Cause and Effect (washingtonpost.com) Tsunami Aid Is Goodwill and Good Business

Cause and Effect (washingtonpost.com): "Cause and Effect
Tsunami Aid Is Goodwill and Good Business
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 26, 2005; Page E01
Put a quarter in a jar marked 'tsunami aid' at 7-Eleven, and the convenience store chain will chip in 25 cents of its own. Buy a pound of Sumatran coffee at Starbucks, and $2 will go to disaster relief in Indonesia. Spend $4 on a Heart of Asia pin from the Avon lady, and Avon will donate $3 to reconstruction efforts.
Some public relations specialists call that 'cause-related marketing' or 'cause branding' -- a tactic companies can use to associate themselves with a noble cause. The Indian Ocean tsunami has unleashed what may be the biggest example of it ever, perhaps exceeding corporate contributions to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, according to experts on corporate philanthropy and marketing"