I Got Sold Out by Co-Op America
Ariela Haro von Mogel May 7th, 2008
So several years ago while in college, one of my Sociology professors raved about a charity called Co-op America. Co-op America is a social justice and environmental organization. They even have their own version of the Yellow Pages called the “Green Pages” for environmental and socially responsible businesses and services. So about two years ago, I decided to donate $20 to them. This seemed to be on one of my whims. Initially, I was quite pleased with the results. I got their Green Pages and a lot of information about microloans – which I was very interested in investing money into.
Then came the catalogs. Aaahh, I kept getting this catalog produced by a company called Gaia that features Co-op America approved products. As much as I respect what organizations like this do, 99.9% of the products were good old fashioned bull plop. Bull plop I tells you! The products were aimed at bougie (shorthand for bourgeois), mostly white, middle to upper class Americans with way to much money and worry on their hands. The catalog had this love-hate relationship with chemicals and technology, promoting the latest gizmo for good health and longevity, while at the same time trying to go back to “the way things used to be” and condemning the traditional American way of life. While I agree the American way of life is wasteful and should be changed, these Co-op America approved products are giving you a mixed message. And the ubiquitous use of the phrase “chemical free” is incredibly misleading. EVERYTHING has chemicals. Everything. When they say “chemical free,” they mean harsh, artificial or potentially hazardous chemicals to humans and other life forms. I wish they would specify what they meant. Even so, a chemical free sunblock (whatever that means) may not be effective at guarding off UVA/UVB rays. It may not have been approved by the ADA and is essentially a waste of money.
It gets better. For the past two years, I have gotten reams of unsolicited mail from a ton of other charities asking for money. I don’t remember ever telling Co-op America that they have the right to give out my info. Maybe it said so in the fine print when I donated $20. Either way, it’s f’d up! I finally got fed up with having all this crap in my mail box and called Co-op America. I know for a fact that the only place I have ever donated money to is Co-op America. I have given blood to Red Cross, but I have never gotten anything in the mail related to what the Red Cross does. I keep getting all this mail from environmental and social justice organizations – and I know it’s from Co-op America. They essentially descended on me like locusts.
So I called Co-op America at their Washington D.C. headquarters and told them the deal. First, they denied that all that junk mail was because of them. Then, after explaining to them again that they are the only charity I have ever given money to, and all the unsolicited mail came right after it, they said, oh yes, we do sell our customers’ information. Well, what do you know?! I also complained about getting that Gaia catalog with all the aforementioned questionable products. They didn’t have much to say to me about that one – only that it’s not produced by them. They then apologized that all the junk mail I am getting is because of them. They took me off of their mailing list and suppressed my information, meaning that no other charities can have it.
I told them very bluntly that this marketing tactic can have adverse effects for their cause. It turns off a lot of people. It makes them never want to give money to a charity again. It’s an aggressive tactic that does not look good on them. They said that historically speaking, this tactic has worked very well for getting across a message and it recruits a lot of new people who would not otherwise have heard of their organization. While that may be true, it doesn’t mean they should sell people’s information without their express permission. There is nothing about that that is laudable. And I for one will never again give money to Co-op America. Oh, and for kicks, I told them it was kind of funny and ironic that environmental organizations waste so much paper and resources sending off all this junk mail and hawking frivolous products in their catalogs.
Finally, as an added bonus, the folks at Co-op America told me to call all those charities that have been bugging me in the mail and tell them to stop sending me stuff. Great, now I have to spend a whole bunch of time tracking down exactly which charities have been doing this and tell them to stop. But if they bought my info. from Co-op America, they could very well sell my information again to other, needy charities. Yowzers! This thing just proliferates and doesn’t stop getting bigger. I told Co-op America that I’d rather not track down and halt the mess that they made, thankyou very much. I’d like to think in my delusional little head, that after not giving these places money, they may stop bothering me.
I guess this teaches me a lesson. Be careful who you give your money to. They might just run off with it and bug you relentlessly for the next two years. I guess I’ll just stick to giving blood to the Red Cross for now.
This post has been Co-op America approved!
