Guilt Marketing: How to Fail at Fundraising

What is guilt marketing?

Have you ever seen a crying picture of a starving cleft lipped albino child suffering in a war torn nation? Yeah.

Specifically, it’s where a non-profit exploits the cause they are trying to help in an attempt to illicit feelings of guilt with the purpose of shaming their target demographic into donating. To all the non-profits out there who have successfully done this, congratulations for making your donors feel bad. I have news though, there is a growing demographic of down right clever people who won’t fall for such shenanigans.

Let’s quickly look at the modern guilt AD:

Guilt Points

• Africa? Check.
• Starving? Check.
• Barren scene with dead tree? Check.
• Smug face? Check.

Ok, It all checks out, this is a sufficiently depressing scene. What’s the message? My aftershave costs about 5x more than ‘Basics for a New Home’. Oh wow, yeah, I feel guilty, I can give basics for a new home five times over if I just stopped wearing aftershave. After all, I don’t really NEED aftershave and certainly this guy NEEDS ‘Basics for a New Home’.

The Real Problem

What does ‘basics for a new home’ even mean? Does he already have the new home? Why is he sad and hungry, is that relevant? The fundamental flaw with this AD is how they leverage a victim to shame me into throwing money at a problem that lacks a clear sustainable solution. Aftershave aside, giving money to that individual as portrayed above makes me feel like an enabler. Can you imagine going into the bank dressed like a homeless person and trying to guilt them into giving you a loan for a home? C’MON!

Opportunity Speaks

I want to see ADs that have clear solutions with people who are happy and empowered. No, I don’t want to maintain the status quo, I want to see a strategy for sustainable change. If I’m giving my money away, then it’s because I genuinely want to improve the world I live in. 

To wrap up, watch this AD that nails opportunity pretty well. It doesn’t hit on solutions, but it goes a long way to rebuilding negative stereotypes in Africa, enjoy: