# How would you market a rubber bracelet for Katrina victims? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696 "2005-09-02T03:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/1 "2005-09-02T03:38:50Z")
I have no idea how to go about this personally and wouldn’t have time if I did, but I would love to see a series of rubber (or silicon) bracelets marketed for the Katrina victims. There could even be several of them: purple/green/yellow (the colors of Mardi Gras) earmarked for New Orleans, blue/red for Mississippi, red/white for Alabama, etc… They cost less than a quarter to produce and if sold for $2 each could raise millions very quickly. Does anybody know if there are plans to do this or who should be contacted? ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/2 "2005-09-02T03:42:50Z")
I don’t understand. Somebody who would pay $2 for a piece of plastic wouldn’t donate $2 for a good cause? Is it that the bracelets serve as a self-marketing product? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/3 "2005-09-02T04:51:08Z")
> [@groman](#): > > I don’t understand. Somebody who would pay $2 for a piece of plastic wouldn’t donate $2 for a good cause? Is it that the bracelets serve as a self-marketing product? Lance Armstrong’s foundation has raised over $25 million to date from the sale of these bracelets selling them at $1 per piece. Does this mean that 25 million people bought the bracelets who wouldn’t donate $1 for them? In some cases, perhaps, in others no, but it got the money rolling in and was a brilliant stroke in keeping awareness after the initial publicity on his foundation waned. Today the plight of those left homeless by Katrina is dominating the news, but a month from now… ? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/4 "2005-09-02T21:39:47Z")
There are lots of places that manufacture these wristbands. We just ordered a batch for our youth football team. They cost us about $1.35 a piece for 500. Looking at the catalog from the company we used, you’d have to order several thousand to get a unit price below $1.00. As \*\*groman \*\* suggested, I can’t imagine you could sell that many of them in such a short period of time, and even if you could, I’d bet you’d end up with far less money than if you simply collected donations. Nice idea, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/5 "2005-09-02T22:20:20Z")
There is an article in _The New York Times_, [In a Multitude of Forms, the Offers of Help Pour In](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02charity.html) that says a similar idea is already in progress. [quote=The New York Times] In Parkland, Fla., students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have ordered 4,000 strands of Mardi Gras beads they plan to sell for $2 each starting today in hopes of igniting a new fad to rival the ubiquitous yellow rubber “Livestrong” bracelets. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/6 "2005-09-02T23:26:22Z")
Actually, I mentioned it to a friend who, I didn’t know, has a friend who does PR for the Red Cross. They liked the idea so much they’ve ordered 50,000 of them. (If we could get Wal-Mart to sell them, THEN we’d be talking Oprah money.) ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/7 "2005-09-03T01:53:12Z")
Out of curiosity, has anyone compiled a list of the various national Livestrong copycats? I swear, some people will give money for anything as long as they get a pretty wristband in the deal. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/8 "2005-09-03T03:05:11Z")
> [@Catalyst](#): > > Out of curiosity, has anyone compiled a list of the various national Livestrong copycats? I swear, some people will give money for anything as long as they get a pretty wristband in the deal. Very true. I have a glow-in-the-dark Children’s Miracle Network on right now. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-market-a-rubber-bracelet-for-katrina-victims/319696/9 "2005-09-03T03:20:53Z")
I just want to pre-emptively say that I don’t oppose raising money for hurricane victims in this manner and that I’m not comparing hurricane charity efforts to the more trivial of wristband-selling organizations. I’m mostly just amused by the people I see walking around with five different bands on each wrist. In any case, it’s walk-a-thons that really make me scratch my head. I could never figure out the train of thought of people who make per-mile donations; “Sure, I’ll give some money … if you’ll walk around this track for a few hours.”