Brand Name Non-profits

Kate forwarded me this article on newscaster outfits in Haiti. It’s something I don’t think about often, but when I do, I remember that things like branding, wardrobe, and design can send a powerful if implicit message about intention and purpose.

“No one is focusing on the semiotics of fashion” in a disaster, said Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. “But there’s an important function, when people are desperate for some kind of infrastructure, in someone wearing a white coat or some kind of quasiuniform.”

Though we’re talking about people getting signs and signals from clothes, I think the function of uniforms and dress is relevant to a discussion of non-profit appearances and people’s unconscious attitudes toward particular non-profits.

I’ve been thinking a lot about non-profit branding and brand recognition. The Red Cross is the most obvious example of a powerful and very visible non-profit brand. Maria Cicci told me she remembers seeing the logo on all sorts of relief supplies in Thailand after the tsunami and after disasters the Red Cross seems to be the go to non-profit for private donations. They are also recipients of fundraising from telethons and corporate efforts, and this is not really an accident. They are huge, spending over $143,000 on fundraising alone last year, and deeply connected the US government—the President of the US appoints eight of its fifty board members and is the board’s honorary chairperson.

Habitat for Humanity too is a huge and widely recognized non-profit and what’s interesting to me is not so much whether the big non-profits do good work but the sense of security and confidence these brands inspire. Bear with me because I don’t have much knowledge about branding and its psychology. I’m sure for many this is obvious, but I’ll try to base it in my own experiences and observations so that it’s not too elementary.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve met several Habitat homeowners for whom the fact that they were getting a “Habitat home” meant something. It was an assurance that the structure would be built, and you know what it costs, you know the terms of your 30-year, no-interest, loan, you know what it’s going to look like—especially in New Orleans where the Habitat home is becoming a staple of local architecture in some areas. In a city where thousands of homeowners have been taken by contractor fraud brand security is going to become more important.

Likewise, as a volunteer, when you come to Habitat, you know what to expect. Or at least think you do—different affiliate branches probably run things differently. I don’t know but would be interested to hear if that’s the case. Either way, the idea that appearances and brands send particular implicit messages to audiences and survivor communities in times of disaster demonstrates how disaster relief and community service—charity itself—is a complex and well-orchestrated business and the services provided are in direct response to the expectations of a particular audience or community.

This is true of the news as well. Hence the branding and the clothing:

“We know the rules of what journalists look like have changed a lot,” Ms. Steele said. They have shifted from the military style favored by, say, John Hersey, who was pictured on a United States postage stamp in a combat helmet and uniform. “That’s simply a part of where society in general is going,” she added, referring to the shift away from formality and the hierarchies suggested by wise old owls like Walter Cronkite, with their sandy mustaches, their elbow patches and pipes, toward sexy entertainment news and correspondents with “that international superstar journalist look.”

So the change in newscaster appearance suggests we’re looking for more sexiness and entertainment—kind of creepy things to be prioritizing in coverage of an earthquake that may have killed as many as 150,000 people, but whatever, it’s subliminal, news organizations are gross, we’ve been over it. But I want to know, what are we desperate for? If we don’t need to see journalists with authority or wisdom, what does the Anderson Cooper effect suggest about our needs and desires as an audience?

And then, what can we conclude about the needs of groups of people—donors in particular—based on the messaging and branding of aid organizations?

Especially considering that in New Orleans, it’s private non-profits that are doing a substantial amount of the visible rebuild and social service work. Government funded at times, but if you need your house rebuilt, you don’t call HUD and if you’re in town for the weekend you don’t volunteer with the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency.

Advertisement