Companies That Do Good

21-11-2012 12:04AM #1

You often hear negative stories about companies, yet rarely hear about the positive. In light of that, what are the positive stories of companies that you know of?

Here's some from Pixar -
Pixar held a private screening of their movie, Up, to a dying girl as her final wish.

"HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Colby Curtin got her final wish.
The 10-year-old girl desperately wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie, “Up.” But the cancer-stricken girl was too sick to go to a theater.

Thanks to a family friend who got in touch with the movie studio Pixar, an employee of the Emeryville-based company arrived at Colby’s home with a DVD copy of the movie, The Orange County Register reported Friday. The girl died later that night

Full story

And one from Gearbox -
Gearbox return to their finished game, Borderlands 2, to insert a new character in memory of a Borderlands 1 fan, Michael John Mamaril, and record a eulogy too.

This morning, we received an email from a Destructoid fan named Carlo who shared a story about his late friend Michael John Mamaril. Last month, Michael passed away due to cancer at the young age of 22. Both were huge Borderlands fans, so Carlo thought a great way to honor his buddy's memory would be to shoot Gearbox Software an email asking for a short eulogy to be read by the game's smart-mouthed robot mascot Claptrap. Not only did Gearbox comply with the request, it also promised to insert Michael into the upcoming Borderlands 2 as an NPC.

Full Article
Eulogy here-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wBGA9k2kZU

Surely there have to be more - what do you have, AH?

kneemos · 21-11-2012 12:07AM

They're what's known as PR stunts.Sorry to burst your bubble op.

donvito99 · 21-11-2012 12:11AM

Dey tuk ur jabs, Joe

Madam_X · 21-11-2012 12:14AM

kneemos wrote: »

They're what's known as PR stunts.Sorry to burst your bubble op.

Still though, they'd be criticised for *not* doing anything charitable - better to do so than not IMO.

Gi joe! · 21-11-2012 12:17AM

kneemos wrote: »

They're what's known as PR stunts.Sorry to burst your bubble op.

Really? So employees of Pixar weren't touched at all from granting a terminally ill little girl her last wish to see one of their films? Or Gearbox having the opportunity to memorialize one of their fans who passed away? You think they did this all in the name of publicity?

grenache · 21-11-2012 12:17AM

There are very few multi-national companies doing good. Too busy exploiting Indo-Asian kids in sweatshops.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 21-11-2012 12:20AM

grenache wrote: »

There are very few multi-national companies doing good. Too busy exploiting Indo-Asian kids in sweatshops.

by "exploiting" do you mean "providing employment to keep them off the street, away from drugs and western sex tourists?"

Senna · 21-11-2012 12:20AM

Yeah, when a big company does something nice there's always someone in PR rubbing their hands, but someone else in the company is probably doing it for the right reasons.

A shop in Sligo got a phone call from a mother who said her little girl had lost her favourite teddy and they "think" she lost it in their store. An employee when out to the bins and found it, then posted it back to the girl. Wasn't in any papers etc, i heard it from the mother, really nice of them to take the effort to find it when they could have just ignored the call.

Pottler · 21-11-2012 12:27AM

I raised a decent sum of money for a major company I deal with through an unexpected commercial windfall - I paid it in, but their accounts dept could not find an area to reference it to so did not want to accept it. It was due to them, not me, so I paid it in and was not taking it back as fairs fair. They donated it to Crumlin childrens hospital, which I thought was a pretty decent thing to do. It was a nice chunk of change as well, 000's, not 00's.

kneemos · 21-11-2012 12:28AM

Gi joe! wrote: »

Really? So employees of Pixar weren't touched at all from granting a terminally ill little girl her last wish to see one of their films? Or Gearbox having the opportunity to memorialize one of their fans who passed away? You think they did this all in the name of publicity?

Of course it was for publicity,your a bit naive to think otherwise I'm afraid.

SafeSurfer · 21-11-2012 12:30AM

Gi joe! wrote: »

Really? So employees of Pixar weren't touched at all from granting a terminally ill little girl her last wish to see one of their films? Or Gearbox having the opportunity to memorialize one of their fans who passed away? You think they did this all in the name of publicity?

