Yogurt and the Bottom Line

Now I shall talk about Yoplait and their quasi- evil corporate marketing scheme. While watching Alias this evening (instead of sleeping before my overnight…) a commercial for Yoplait yogurt came on…telling the world that for every foil lid you save and send back to the company 10 cents will be donated to Breast Cancer Research. NOT for every package of yogurt BOUGHT mind you…we the bleeding heart consumer will now CHOOSE to buy this brand and then mail the sticky lids we remember to save to the company because, lo! they will donate money to charity…the socially responsible yogurt choice for women.

BUT why cant the organization just make a donation and then advertise that they support Breast Cancer Research? OR better yet (since all the marketing is tied into the bottom line) “for every yogurt sold we will donate a portion of the profit to…” Nope. Instead they will donate, when we BUY the yogurt and then send in the lid. Cause we all know how many people are going to remember to do THAT. Those sneaky bastards now MADE money off of the people like me who might have that *DING* moment in the grocery store…and choose Yoplait over Dannon? BUT will SAVE money and not have to give as much to the *cause* because the lid will be tossed immediately. Great fun.