Buy one give one away

"Buy one, give it away", is a landmark policy of shoe brand "TOMS", who, whenever a pair of shoes are bought, donate another pair of shoes to charity. 

Lisa Jones Christensen, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at The University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, said this in the Daily Telegraph newspaper in October 2010:

In a typical "buy one, get one free" arrangement, the benefit accrues only to the buyer, she says. "With the TOMS model, you generate something for someone else while also advancing your own fashion."

When customers purchase shoes, they "can let TOMS finish out the final mile of their own good intentions," says Christensen. Then, every time a customer slips on a pair of Classics, Cordones, or Stitchouts, he gets a reminder of the contribution he's made to the world.

"It is a model where the consumer can continue to reap satisfaction as the shoe gets worn. Most other consumption causes a decrease in satisfaction, as products become obsolete and head towards landfill."

As a result, the giveaways, though costly, increase customer satisfaction and deepen loyalty. TOMS's social mission – providing shoes to the needy – isn't a tender nicety. It's integral to the competitive logic of the company.

This, in effect, sums up the idea of "Buy one, give one away"; that the consumer is drawn into buying the shoes because of what they are doing to help charity and that TOMS shoes are not necessarily carrying out this policy out of good will, but instead to play on the minds of the Western Societies to gain customers, even if this forces them to lose profit.

I chose this slide because I really am amazed at the the way that the Western Societies are now prepared to buy products by certain brands not because of their quality, but instead to help people in poverty.

  

Dave - the TV channel

I am sure that every one of you, in some sort of manic depression, have gone mad and flicked the channel over to Dave; a television channel where programmes are all basically old episodes of other channel's programmes, such as ancient copies of BBC One's "Have I Got News For You" or BBC two's "Mock the Week." Also, Top Gear is more frequently shown on Dave than any other show (according to me anyway.) And what's more, when Dave do make a programme of their own, it is always some hardly hilarious stand up comedy night that tends to be shown from 10:00 to midnight!
But, perhaps it is a good channel; it acts like a sort of advanced iplayer, if you like. So, if you miss an episode of Top Gear or Dragons Den, as long as you watch Dave about 6 million years later, you can catch it. I am not suggesting that this is the almighty solution to all your television related problems, but it helps out on quite a few of them anyway. Well, even if these reasons do not satisfy you, just remember that it could be worse; you could watching channel Five!