taxes in general are much higher (50%) and a substantial part of it automatically channelled into foreign as well as local charity programs, social welfare etc.
So, because it is more of an individual choice/responsibility in the US, companies can use charity to profile/brand/position themselves in a way that is a bit unfamiliar here.
Btw: I don't know much about the Toyota Prius/environment but from what I have been told, most car-companies have had eco-friendly cars ready for the past 5-10 years - but as long as there is no consumer/political pressure, they simply don't produce them. Hopefully that is about to change now.
For me as a consumer all these rewards are very confusing. Everytime I look at a credit card deal I feel that there is some kind of a catch but I am not sure what it is. I feel more confident applying for a credit card online from websites that give you a list of different cards so I can compare every point. Lately I've been using