Vote Beilein/Chad Tough

I'm not a fan at all of corporate sponsorhips of charities paired with marketing/branding efforts.  They may be a necessary evil, but it does smack of being cheesy.

Case-in-point, I've got very conflicted feelings about "Ronald McDonald House" charities placed around the country.  It's great that McDonald's is sponsoring these facilities, but it would be even better if they did not use them as a branding opportunity.

It puts people in vulnerable situations in an uncomfortable situation of tacitly endorsing a corporation they may have no affection for (or no particular feelings).  Yet it's hard to say the world is worse-off for this sort of corporate sponsorship.  In most cases it's a net-positive, but I do find some of the sponsorship coming off as crass.

Further to that, I've always had a deep respect for Mike Ilitch's approach, which has been to support several charities but not as marketing activities.  (My opinion is based on his 1980s and 1990s charitable activity - it's possible the approach has changed.)  I recall that some of those works became public years after he had provided the support, and all indications were that Ilitch was supporting those charities because it was the right thing to do, rather than to bolster his businesses' image.