My recent diary "Wealth, charity, Majority Rule and Supporting Public Programs" discussed how the wealthy don't give to charity - especially those which help the needy - proportionally as much as those with modest finances. Sometimes, what the wealthy view as charity - or claim to be charity - is also questionable.
I was reminded of this by repeatedly seeing a certain TV ad. The pet store chain PetSmart has an associated group which it calls PetSmart Charities. In a TV ad it talks about how it is charitably helping large numbers of animals who need a home. Being so humane, they tell us, they are holding pet adoption events right at PetSmart stores on a certain date.
My family has pets which we got from a non-profit organization's adoption event. It's not my intention to comment about genuinely charitable efforts for animals. However, stop and think about what PetSmart is doing.
First of all, they're holding the adoption events at their stores. Surely, the company's officials haven't overlooked the fact this brings people interested in animals to their stores. Perhaps, these people have previously bought their pet supplies from a competing pet company. Perhaps, it will just get a PetSmart customer to stop by the store sooner than he might otherwise visit. Perhaps, he will buy pet food there which he usually gets from the supermarket.
It's also self-serving in another way. They're promoting people increasing the number of pets they have - whether it's getting their first pet or adding to the pets they already have. More people with more pets means more consumers buying more pet supplies. All of those pet supplies may not be bought at PetSmart, but they can figure at least some of it will be.
Finally, the ad is a public relations piece that gives some viewers a warm and fuzzy feeling about PetSmart. Even if a viewer doesn't go to the adoption event and doesn't increase his number of pets, it may increase his inclination to choose PetSmart.
It's kind of like a supermarket having a "charity" that encourages people to buy $10 worth of groceries every week to donate to the poor. Giving food to the hungry is a kind act. And if lots of stores that didn't sell food were promoting the same project, the fact a supermarket was doing it might not be significant. But when a store that benefits from a "charity" - and only stores that benefit from that particular kind of charity - promote a certain project it's not mere coincidence.
There are various non-profit groups for animals that aren't connected to animal-related businesses. I'm sure it's not hard to find some willing to take a no-strings-attached donation from a pet company. A truly philanthropic PetSmart could donate money to their choice of such organizations and see that animals were helped and adopted. It isn't necessary for the company to have its own affiliated "charity". This leaves me with the impression they have chosen this path for business reasons.
This leads me to a question. It is a question - I don't claim to know the answer. After PetSmart under the guise of PetSmart Charities tries to increase PetSmart sales by getting more people to have more pets - do they deduct these marketing expenses from their taxes as charitable gifts? It seems the logical implication of going to the trouble of setting up a "charitable organization" of their own. They didn't have to create a "non-profit" group in order to have pet adoption events at their stores.
Looking at the PetSmart Charities website, you won't see references to "animals" - more or less only the word "pets" (even in the phrase 'homeless pets'.) That's clearly their interest. There is nothing in their mission statement about helping animals in the wild or any other creatures that would never be a pet. To be fair, their website leaves the impression they participate in other pet services that may not be as marketing-oriented, although it appears this may be done selectively according to their own approach. On the other hand, the website does solicit donations from the public. Therefore, it's not clear how much of the money for marketing or real animal services comes from the company and how much comes from individuals (who could otherwise give to a non-profit animal group not connected to a business).