Cause Marketing Solutions-- Helping America's Wounded Soldiers and helping themselves (but maybe not in that order?)

I was going to let this dog lie, but then someone said something stupid to me and got me riled up-- so here we go.

A couple of nights ago, I stumble across this group (Cause Marketing Solutions) selling entertainment coupon books ($30) and discount cards ($10) for a national pizza chain. What caught my eye was that the sales were to help wounded soldiers. Now, whatever my opinion of the current war in Iraq might be, I consider helping US wounded soldiers to be a good thing-- so this is a win-win. I eat lots of pizza anyway (probably too much), and my money goes to help people who need it, so I wind up buying one of their $10 pizza discount cards.

Later on, I read the small print on the back of the card, and discover this:

"CMS makes a 25 cent contribution to the NWBA from the sales of this product."

So, basically-- $9.75 of my purchase goes to parties unknown (presumably to CMS and their partners in this promotion), and a measly $0.25 goes to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. $0.25!?

The card also has further disclaimers on it, including:

"CMS is not responsible for any misleading representation of this product at the time of sale."

And my personal favorite:

"Sales representatives are independent contractors and are not controlled by CMS."

Okay, to be fair-- my fault for not reading all the small print BEFORE I made my purchase. I know better for next time, and will just make contributions directly to organizations so they get my full $10. I don't think Cause Marketing Solutions or their "independent contractors" were misleading, but they certainly aren't the angels and saviors we might think them to be, either.

But, wait-- it gets better.

So, today, I happen to stumble across the same group, and one of the ladies recognizes me. We strike up a conversation and she even remembers that I purchased one of the pizza discount cards. At this point, I'm thinking kudos to her for actually remembering one of her customers-- because most people can't be bothered to remember anything past the point in time where money is exchanged.

That's when she looks me in the eye and says, "So, what was your tired excuse for not buying one of our coupon books?" I think my eyebrows must have jumped off of my forehead at this point, because I couldn't believe she actually had the nerve to say that to me. Before I can even respond, she makes some remark about "I'm only kidding with you . . . " in that entirely unconvincing tone that people use when they really mean, "Ha, ha, only kidding serious."

I wound up excusing myself from the conversation and leaving, because the urge to start yelling to everyone within ear shot about how small the amount of each purchase made from CMS actually went to wounded soldiers was getting overpowering.