For the past week or so it seems like I've been inundated by e-mail inviting me to donate now and help end MS. Well, that would be cool, wouldn't it? Right now, they say, we are closer to ending MS than ever before! (The exclamation mark is theirs.) They couldn't say that if it weren't true, could they? The missive I got this morning says if I donate by midnight tonight I will help accelerate their efforts to end MS forever. Imagine that. I'd better hurry. Wouldn't want to miss the midnight deadline; maybe they stop accepting donations.
Psssh.
I don't mean to rag on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. They do a lot of good stuff, and I've taken advantage of their services on several occasions over the years. I realize that if they want to accomplish anything, they have to raise money. I know that. Services cost money. Research costs big money. They obviously don't know that MS already costs me plenty. How could they? How could they know that every nickel I spend on this stupid disease feels like money down a rat hole? And that apparently bottomless rat hole, my friends, has taken a lot of my nickels.
Although it totally hacks me off, I can almost ignore the tone of their communications. Some marketing/PR person probably spent a long time on the wording of those solicitations. They were probably reviewed and scrutinized and tested on focus groups. They can't help it if I don't belong to their target audience. I never liked writing that stuff, I was never any good at it, and I really don't like reading it. It sets off my manipulation detectors. Exclamation marks make me suspicious.
I'm waiting for the point of this post to become apparent, and starting to think it's not gonna happen. I don't know why this makes me so cranky. It just does.
The MS Society wants me to donate?
Nah. I don't think so. I spend enough on MS already.
Posts
Hello world!
10 months ago
I get MS donation letters all the time, in my regular mail and email. I too understand the need for funding, but to tell you the truth...I don't agree on the type of resarch they fund, nor the big salaries their head honchos get.
ReplyDeleteI want my donation dollars to go elsewhere...like, CCSVI research and myelin repair, I'm not sending my money to the MS Society.
Cheers,
Karen
Boy do I agree with you on that one!! I try to join the MS Society each year and I have done the walk for the past 3 years. but I think I have been getting daily emails. It needs to stop!! I'm not even reading them, just getting annoyed!
ReplyDeleteHope all is well!
I was just gonna write about something similar. I received a reminder to renew my "support". At first read it seriously looked like I would not be a member of the MS society if I did not pay a min of $25 bucks.
ReplyDeleteOh heck I might just scan it and do a post.
Good thing I am a Grinch.
Exclamation marks make me suspicious...
ReplyDeleteWell! Here's a bunch just for you.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL