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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that Shoe Aid to Africa is a dumb idea?

2 replies

Himalaya · 30/10/2010 21:45

(not sure what the MN policy on criticising advertisers on site is, but I'll give it a go...).

Currently advertising on banner ads here and in schools is 'Shoe Aid for Africa' a campaign being promoted by Kiwi (the shoe polish people) to get kids to donate their second hand shoes which will then be transported to 'Africa' (actually Mozambique and South Africa) where they will be handed out to 'transform children's lives'.

This is a dumb idea if you want to help people, for so many reasons... Like you can already buy locally made, imported or second hand shoes in many places, like if there really is a shoelessness problem the best way to solve it isn't likely to be by dumping a load of old shoes in a community and making business harder for local shoe sellers, like if second hand shoes could really 'transform children's lives' you'd have thought someone else would have noticed, like Africa is a continent and this might be a good thing for British school kids to know etc...

In fact the only thing this campaign seems good for is Kiwi's brand feel good factor.

OP posts:
MaMoTTaT · 30/10/2010 21:53

\link{http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/issues/trade/downloads/research_shc.pdf\Oxfam artcle on the Second Hand Clothes market} and the impact in 3rd world countries.

It's not all bad news, and much of the bad news isn't made by the SHC industry - but by, guess what, cheap Chinese imports.

but yes - many really are shoeless and can't get good quality shoes easily.

Himalaya · 30/10/2010 22:16

The second hand clothes industry can be a good thing. But this isn't the second hand clothes industry - which pays for itself, is responsive to what people want and creates jobs for local people trading in SHC.

This is Kiwi using it's marketing budget to pay for second hand shoes to be handed out for free - and telling school kids in the UK that this is good aid.

If there is a problem with people not being able to get high quality shoes, it is not obvious that a once a year shoe drop will do anything to solve that.

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