If they had kept it quiet then I wouldn't be cynical. JK Rowling read the latest Harry Potter book to a dying child in then States, as she wrote it. Then she donated half of the profits of the book and film rights to the care of children with cancer. ( I made that last bit up).

The King of Moo · 21-11-2012 12:33AM

kneemos wrote: »

Of course it was for publicity,your a bit naive to think otherwise I'm afraid.

Disney are hardly starved of publicity. They'd probably do just fine without this happening.

How many more people heard about the purchase of Lucasfilm than heard about what they did for the little girl?

21-11-2012 12:33AM

With regards to the Pixar story - we don't know who told them about it. For all we know, it was the mother who had gone forward to the press.

wexie · 21-11-2012 12:36AM

grenache wrote: »

There are very few multi-national companies doing good. Too busy exploiting Indo-Asian kids in sweatshops.

hmm....plenty of companies donating time and money to good causes, or allowing employees to donate (paid) company time to charities.

Salesforce allow their staff a day a month for charity I believe. Something similar with Dell, they are also big into various charities like Daffodil day, shoebox appeal (which I think is a great one. Microsoft do something similar and I'm sure so do many large multinationals.

I'm sure you could argue they could do more (which might well be the case).

But....fact is they're still doing things (which cost them, or their staff, a lot of money.) Which they don't need to. And....believe it or not...in many cases not widely publicised even.

kneemos · 21-11-2012 12:37AM

The King of Moo wrote: »

Disney are hardly starved of publicity. They'd probably do just fine without this happening.

How many more people heard about the purchase of Lucasfilm than heard about what they did for the little girl?

We're talking about it.

Lyaiera · 21-11-2012 12:38AM

When Cork flooded a few years ago the supermarkets all put up the prices of water. A friend of mine was without water for quite a while and the council couldn't set up water dispensing areas fast enough. Within hours of the water shutting down the local off license reduced the price of all their water to cost price, they were driving back and forth to a cash and carry every few hours to keep their stock levels up, they rationed the water so everyone could get some, and they delivered water to the elderly and people with disabilities. I will always have the utmost respect for the owners of that shop.

The King of Moo · 21-11-2012 12:39AM

kneemos wrote: »

We're talking about it.

Go look at the thread about the Lucasfilm purchase in the Film Forum. I think there's a few more people talking about that.

Also, you're saying negative things about it, which is hardly what Disney would've wanted were this merely a publicity stunt.
All publicity is not necessarily good publicity.

Shane-KornSpace · 21-11-2012 12:43AM

Korn wrote a song called Justin for a kid who met them through the Make A Wish Foundation.
Nice thing to do.

cson · 21-11-2012 12:49AM

Well me and my brother have a company called Holy Shirts and Pants; we take the the fur or the wool from sheep and we turn it into thread for homeless people to sew. And then they make it into cloth, which they in turn sew to make some shirts and pants for other homeless people to sell. It's a pretty good deal. I think we're doing good. No website yet, but feel free to PM me for details if you want to help out.

SafeSurfer · 21-11-2012 12:53AM

Some kids are more equal than other in the eyes of benevolent multi nationals.

Good deeds and charity are great. But I think it would be more meaningful for large corporations to start with looking after the welfare of kids who work for them, even if indirectly.

The sad fact is that there is more profit in a feel good story about how they were nice to a dying child in a rich country than how they treat child labourers in poor ones.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/aug/27/disney-factory-sweatshop-suicide-claims

kneemos · 21-11-2012 12:53AM

The King of Moo wrote: »

Go look at the thread about the Lucasfilm purchase in the Film Forum. I think there's a few more people talking about that.

Also, you're saying negative things about it, which is hardly what Disney would've wanted were this merely a publicity stunt.
All publicity is not necessarily good publicity.

Not really saying it's a bad thing,the charity gets a donation and the company gets publicity,I think most people are aware of the relationship.

hardCopy · 21-11-2012 01:02AM

wexie wrote: »

hmm....plenty of companies donating time and money to good causes, or allowing employees to donate (paid) company time to charities.

