It's a marketing campaign - nothing more - for ugly shoes at that. In the process, it trivializes development with the message to just buy or send product. At least they are new shoes. "Donate old [whatever]" are the worst.
Wayan -- ----------------------------- Wayan Vota Mobile: +1.202.746.8269 Skype/Twitter: wayan_vota Facebook: http://fb.me/wayan.vota On Apr 10, 2012, at 17:24, Yaw Anokwa <yanokwa at gmail.com> wrote: > I got an email today about TOMS One Day Without Shoes. > > According to http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com, today is "the day we > spread awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child?s > life by taking off our own. Why? Millions of children live without > proper footwear, exposing them to injury and disease every day." > > I think this is a reasonable thing for our community to discuss, so > I've put my response to that email below. Any thoughts on One Day > Without Shoes or the TOMS model? I'd love some pushback... > > ---------------------------------------- > > As your friendly neighborhood global development cynic, I should point > out that in places I've worked (mostly East Africa), shoes are widely > available and very affordable. Even if shoes were not readily > available, going barefoot is the least of the concerns of folks who > live in these communities where health and employment are the biggest > problems. And so what makes this TOMS advertising campaign frustrating > to me is that it's been shown that donations of clothing and shoes > destroy economies in these very communities. > > This year there was a campaign called "A Day Without Dignity" that > touched on some of these issues. > > "Why has it become so easy for people to start feel-good campaigns > that no one asked for? There are a thousand things this village needs > and nowhere on the list are t-shirts and shoes..." > -- TMS Ruge from Uganda at > http://projectdiaspora.org/wp-content/2011/04/05/shoes-the-least-of-our-problems/ > > "TOMS, there are many ways for you to really make a difference. Invest > in and share your expertise with local shoe businesses, leading to > sustainable jobs. Donate some of your profits to support educational > institutions, leading to more opportunities. These are things that > people want, and promote their dignity. If you're not willing to do > that, please drop your current marketing approach which oversells your > impact, encourages self-absorbed charity, and is an affront to the > dignity of the materially poor." > -- Marshall Birkey at > http://marshallbirkey.com/economic-development/aidwars-toms-shoes-vs-dignity/ > > If you are interested, you can find out more at > http://goodintents.org/in-kind-donations/a-day-without-dignity and > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EaSlKqs6Fo > > I do think it's important to raise awareness, but it's also important > to be cautious when it comes to issues of global development. It's > almost always more complicated than it seems. > > _______________________________________________ > change mailing list > change at change.washington.edu > http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/change
