"They" (I can't recall who the organization is, only that they're headquartered in Lakewood, NJ) don't overtly lie, but they aren't being fully transparent either. Yes, it's an orthodox Jewish organization, and yes, the net proceeds fund programs for orthodox Jewish kids of a particular sect. However, these Kars4Kids ads are not donated time, they're not PSA's, they are fully paid-for ad buys. Note that you generally don't hear their spots in prime time, because the methodology is to buy fringe-time at the lowest available rates. They're doing what hundreds of other bottom-feeder time buyers have done, shopped for the least expensive places to air their ads and then made them memorably through a jingle that's both an earworm and obnoxious beyond belief. But it does seem to work. Years later, they're still running variations of the original campaign.
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Sometimes, when I hear those ads, I think that there must be anti-Semites out there who are donating while unaware of just what they're donating to. And that bothers me because it reinforces the stereotypical image of the shrewd, unethical Jewish merchant victimizing the Christian. The Christian charities, as far as I can tell, are pretty much upfront when it comes to their causes and motivation, although I'm not sure if the aid the Christian Children's Fund offers is accompanied by proselytization or not.
You bring up a very important point in mentioning "bottom feeder" ad buyers. TV generally has very fixed commercial time in each hour or half hour, and if some of the time is not sold, anything that produces some money is better than Smoky the Bear and buckle-your-seatbelt AdCouncil spots.
The rates for such ads can be pennies on the dollar in some cases.
My own example: I launched a new format in what was market #12 on the 30th and 31st of December decades ago. That was a Saturday and a Sunday. In that market, after December 24 there was very little agency advertising at all... and the market was about 90% agency driven.
I had a TV spot ready to be delivered to the three main TV outlets, and early Friday the 29th I called my friends at each channel and said that I would buy an unsold avail in every break at five cents on the dollar. That's a 95% discount. I got over 300 Grips for less than $10,000.
That shows you how cheap those unsold last minute avails can go for.
It's very analogous to running an airline or a hotel. Once the doors close for the night, or the flight, there's no recovering the revenue from an empty room or seat. If anything, broadcasting is even worse than those industries. There's a fixed cost to someone occupying a room (changing the sheets and towels, a housekeeper replacing the soap, etc.) or a seat on a flight (the incremental fuel needed to transport that last passenger). In broadcasting, a :30 that goes for a PSA or a promo is 100% lost revenue, there's no cost avoidance to offset it at all.
Interesting side note about those Kars for Kids ads. One of the blind consumer organizations, the American Council of the Blind (ACB, of which I am a current member) looked at one point at investigating its larger rival, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), over this issue. Some ACB leaders believed that the Kars for Kids ads were a below-the-belt campaign run by NFB leadership. I did some initial checking on the NFB website, and I found that that organization was not happy with those Kars for Kids ads, either. This evening, however, is the first time I've learned that a wholly different organization from these two may have been responsible for those PSAs and that the intention of those PSAs has absolutely nothing to do with blind or visually impaired children at all.
Yes, in some senses. But stations don't have to fill stopsets so if they are undersold, they can do music sweeps or get back to music faster. An airline flight with fewer seats sold does not get to its destination faster.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
To go back to your own example, David, that was not the case with the television spot for your station launch in Puerto Rico (which was market #12 "decades ago"). Except for live programming such as newscasts, there is a fixed amount of commercial time based on program running time, so those stations took the minimal revenue instead of running a PSA.
In radio, local avails exist in syndicated programming, and if carried live those similarly have to be filled.
The only thing I appreciate about Kars 4 Kids is they don't mind when other people make fun of them. When their jingle was the theme song to Hell in the show The Good Place, they put the clip on their YouTube:
I've never heard the song, so I guess I'm lucky.
I was in an office today where I heard not only a station ID where someone said K-Love, but also both Charlotte area stations. I know I heard the letters WWLV and the frequency 94.1, and the frequency 91.9. I didn't actually hear WRCM but it must have been said.
I was in an office today where I heard not only a station ID where someone said K-Love, but also both Charlotte area stations. I know I heard the letters WWLV and the frequency 94.1, and the frequency 91.9. I didn't actually hear WRCM but it must have been said.
You are!
At certain times of the day on KCBS, it feels like it's "All Kars4Kids, All The Time" during the ad breaks.
It was novel the first couple dozen times I heard it, but I grew tired of it quickly. Now I mostly turn the radio down or off whenever I hear it.
c
So do I, and I'm sure most others do too. While too many ads in general is a huge negative, one has to wonder how much permanent damage the Kars4Kids ads specifically have caused to the number of people using radio. At what point does a person think to themselves, "I'm not touching radio anymore because I'm just guaranteed to get bombarded non-stop by this horrid ad that I hate beyond words?"
So Kars4kids is a non profit, right? And these are paid spots, not PSA's right? If this true than a good amount of the money being generated is not going to the kids, but their ad campaign instead. Something is not right here...
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Yes ... and no. As was pointed out earlier, they take "remnant" slots on last-minute buys at pennies on the rate card dollar.
Which one of the 12 pages, was when this was brought up? If it's the posts on this page, it still doesn't answer how much $ (percentage wise of what they take in) goes towards advertising. There are other non profits that do car donations and don't advertise for it with paid spots.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Maybe, maybe not.
In this era of relaxed regulation and rollback of what used to be required commitments to keep one's license come renewal time, PSAs are no longer automatic at a lot of stations ... especially in major markets. At one station group that I consult, they have a special low rate for government and non-profits, but they are still paid commercials. The three most active clients in that rate category is their city and county (events and employment openings), their state (promotion of consumer programs), and a couple of faith-based non-profits who advertise ...
-- wait for it --
... car donations.
One of the direct response agencies I work with has a campaign available by a well-known organization raising funds to fight cancer, and guess what their spot advertises? And the station gets $25 every time a listener in their area calls in and makes a donation.
Welcome to the modern version of "public service advertising". Most stations I know even restrict the usual Ad Council spots to filler between public affairs programs on Sunday morning.
As for which of the 12 pages, scroll back and look for yourself, please.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Most (if not all ... I can't keep track of it anymore) of those are per inquiry/direct response ads as well. No upfront payments to the stations, but they get a "commission" when a response comes from their listeners/viewers.
I just have a problem with the buying of donations, even though completely legal. For example, your station receives $25 for each listener that makes a donation, and that's no matter the amount, say it's a $50 donation? A non profit also has admin costs, paying some staff members, rent, etc.
I was advised once, that before donating to a non profit, find out first what percentage of it actually goes where it should. If less than 80 percent, forget it
I have looked online for an answer to this in regards to Kars4kids...nothing.
Since I'm the guilty party, you can start at post #189 for the full context, or for the Readers' Digest version, jump to #217 and read from there.
There's nothing that ordains that a charity can't use some of the money they raise to bootstrap even more donations. The question is, how much. I'd think that if you (the charity) can raise a dollar, and then put a dime of that dollar into bringing in another dollar, that might be smart. (Assuming your overhead is significantly less than 90 cents on the dollar, so some of that dollar still gets to what the charity exists for. If you put a quarter of that dollar towards more advertising, then they're probably running a scam. (Your exact numbers may vary, depending on the specific organization.) I've seen charities whose net receipts after fundraising costs (but before overhead) is as little as 14%, which to me screams fraud.
I always use this site, it’s the best for looking up info on charities:
www.charitynavigator.org
Charity Ratings and Donor Resources | Charity Navigator
Give and volunteer with confidence by using Charity Navigator's ratings and resources to find highly rated charities that align with your passions and values.
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