Sale: Pair of Shoes and Personal Satisfaction

For myself, when looking at Cause Marketing, I like to compare it to BOGO. BOGO stands for buy-one-get-one. Usually the get one is free. Consumers love the idea of getting more for their money than what they paid for. Today Consumer Marketing has really taken a page from the BOGO book. Most recently Tom's shoes has taken the Cause Marketing concept to a new level. With the purchase of a pair of Tom's shoes, the company donates a pair of shoes to one of their many charity organizations. To the consumer its BOGO, they buy one and get one free. Just this time the free is for someone else. It is in human nature to gain either happiness or satisfaction in helping others. The Tom's Shoes concept makes this even easier for consumers. They get what they wanted and as a bonus they are "giving" to someone else. Unlike previous forms of "giving" they aren't just giving without getting anything in return other than satisfaction of happiness. Is the consumer really "giving" or have they just bought into the marketing spin?

What is interesting, is that this question is really unneccesary. Whether or not there is "spin" or a customer purchased for the "wrong" reasons, in the end through consumerism, we have a society and individuals have helped someone outside of ourselves. Cause Marketing can help get individuals who wouldn't usually be willing to help non-profits through giving the consumer, the giver, an immediate benefit that they see is valuable and instant. Giving for the sake of giving isn't enough sometimes, but giving and getting a pair of shoes for the same price? Sold.