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Last week closed with a violent feud between the New York-based Village Voice and Ashton Kutcher, who has joined the ranks of celebrity philanthropists. The Voice, which has been under attack for continuing to allow users to post ads advertising adult services, pointed out in their cover story last week that the numbers Kutcher uses to rally support for his foundation are grossly exaggerated, leading the star to retaliate by contacting its advertisers on Twitter accusing the publication of being a "Digital Brothel" that profits from the "sale of Human Beings."
Cover of the LA Weekly.
It got ugly, and it did neither the Voice, previously honored by the Society of Professional Journalists for their often incisive coverage, nor the Demi and Ashton Foundation (DNA) any favors.
CELEBRITY AID
Celebrities can bring a lot of attention to issues, an important factor in raising awareness. Unfortunately, the eagerness to lend their name to a cause too often results in new organizations that don't understand the problems they're trying to address well enough to help, and which waste millions on hopeless projects that take funding away from established organizations that are better equipped and better informed about the problem.
Such was the case of Raising Malawi, Madonna's effort to secure education for 400 girls in the African country, which in March confirmed that it was abandoning its original vision amid claims that the $18 million raised for the school had been grossly mismanaged.
That's not to say that all celebrity aid is bad, certainly we have examples of stars that have become involved with a cause and managed to make some degree of impact. Sean Penn's efforts in Haiti stand as a rare example of success.
Over a year after the quake that shook its foundations, Haiti remains devastated, with 1.5 million of its displaced inhabitants still living in camps. Much of the international relief effort has been riddled with roadblocks and dysfunction and, according to the New York Times, less than half of the $5.8 billion pledged for recovery has been dispersed and less than half of that has actually gone to help those afflicted.
The difference between Madonna's and Penn's efforts comes down to a few simple things: Penn had no preconceived notions. He didn't rely on some philanthropic authority to navigate his effort (in fact, he parted with philanthropist and entrepreneur Diana Jenkins, who had pledged a million dollars to his cause because he didn't agree with her decisions once he was on the ground). He had no idea what he was doing and he knew it, so he went in and learned the way things were being done as he went along, brainstorming and offering solutions when things didn't seem to work. One such solution is his organization's rubble removal program, which has been so successful that other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have taken it as a model.
Since he touched down, Penn's aid group J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which upon arrival was comprised largely of foreign medics, now includes 235 local Haitians, 15 international workers and hundreds of volunteers who work on rotation. The group has coordinated sanitation, lighting, water and safety at their camp, which today houses some 50,000 people. They also run two hospitals, a women's health center, a cholera isolation unit, and a 24-hour emergency room, featuring one of the most effective emergency response systems in the country.
The guy's living in a tent. There is no golf club membership here (as the director of Madonna's school was found to have been granted). Penn's in it hands on, learning about what to do from the people who are doing it and working to ensure that the best is made of every available resource given to him. When the New York Times wrote about Madonna's effort, they reported neither she nor her aides had an explanation as to how the mission went sour, suggesting that despite frequent trips and photo-ops, the star was no real involvemen in the project.
BRAND AID
The past couple of decades have seen an increase in activism involving our own wallets. In 2008, I joined the Coalition for Immokalee Workers, the Student/Farmworker Alliance, the Campaign for Fair Food and a host of other groups protesting Chipotle for the abuses that occurred on the fields where their tomatoes are picked. In 2009, following marches, rallies and letters, Chipotle agreed to pay that extra penny per pound of tomatoes to its farmworkers.
Even before this incredible example of successful economic pressure, consumers have known that they
