Some people adopt an ideological position when it comes to encouraging celebrities to endorse their charitable appeal. Well, you must adopt a pragmatic approach and take lessons from experience of the Stuff Bieber’s Bus campaign of Children’s Heathcare of Atlanta.
The campaign had been making announcements in radio stations and Twitter encouraging people to donate toys for the good cause. However, the moment Justin Bieber issued an appeal on Twitter requesting people to send toys for the campaign, the bus was filled in virtually no time and the hospital was assured of a brand new toy for each child.
Of course, the celebrity will try to use the gesture for his or her public relations exercise. Well, if hundreds of children enjoy the pleasure of playing with a new toy on Christmas day, then what is wrong in allowing the celebrity who made it possible enjoy some benefit in return?
This approach has also shown the power of Twitter. All it takes is a single line appeal and people automatically start responding. What is more, the next time the hospital comes up with such an idea, people will remember that this was the hospital that Justin Bieber had supported and will be prepared to donate even if no celebrity appeal comes around.
Hence, running a charitable institution means you should have a clear idea of your final goal. If you are hell bent on improving the world and encouraging people to stop running after celebrities, then perhaps you can stay away from celebrity appeals.
However, if you want to keep your institution up and running and if you want the residents of the institution to have fun, then you should acknowledge that having a celebrity help you out can make a huge difference. Is it worth sticking to one’s ideologies when hundreds of children are going to stay toy-less during festival season? Certainly not.