Chain e-mail from disgruntled volunteer fundraiser
A chain e-mail criticising the corporate giving policy of Target Stores has emerged in the USA after a local Vietnam Veterans organisation asked for a donation.
The chain e-mail is unusual in that it is signed by its originator, Dick Forrey, a representive of the Howard County (Indiana) Vietnam Veterans organisation. In March 2002 he approached an employee at his local Target store and asked for a contribution to bring a Vietnam Memorial Wall exhibition to the area.
He was turned down, and subsequently experienced, in his view, contradictory information and discourteous advice. As he result he launched a chain e-mail campaign to try to persuade people to boycott Target Stores.
Advertisement
While e-mail has been used by consumer groups and campaigning organisations to protest against companies for several years, this is the first example that we have come across of a campaign, albeit misconceived, that criticises a company’s corporate giving policy.