The Afterschool Alliance (www.afterschoolnow.org), supported by the Ad Council and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, are running a public service ad campaign that appears to ridicule Masters swimmers. According to Alliance’s website, “These PSAs use humor to communicate the importance of taking action to support afterschool programs. The campaign includes TV and radio spots, newspaper ads, billboards, web banners and more.”
One print ad has a facial portrait of a smiling, senior gentleman in a pool, obviously a happy swimmer, with swimming goggles on. Superimposed over the portrait are the following words: “There’s nothing more REFRESHING than neglecting our nation’s YOUTH.” At the bottom, the ad continues to say: “When I don’t support afterschool programs, I feel so relaxed and carefree. It’s like I’m doing nothing at all! Unless you call depriving 15 million kids something…”
You can download a copy of the ad from the following website:
www.afterschoolnow.org/print_ads.cfm
Parents
Former Member
The thing that bothers me most about these advertisements is the assumption that adults owe other people's children, and specifically this organization, their time and/or money. It's as if this group is saying you have a debt to pay that is akin to child support payments, and it seems to regard adults who choose not to volunteer their time much the same as deadbeat dads.
The problem with their mindset is that there is no duty to help anyone. If you choose to help, you do it out of your own desire to give, out of the goodness of your heart (or perhaps out of a desire for self-congratulation, in the case of some--but mostly out of goodness). People will often give gladly of their time and money when asked politely; but to demand it as something they owe will be offensive even to those people who would otherwise jump at the opportunity to do some good.
Where this approach truly fails is that, by treating it as a duty that most are ignoring, it diminishes the value of volunteerism from those who DO choose to give their time. It says to them, "Oh, thanks for the effort, but you were supposed to do it anyway." Under the line of thought they seem to be suggesting, to be justified in being proud of your efforts, you'd have to devote your life to a cause. Those who give of themselves deserve to be held in better regard than that.
Furthermore, this organization's approach ignores all the other worthy causes to which one may devote one's efforts. It seems to say that someone who volunteers for the homeless, works for environmental preservation or builds houses for Habitat for Humanity still hasn't fulfilled his "duty" to children. With the sheer number of organizations that want your time and money, it demonstrates extraordinary arrogance for one group to take this sort of position with the people it wants involved.
I'm disgusted by the whole thing, and like others here I emailed them to tell them so. So far I haven't seen a response; but if the arrogance of their advertisements is any indication, I doubt I will.
The thing that bothers me most about these advertisements is the assumption that adults owe other people's children, and specifically this organization, their time and/or money. It's as if this group is saying you have a debt to pay that is akin to child support payments, and it seems to regard adults who choose not to volunteer their time much the same as deadbeat dads.
The problem with their mindset is that there is no duty to help anyone. If you choose to help, you do it out of your own desire to give, out of the goodness of your heart (or perhaps out of a desire for self-congratulation, in the case of some--but mostly out of goodness). People will often give gladly of their time and money when asked politely; but to demand it as something they owe will be offensive even to those people who would otherwise jump at the opportunity to do some good.
Where this approach truly fails is that, by treating it as a duty that most are ignoring, it diminishes the value of volunteerism from those who DO choose to give their time. It says to them, "Oh, thanks for the effort, but you were supposed to do it anyway." Under the line of thought they seem to be suggesting, to be justified in being proud of your efforts, you'd have to devote your life to a cause. Those who give of themselves deserve to be held in better regard than that.
Furthermore, this organization's approach ignores all the other worthy causes to which one may devote one's efforts. It seems to say that someone who volunteers for the homeless, works for environmental preservation or builds houses for Habitat for Humanity still hasn't fulfilled his "duty" to children. With the sheer number of organizations that want your time and money, it demonstrates extraordinary arrogance for one group to take this sort of position with the people it wants involved.
I'm disgusted by the whole thing, and like others here I emailed them to tell them so. So far I haven't seen a response; but if the arrogance of their advertisements is any indication, I doubt I will.
