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Add P&G to the list of Corporate Twits! Capitalzing on the oil spill

By Kristen Wheatley

Real Estate Agent with Better Homes & Gardens | The Masiello Group

June 20, 2010 03:03 PM

We've all seen the ads by now, whether in magazines or on television. Dawn dishwashing liquid pledging to donate $1.00 for every bottle sold.

The "dirty" little secret they don't tell you on the ads is that you have to go to their website and register your bottle for the donation to kick in.

They also conveniently leave out that the campaign caps out at $500,000 and that the cap has already been reached.

Now, I personally like Dawn dishwashing liquid and I commend P&G for their donation to wildlife. With that said, I am disgusted that they are continuing to use these ads, and misleading the public during this horrendous environmental disaster.

People are left with the impression that if they purchase Dawn, they are helping the efforts in the Gulf, and this is simply not true.

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Scott Baker

www.eHomeReports.com Coldwell Banker Realty - Liberty Township, OH

Realtor Homes for Sale Cincinnati/Dayton Ohio

They donated $500,000 and you are upset! I am a little perplexed. I would think this would a post giving P&G the kudo's they deserve. $500,000!!! UPDATE: I just went to P&G website for the Dawn campaign they have donated $442,912 so far.

Jun 20, 2010 03:19 PM

Nick T Pappas

Assoc. Broker ABR, CRS, SFR, e-Pro, @Homes Realty Group, Broker/Providence Property Mgmnt, LLC Huntsville AL - Huntsville, AL

Madison & Huntsville Alabama Real Estate Resource

Kristen, I just went to the site and they are at $442,946. I would have to agree with Scott, but with these large corps. you never know how the money is spent and I would hope that they would advertise when the cap is reached. Yet still $500K is $500K.

Jun 20, 2010 04:24 PM

Barbara Todaro

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Happily Retired - Franklin, MA

Previously Affiliated with The Todaro Team

Kristen....I guess until they reach their $500k goal, we won't know if they have other intentions.....but big corp. get away with alot of stuff that never surfaces until it's too late....so, I don't have high hopes for them....have a good day, Kristen.

Jun 21, 2010 12:29 AM

Brian Madigan

RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage (Toronto) - Toronto, ON

LL.B., Broker

Kristen,

Thanks for the insight. You're right, this is totally cheap on P&G's part.

Brian

Jun 21, 2010 12:52 AM

Malcolm Johnston

Century 21 Lanthorn Real Estate LTD., Trenton, Ontario - Trenton, ON

Trenton Real Estate

Kristen, that's a pretty sneaky trick on P&G's part. It is totally misleading. The 500g's are nice, but I think they are totall using the disaster to their benefit, and the should NOT be advertising that $1 for every bottle sold gets contributed, because that is plainly false. If I were to buy a bottle and not register it on the internet, then clearly that dollar isn't going towards the charity even though I bought the bottle under the assumption it would be.

Jun 21, 2010 03:30 AM

Kristen Wheatley

Better Homes & Gardens | The Masiello Group - Brunswick, ME

Supporting Success - Best Job in the World!

Thank you for the comments. Like I said, I do commend P&D on their donation to wildlife. However, it is interesting that it now does not say the 500K mark was reached when it said that the other day. Seems like they must have gotten wind of the expose and are backtracking a little. I still say it is downright sneaky to make it contingent on registering your purchase when the ads do not give that impression.

Update: Here is the link as it was a few days ago, and as it still is - indicating that they have reached their goal already. So when do they change their ads from telling people that buying their prooducts will add $1 to the fund to "look what we did."

http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/savingwildlife/home.do

Jun 21, 2010 03:07 PM

Terry Chenier

Homelife Glenayre Realty - Mission, BC

So they capitalized on it. They still donated $500K. What's the problem?

Jun 21, 2010 05:20 PM

Terry: What to say...misleading advertising is a constant problem, not just with P&G. There was a time when there was a push and supposedly laws for "truth in advertising." If a company knowingly continues to push the impression that your dollars spent on their product will result in additional donations, but has no intention of doing just that, then it is misleading.

I know that fine print is now considered an artform, but I do think that honesty would be a better PR tactic. Their ads could just tout their $500K contribution and I would not have any problem with that. The sizeable donation is great and much more than many companies do. The problem, apparently just my problem, with their current tactic is in hiding the fact that you have to register your bottle for the donation to go into effect, and then the mysterious change the other day by P&G, first not letting anyone else register their bottles saying that they had reached their cap of $500K and then after the story broke about the misleading ad, the website changed back to allowing people to register and saying that they had NOT reached the cap. Seems fishy to me.

Jun 22, 2010 07:44 AM

Elizabeth Bolton

RE/MAX Destiny Real Estate Cambridge, MA - Cambridge, MA

Cambridge MA Realtor

Hi Kristen ~ Glad to have read this. I get turned off by *all* the ads trying to convince people of what good corporate citizens the companies are or how you'll become a better person by using their [fill in the blank]. Credit card company ads and energy company ads really get my goat in particular.

I'm with you for sure - tout your $500k donation but enough already - you can't continue to use it as a means of encouraging sales - and absolutely - registration to make the donation is total baloney.

Liz

Jun 24, 2010 03:11 PM