It is late Sunday afternoon and I am lanquishing in the living room after an awesome (gosh I hate that term but sometimes another word just doesn't seem to portray the awesomeness of the event!) half day of skiing. The conditions were primo and the weather to die for. Sunny, blue skies and ... I got to ski with NO HAT! Ahhhhhhhh. It doesn't get much better than that.
But back to the lanquishing ... as my muscles relax and a haze of happy contentment envelopes me because I am glad to be doing nothing ... the television is on and these commercials keep coming on. I am not paying a lot of attention, I am more on the computer than watching the tube, but the first commercial that caught my glance was one on the dying polar bears. Sharon Lawrence (she was on Hill Street Blues) speaks in the most solemn of tones about how polar bears are going to be extinct soon. With a picture of a mommy polar bear and her baby on a floating piece of ice ... she voices over about how the moms have to swim so far to get food and the babies die while waiting ... but then her voice changes a little and she says that for $19.95 a month you can help save the polar bears, and you will receive a photo of the bear that you are "sponsoring" and remember, for only pennies a day you can ensure that your children's children will have polar bears in their lifetime.
It kind of felt like those Saturday Night Live commercials that were fake -- spoofs on commercials. This one felt like a spoof on the Save the Children ads where you see the pictures of the malnourished kids surrounded by flies and for only pennies a day you can help save a child's life. (And you receive a photograph of the child you sponsor ...)
But of course with global warming we no longer just have to worry about children we can save with our pennies -- but polar bears. And I thought to myself ... polar bears, what next?
Then Sarah Maclachlan (a singer) came on and she had a dog in her lap, and she was talking about all the animals that need homes, or food, or shelter or medicine ... and there were pictures of cats getting shots and dogs getting a bowl of food ... and this one was for the SPCA of America and for only pennies a day ... and I thought, you have to be kidding!
It's one of those "Am I on Candid Camera" situations ... where you look around sure that something is up ... because honestly I had no idea so many animals of the world were in such dire straights. And where does one draw the line? How many different animals do we sign up to save for pennies a day before we're broke? And do we let the children starve so that the polar bears can survive?
I am not against such campaigns -- at the very least they create an awareness of various situations. I've heard about the polar bears, but exactly what will the money go to? Rescue missions? Will these polar bears be rescued and taken to some zoo? Because I bet if you asked the polar bear whether they wanted to die in their own environment or live their life in a tiny cage with people staring at them, they might not be so appreciative of the pennies-a-day approach to saving.
The polar bears are a symptom of a greater problem -- and it might just be that there is nothing we can do to stop the melting of the polar ice caps at this point, and it might just be pointless to save the polar bears. They are who they are because of where they lived ... if their environment ceases to exist ...
Gosh, that sounds heartless. I don't mean for it to be. Years ago I sponsored a child for $18 a month through one of those organizations, and I received my photograph and my letter and then I started to receive pleas for more money. And the pleas for more money came on nicer stock paper -- fancier (and ultimately more expensive) and I was actually told forthright in a glossy postcard that if I did not up my monthly fee my child would go hungry.
So I called them and said I am going to continue to send $18 a month and I would like for you to make up the difference in their new $25 a month fee by NOT sending me expensive mailings ... well, of course, I was eventually dumped for being a delinquit member! Can you imagine? These organizations are machines -- they employ people and their focus is to make money. Their focus is NOT whatever their cause is. I am sure there are ad agencies that have created a nice niche in "cause commercials." Because they all sound the same and have the same formula: Celebrity with solemn voice, heart-wrenching photos and mournful music. And the exact same mentality that even YOU (you selfish person sitting in your living room watching your big-screen TV) can spare pennies a day.
Are there any causes that are pure? Or am I just jaded beyond rehabilitation?
For only pennies a day you can make me a better person. You will receive a photo of me and a note of thanks.
Or, you can just ignore my plea. It is up to you.
::::::::::::::::::fade out music:::::::::::::::::::::::::
No comments:
Post a Comment