Salesforce allow their staff a day a month for charity I believe. Something similar with Dell, they are also big into various charities like Daffodil day, shoebox appeal (which I think is a great one. Microsoft do something similar and I'm sure so do many large multinationals.

I'm sure you could argue they could do more (which might well be the case).

But....fact is they're still doing things (which cost them, or their staff, a lot of money.) Which they don't need to. And....believe it or not...in many cases not widely publicised even.

Same in a multinational I used to work for. Every month or so there would be a charity poker night, soccer tournament, pub quiz, musical etc.

Staff would spend paid time painting houses, digging gardens and building websites for various charities.

Staff could also work on secondment to third world charities on 1/3rd or 1/2 pay for up to a year.

I worked there for 4 years and never saw a single press release or any media coverage of it.

Madam_X · 21-11-2012 01:05AM

Not every charity campaign is going to have a PR machine behind it though - Bill Gates gives a lot to charity and that's all I've heard, nothing specific. And that information could easily get out via word of mouth seeing as how well known and influential a figure he is.
If a company does a good deed but there is no PR campaign for it, I think it would be churlish to view it solely as a publicity stunt. Press may pick up on it, but as said, it's not necessarily the company that tells them.

kowloon · 21-11-2012 01:07AM

I was in a chippers and a homeless guy came in. They gave him free chips.
A charity packing Christmas presents for children in Africa relies on businesses to provide the warehouse space for collecting.
Two examples I can think of off the top of my head.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 21-11-2012 01:10AM

I'm sure all big companies will work with the Make A Wish Foundation (or similar organisations) if they're approached to do something for a sick child. I know you could take a cynical view on the reasons they get involved but a lot of times the wishes they grant go unpublicised.

Capt'n Midnight · 21-11-2012 02:03AM

grenache wrote: »

There are very few multi-national companies doing good. Too busy exploiting Indo-Asian kids in sweatshops.

Actually they are too busy with tax avoidance schemes. Heard a statistic that up to 1/3 of execs time is spent on this.

Capt'n Midnight · 21-11-2012 02:05AM

wexie wrote: »

hmm....plenty of companies donating time and money to good causes, or allowing employees to donate (paid) company time to charities.

Was told that one bank only let it's staff engage in non-political charities, like cleaning a local beach.

1ZRed · 21-11-2012 02:20AM

kneemos wrote: »

They're what's known as PR stunts.Sorry to burst your bubble op.

True, that could be the case but I don't think an act like that should be viewed so cynically because it doesn't change the fact that it did good in the end and that's all that would matter to me.

uberalles · 21-11-2012 02:28AM

wexie wrote: »

hmm....plenty of companies donating time and money to good causes, or allowing employees to donate (paid) company time to charities.

Salesforce allow their staff a day a month for charity I believe. Something similar with Dell, they are also big into various charities like Daffodil day, shoebox appeal (which I think is a great one. Microsoft do something similar and I'm sure so do many large multinationals.

I'm sure you could argue they could do more (which might well be the case).

But....fact is they're still doing things (which cost them, or their staff, a lot of money.) Which they don't need to. And....believe it or not...in many cases not widely publicised even.

In dells case the publicity is cringe worthy

Canis Lupus · 21-11-2012 02:48AM

I currently work for Virgin Australia (airline). Some old lady missed a connecting flight and her family couldn't get in touch with her (she also didn't speak english).

Fella here at the call centre was dealing with it but finished his shift as it was close to midnight. He went home initially leaving the matter with a colleague but then couldn't sleep so drove out to the airport himself, found the old lady alone in a terminal. Sorted out a hotel for her etc etc.

Not really sure that's a 'company' doing good but well done that man nevertheless.

grenache · 21-11-2012 05:10AM

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

by "exploiting" do you mean "providing employment to keep them off the street, away from drugs and western sex tourists?"

Ah, the lesser of two evils. That makes it ok then.

Companies That Do Good

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