An Ounce of Prevention

The diet itself isn’t a scam — but the marketing around it sure is. The sensational claims and aggressive e-mail campaign play on the public’s deep desire for a quick fix and expose Prevention’s apparent belief that it can slap a new face onto an old idea and simply exclamation-point its malleable readers into buying — and buying into — it. And it probably can. But at what cost? Googling a little more deeply, I found a whole lot of folks who feel that Prevention sullied its good rep by inundating its readers with these clearly over-the-top claims. No, you can’t sell a magazine by proclaiming month after month, “No New News! Eating Right and Exercising Still the Key to Good Health!” But come on. There has to be a happy medium.

As you dig deeper and extend your reach further to find more donor dollars in a worsening economy, be careful about who and what you align your organization with. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Don’t pretend to be new and improved. Don’t play your donors like mindless pawns. In the case of nonprofit organizations, an ounce of Prevention (-like tactics) could well be worth a lifetime of donor trust issues. Why risk it?

Margaret Battistelli
Editor-in-Chief
mbattistelli@napco.com