Read The Glamourai "Jewels For Japan" article HERE
Before I vent, I want everyone reading this to understand that I love and follow Kelly Framel of The Glamourai and I appreciate that she is contributing some(10%) of the money that she will receive from the sales of the jewelery she will sell towards the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief fund, she is doing so much more than some people (myself included) BUT this strikes me as a "Buy-my-jewelery-to-show-that-you-support-Japan" advert which in turn comes across as those ever dreaded, "Forward-to-ten-people-or-God-will-kill-your-loved-ones" emails. Emotional blackmail much? One blogger even commented and said "any good intention that you had behind this post is shaded by the fact that you will be ultimately profiting from this disaster."
Let me state that she did provide a link for people (who did not feel inclined to shop) to donate directly to the Red Cross fund but I am still shaking my head at her for trying to profit from other people's suffering.
Again, this leads me the initial point I wanted to state, let us refrain from cashing in on the disaster that befell Japan.!! Donate money from the goodness of your heart not because you want to push sales for your own personal gain and benefit.
OH MY GOD!!!! She did not!!!!! she's one of my fave bloggers and now i just dont like her anymore!! uuurrrghhhh
ReplyDeleteDUDE!!! I was just as shocked as you sound. I still love her though LOL.! I think the intentions were sincere but it did not come out right. Still can't believe she did it though, wish she hadn't.
ReplyDeleteI just did. Will add you blog to my blog list. Too amazing. Its exurbs art, I love it. Thank you so much for reading my blog, it means so much to me. :-)
ReplyDeletei like that
ReplyDelete"work hard and shop harder"
I love that Rhee-ne. "work hard and shop harder", gonna be using it a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you acknowledged that she is already doing more than you yourself are, should have been the end of your post.
ReplyDeleteIt's an incentive so people are encouraged to donate, albeit not directly. Yes, she profits from it but like you said, she also brings forth the notion of donating directly to the disaster if people don't want to go about it through shopping.
Save the self-righteous crap, it's demeaning the people suffering in Japan. Especially since you admit you're not doing much about it -- except blogging to trash someone else's efforts.
Christina, thank you for reading my blog and for your comment but hun, you are SOOOOO missing the point of that post.
ReplyDelete1.It is by no means self righteous, if it were, I wouldn't have acknowledged all the good things The Glamourai is doing in this regard.
2. The point, as you OBVIOUSLY missed, is that fashionistas should not cash in on the suffering of the Japanese people. If you are going to donate just do it, do not add the "buy this and I will donate this" tag to it. With that said, I do think if you are going to be buying jewelery anyway, you might as well do it for a good cause where you know that the proceeds are going to be put to good use.
3. Trashing her efforts?? Ummmmm OK! Did I not say I appreciate that Kelly is donating the 10% to Red Cross?? Or did you choose to ignore that before posting your comment?? Had I been trashing her efforts, I would not have stated the facts as they are, including the link to donate directly to Red Cross and that she DID post it on her blog as well. Also, I would not have mentioned the fact that she is doing more than some of us are! Since when is stating a personal opinion trashing someone's efforts??! *Baffled* Just like you, I do happen to have an opinion and unlike you, I state the facts then voice my opinion (which, in case you were wondering, is MY very OWN personal view). Re-read the post and you will get what the bone of contention is.
4. I still stand by my initial statement " Let us refrain from cashing in on the disaster that befell Japan."
I appreciate your different view on this, it is refreshing but calling my own views "self-righteous crap" and "blogging to trash someone else's efforts" is something else.
I agree with you!
ReplyDeleteKelly certainly had good intentions, but yes, it did come across more as a plug for her jewelry. It is more of a "if you were on the fence about purchasing before, know now that 10% of your purchase will go to Japan when you purchase" marketing technique than an actual plea to help Japan, no strings attached.
And it is free enterprise in the U.S.; she's perfectly allowed to do that, but given the price of her pieces to many people it will become an either/or proposition. Many people may have only the funds to buy one of her pieces (with 10% going to Japan), OR donate that amount to a relief organization. Ideally it would be wonderful if people did BOTH, but how many will now not donate the amount they intended to the NGO - because they bought a jewelry piece with a small amount going to the relief effort anyway (as they might rationalize)?
But SOMETHING is better than nothing, and Kelly donating even 10%, and sharing this on her blog to urge people to think about donating - is laudable and more than so many other fashion bloggers are doing. Sure, her efforts could be better, but so could many of ours.
After donating funds to Save the Children and the American Red Cross, I began to think about adding that any sales in my Etsy would have a portion of the proceeds donated to the relief effort in Japan. But I decided not to since I did not want to take anyone's money for one of my pieces, bought via using the tragedy in Japan for my own personal gain. It would be tainted money to me, and I just couldn't do that.
I simply put up a link to donate to the Red Cross under my blog header, and a link to an organization that is collecting new socks and care notes to hand directly to the survivors in the temporary shelters. (And I've drawn much criticism for simply donating money in the first place, and donating socks and a heartfelt letter of support afterwards. Critics are saying I should do less, I should do more...yada yada yada. It's unbelievable how many people who do NOTHING love to tell other people what to do!)
If you have still not done anything yet and feel the urge to help, please do so - donating to organizations such as Mercy Corps, Save the Children, and the Japanese Red Cross - or donating blood, if you're into that - or a letter of caring and a new pair of socks. Someone out there in a ravaged country will truly appreciate it!
See my post about the Socks for Japan effort here (http://www.chic-steals.com/2011/03/socks-for-japan.html) if you are interested at all...
xoxox
Carly
Hi Carly,
ReplyDeleteYou and I are of the same views. After I posted this, I did not want come across as those people who just do nothing and criticize what others are doing. I donated my last R100(South African Rands) to the Japan Relief Disaster Funding (http://www.disasterfunding.org/Relief.html)and would still rather have done that than do it through buying expensive jewelery.
I do support good causes that help others even through my blog. There is a tab that I put up on the right pane of this blog. "Keep A Child Alive" and it donates ARV treatment to fellow African children and that is one organization very dear to my heart.
I will read your post on Socks For Japan and may God bless you for helping.
"The fact that you acknowledged that she is already doing more than you yourself are, should have been the end of your post."
ReplyDeletechristina, i am with you!
no words for people who are criticizing kelly for doing this. its hilarious bc we all are still spending money on clothes, bags, shoes.... we did in the past and we will in the future. no matter what happens. we should think about the people in japan and not how much others are donating (especially if we only complain but havent done ANYTHIG yet to help!). i dont care if kelly makes a bit profit from this or not. she still IS HELPING!
Marie, we are all entitled to our own opinions. The fact that Kelly has never been disputed on this blog! Anyhoo,moving swiftly along.
ReplyDeleteYou critique Kelly, but used her high traffic blog as a platform to direct people to your own.
ReplyDeleteNice.
Yeah nice, now build a bridge and get over it.
ReplyDeleteEwwww. My first and last visit to this blog.
ReplyDeleteNothing is stopping you honey. Thanks for popping by. :-)
ReplyDelete