Pampers- Unicef 1 pack 1 vaccine campaign - thoughts?

lynski

Pampers- Unicef 1 pack 1 vaccine campaign.

I was recently asked to take part in event that promoted the Pampers- Unicef 1 pack 1 vaccine campaign. I had a gut reaction of 'No thanks', but I was not all that sure why. So I spent a little time thinking about it.
I wanted to figure out why I felt that this was not really a good idea, surely it is? Parents must buy nappies so why not 'do some good' as well? The purchase is not a choice, but this makes you feel a little better about it and helps save the lives of poor misfortunate babies in the 3rd world; what could be wrong with that?
As a mother of two under two the old synapses do not fire as rapidly as before so I had to spend some time on it and here are my reasons why I think this is not a campaign I am comfortable supporting.

1. The guilt factor – if I buy this brand of nappies, rather than that, a baby will die in the 3rd world. As I said parents do not have a choice in the purchase of nappies, only in the brand and the heaping of additional guilt onto parents as part of a marketing campaign to boost sales is at best malicious.
2. A marketing campaign based on the sickness and death of anyone, never mind helpless little babies, is something I find very distasteful. This is one of the largest companies in the world, one of the richest companies in the world and at the end of the day, no matter how many vaccines they fund, the goal is the sell more product.
3. Speaking of funding vaccines, how much will the actually give? From and Irish perspective, this is a rough calculation, I believe that the cost of supplying vaccines at 49c per vaccine could not be more then 1 million euros *. What is €1000000 to a company like P&G? The revenue for for 08 was 83 Billion dollers**. I believe they will spend as much advertising and promoting this campaign as they will on vaccines. The campaign purchased 45 million vaccines last year worldwide***, cost 22.5 million at .49c. Is that important? It is when you consider the next point.
4. Without getting too deeply into the questions around efficacy of the vaccines, ethical issues around consent, etc, just considering how tetanus is contracted, a clean birth is the best protection; so education and midwive training and equipment could be a better use of money. Harder to put into a catchy slogan, but better in the long term for the child, mother, all the family and communities.

These are just my thoughts, but I have enough reservations to make me reconsider my participation in an event associated with this campaign, what do you think?




*(if half the 200000 under 3 yr olds in Ireland using an average of 1 pack per week for 3 months).
** http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Procter_%26_Gamble_Company_(PG)/Data , http://www.cso.ie/statistics/bthsdthsmarriages.htm ,
*** http://www.pampers.com/en_US/unicef/

MLE

I remember seeing those ads for the 1 vaccine per packet. I think that pampers are overpriced anyway and that only have the price of 1 or 2 of the nappies going to the third world is a bit mean to be honest.

Deliverance

lynski wrote: »

Pampers- Unicef 1 pack 1 vaccine campaign.

I was recently asked to take part in event that promoted the Pampers- Unicef 1 pack 1 vaccine campaign. I had a gut reaction of 'No thanks', but I was not all that sure why. So I spent a little time thinking about it.
I wanted to figure out why I felt that this was not really a good idea, surely it is? Parents must buy nappies so why not 'do some good' as well? The purchase is not a choice, but this makes you feel a little better about it and helps save the lives of poor misfortunate babies in the 3rd world; what could be wrong with that?
As a mother of two under two the old synapses do not fire as rapidly as before so I had to spend some time on it and here are my reasons why I think this is not a campaign I am comfortable supporting.

1. The guilt factor – if I buy this brand of nappies, rather than that, a baby will die in the 3rd world. As I said parents do not have a choice in the purchase of nappies, only in the brand and the heaping of additional guilt onto parents as part of a marketing campaign to boost sales is at best malicious.
2. A marketing campaign based on the sickness and death of anyone, never mind helpless little babies, is something I find very distasteful. This is one of the largest companies in the world, one of the richest companies in the world and at the end of the day, no matter how many vaccines they fund, the goal is the sell more product.
3. Speaking of funding vaccines, how much will the actually give? From and Irish perspective, this is a rough calculation, I believe that the cost of supplying vaccines at 49c per vaccine could not be more then 1 million euros *. What is €1000000 to a company like P&G? The revenue for for 08 was 83 Billion dollers**. I believe they will spend as much advertising and promoting this campaign as they will on vaccines. The campaign purchased 45 million vaccines last year worldwide***, cost 22.5 million at .49c. Is that important? It is when you consider the next point.
4. Without getting too deeply into the questions around efficacy of the vaccines, ethical issues around consent, etc, just considering how tetanus is contracted, a clean birth is the best protection; so education and midwive training and equipment could be a better use of money. Harder to put into a catchy slogan, but better in the long term for the child, mother, all the family and communities.

These are just my thoughts, but I have enough reservations to make me reconsider my participation in an event associated with this campaign, what do you think?




*(if half the 200000 under 3 yr olds in Ireland using an average of 1 pack per week for 3 months).
** http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Procter_%26_Gamble_Company_(PG)/Data , http://www.cso.ie/statistics/bthsdthsmarriages.htm ,
*** http://www.pampers.com/en_US/unicef/

I think that the movie... 'The Constant Gardener' is worth a watch for you. V.depressing ending but poignant to what you are realising /saying.

ebmma

It is always the same..."Buy this item and we will donate 5euro to this charity" means we just increased a price of this by a fiver.
If a company wants to help out the charity they can use some of their multimillion profits. If an individual wants to help a charity, then donate directly, money or time.

These things get on my nerves!