First of all my disclaimer.
I recently signed up to be a Komen volunteer. I have greatly enjoyed participating in Race for the Cure and other Komen events. Also the charity supports conferences and retreats that have been life changing for me and my fellow breast cancer survivors.
The flip side.
For all the amazing things the organization does, it's seems to have a blind spot to how they look to the public.
I was not as outraged as some over the KFC promotion, but it was not good press, and the commercials kind of made me cringe. There is no real reason having a perfume is wrong, but to me it just kind of feels a little bit off.
Now there is the whole, "For the cure," trademark dispute.
I'm not sure where legally I stand on this. The phrase is kind of associated with Komen, so I could see a legal argument that they have a right to trademark it. But I think there is a larger issue.
For the second time in a year the organization is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. I'm not sure that keeping the phrase is the best thing to do even if it's legally feasible. I think sometimes when you are a charity you have to just decide to take the high road.
For some reason charities can have a blind spot when it comes to dealing with the media. I see this as a reporter time and time again. I am not sure why this is a recurring issue with Komen, it's not like they can not pay for professional PR and media relations staffers. But someone needs to start looking at how their decisions will shape public opinion.
Like it or not, Komen is so big, what they do reflects on all of us. See below.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Local-Residents-React-to-Komen-Controversy-113101594.html
I recently signed up to be a Komen volunteer. I have greatly enjoyed participating in Race for the Cure and other Komen events. Also the charity supports conferences and retreats that have been life changing for me and my fellow breast cancer survivors.
The flip side.
For all the amazing things the organization does, it's seems to have a blind spot to how they look to the public.
I was not as outraged as some over the KFC promotion, but it was not good press, and the commercials kind of made me cringe. There is no real reason having a perfume is wrong, but to me it just kind of feels a little bit off.
Now there is the whole, "For the cure," trademark dispute.
I'm not sure where legally I stand on this. The phrase is kind of associated with Komen, so I could see a legal argument that they have a right to trademark it. But I think there is a larger issue.
For the second time in a year the organization is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. I'm not sure that keeping the phrase is the best thing to do even if it's legally feasible. I think sometimes when you are a charity you have to just decide to take the high road.
For some reason charities can have a blind spot when it comes to dealing with the media. I see this as a reporter time and time again. I am not sure why this is a recurring issue with Komen, it's not like they can not pay for professional PR and media relations staffers. But someone needs to start looking at how their decisions will shape public opinion.
Like it or not, Komen is so big, what they do reflects on all of us. See below.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Local-Residents-React-to-Komen-Controversy-113101594.html
It's sad how this foundation is spending soooo much time and money to go after the little people for using the words "For the cure" to help others get through cancer.
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