The Washington Post did a story on how a former WWE ring announcer sought out a child fan and found he had cancer. WWE not only got the child meetings with his favorite wrestler, but actually inducted the child, Connor “The Crusher” Michalek into its Hall-of-Fame. The ring announcer states WWE’s motivations in touting its relationship with the child were less than pure:
Stephanie McMahon of World Wide Entertainment (WWE) claims the future of marketing is in philanthropy:
“philanthropy is the future of marketing, it’s the way brands r going 2 win” –@biz Stone co-founder @twitter#WWEBPSpic.twitter.com/KEI3i4zdbg
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
You know, we’re not terrible with this. They used the child’s predicament to enhance their brand image, but you know, they didn’t have to do anything. They made the child, who is since deceased, happy.
Isn’t that the bottom line?
Do we really think that people like William Gates aren’t thinking they are creating future consumers of their products … or future talent for their corporations … when they take part in philanthropic actions? I’m not bad with that. It’s better than a company that does nothing for anyone and claims anyone who doesn’t like it isn’t a capitalist.
