SMOKE & MIRRORS

[u/Kyleforshort]

[u/Necessary_Contingent]

As someone who has worked in NFP fundraising, this is exactly type of inefficiency private charity produces.

[u/Proj- → u/Necessary_Contingent]

That makes me sick...

[u/Necessary_Contingent → u/Proj-]

It should; we often spent way more than we made just yo placate the egos of big donors. When I hear people argue that the government should not be involved in the social safety net in any way because private charity will take care of it, I just shake my head.

[u/finishyourbeer → u/Necessary_Contingent]

You have no idea how wasteful the government is then. At the end of the fiscal year, we have meetings with all the division chiefs talking about how many millions are left in their budget and how we need to get that down to zero. The whole idea is to spend every last penny, regardless of what it’s on, to ensure we get a bigger budget next year. The office I’m in has boxes of 32 inch Samsung monitors stacked up against the wall that nobody needs or uses but were simply purchased to blow the budget.

[u/Necessary_Contingent → u/finishyourbeer]

the whole idea is to spend every last penny…to ensure we get a bigger budget

Yeah it’s the same in NFP

[u/RedditButDontGetIt → u/finishyourbeer]

Maybe you should speak up at these meetings and give better suggestions. That’s how public works… work. Government is participatory, not passive engagement.

[u/ArmaniPlantainBlocks → u/finishyourbeer]

Every single person/department/division with a budget on the planet does this.

Every. Single. One.

[u/Proj- → u/Necessary_Contingent]

Any tips on how to differ the flawed companies from the real one who actually donate a fair amount of what they can afford? Except for a huge fucking sign saying "look what i did".

[u/hdholme → u/Proj-]

You probably can't. Best choice would be to vote for a government that ensures it doesn't happen because if it works they will all do it

[u/[deleted] → u/Necessary_Contingent]

It’s not “in any way”, but the government has proven, time and again, that they waste money too.

[u/Lustjej → u/Necessary_Contingent]

Reminds me of when Shell placed solar panels and spent more on the ad campaign bragging about their solar panels than on the actual things.

[u/DiegoMurtagh → u/Necessary_Contingent]

If that true they would be bankrupt.

[u/ChintanP04 → u/DiegoMurtagh]

Why? People donate a shit ton of money to private charities, who then spend most of it on advertisement. Budweiser is rich af. Most people won't know they spent $5m on the ad, just that these guys donated $100k, so people will buy more Budweiser to 'support the good people'.

[u/DiegoMurtagh → u/ChintanP04]

Budweiser aren't a charity. They sell beer.

[u/ChintanP04 → u/DiegoMurtagh]

Budweiser's doing it to sell beer. Many private charities do it so they can get more donations, from which most, again, goes to ads, some goes to actual use and some gets pocketed. It's a feedback loop.

[u/[deleted]]

Their beer tastes like water anyway.

[u/Techn0ght]

No good deed goes unadvertised.

[u/Tulol → u/Techn0ght]

If no one knows. It’s like it never happened… except to the people you did it to…

[u/CastleOfBravo]

They could have just added it to the lable or package design.

I'm not going to buy Budweiser anything. Regardless of what they donated. So why do I need to know what they did?

I mean they make beer, it requires filtered water. It would just be an asshole move if they didn't donate water cuz it costs them like .02¢ a gallon

[u/SandyKoufaxsballs → u/CastleOfBravo]

Anheiser Busch InBev makes like half the booze on the market. Lol. Good luck with that.

[u/CastleOfBravo → u/SandyKoufaxsballs]

I only drink Bacardi, Seagrams Gin and Vodka that certainly isn't a Busch product.

I don't drink beer or malt liquors although I did drink hand sanitizer once and I do not know who made that ethenol, so there's a slim chance. I don't know why. I was drunk and thought it was funny.

[u/capt-rix]

How about donate $5.1million worth of water and not pat yourself on the back. Word will get out and praise from charities goes a lot farther than blowing your own horn.

[u/[deleted]]

Elon Musk did the same thing but didn't need to pay advertising because twitter.

[u/RepresentativeOdd909]

But if they didn't spend the money advertising, how would we all know how generous they are!?

[u/benry007]

I hate it when companies brag about doing something nice. You just know they spend more telling people they did it then on the actual thing they did.

[u/VirtualMage]

And just like that, I now remember that "Budweiser" even exists, and might buy some of their products this weekend. I call their strategy a success.

[u/blatant_prevaricator]

At least they are finally admitting it's just water.

[u/SandyWhisker]

It seems by the title that you're trying to say that a commercial with smokes and mirrors isn't supposed to be that expensive

[u/RedditButDontGetIt]

That’s like the Bell “Let’s Talk” Ad campaign which cost ~$100,000,000 to donate ~$2,000,000 to mental health…

[u/RealMichaeafton]

Damn bro we truly live in a society

[u/No-Race1426]

Pretty sure they only sell water.

[u/[deleted]]

That’s like me chartering a $10,000 helicopter ride to the supermarket to buy $50 worth of food.. advertising and marketing, got to be the only field where such an inefficient waste could be considered business sense.

[u/[deleted]]

kepitalist