feeling good is just one app away

I've seen Brian's article  on Kraft FB app, and went to Kraft's site to read more about their charitable efforts. After clicking on the "Community Involvement" link, the following page [not found] was displayed. Well, so much for it. While it's always awesome to hear about corporations' charitable efforts, I wonder what happens when Facebook becomes a place for them. Apparently, the idea works (alleged "more than 25,000" people added the application thus far). You can also fight global warming by adding (Lil) Green Patch, but since there's no brand behind it, it's a different story (still, I am tempted: the app - just imagine! - saved 96,124,167 Sq ft of Rainforest). Seemingly, social activism has never been easier (doesn't even require leaving the house). So, what is really going on here? In case of the Kraft app, I call it "social-activism-as-a-marketing-gimmick". First, it seems that - in their effort to feel good (no blame), people find it exceptionally convenient to delegate [their] social responsibility. Where? Well, to the brand, where the whole thing starts from and ends with (the brand created the application). So - um - it is about the brand. The possible outcomes of the Kraft's app thing in this case are: brand recognition, a short-terms sales lift (always a tricky one), or (yes) the number of meals distributed. I bet on the first one). Second, it is really not a giant surprise that a community involvement initiative is going to succeed on a social networking site. People want to feel good; and they want to feel socially responsible. And, who better than other people is going to provide a more valid confirmation of this? There is no easier way to achieve the validation by others than by merely doing add+send some "let's save the world" app. In this case, what is called a "cause marketing" seems to me as nothing more than - yet another - brands' effort to capitalize on people's social habits (in this case, "do-good" ones. And honestly, I can see that brands feel that with these ones, they uncovered a giant bag of dollars).  It is not impossible to combine a brand with community involvement & social causes. Designing a system of action that creates opportunity for people to DO something socially responsible is an option. Very smart people Lee Maschmeyer and Nancy King write about this in more detail (and with considerably more knowledge) on their awesome blogs, Transformation Design (Lee) and See Change Happen (Nancy). Both of them work in digital marketing, and no, neither of them talks about a FB app.