The Great Disconnect: When the Media, Mission, and Management of Humanitarian Responses are Misaligned: Through the Lens of the 2010 Haitian Earthquake
Date
4-9-2022
Location
Schewel 2nd Floor Lobby
Description
The response to the 2010 Haitian earthquake was one of the biggest successes in nonprofit and humanitarian marketing, but also one of the biggest failures in aid delivery. The Red Cross alone was able to raise nearly 500 million dollars through their campaigns, about half of Haiti’s total national budget at the time. With that money they did very little of what they had promised. After five years, the Red Cross had only built six permanent houses. What made the marketing campaigns for Haitian aid so largely successful? Were the campaigns themselves ethical in their storytelling techniques? Where did the money from such successful campaigns go if not towards the programs they promised? The disparity between the advertising and the follow through leads to a wide range of questions that are critical to understanding when learning from this tragedy and developing higher quality, more effective and ethical humanitarian and developmental responses.
Presentation Type
Poster
The Great Disconnect: When the Media, Mission, and Management of Humanitarian Responses are Misaligned: Through the Lens of the 2010 Haitian Earthquake
Schewel 2nd Floor Lobby
The response to the 2010 Haitian earthquake was one of the biggest successes in nonprofit and humanitarian marketing, but also one of the biggest failures in aid delivery. The Red Cross alone was able to raise nearly 500 million dollars through their campaigns, about half of Haiti’s total national budget at the time. With that money they did very little of what they had promised. After five years, the Red Cross had only built six permanent houses. What made the marketing campaigns for Haitian aid so largely successful? Were the campaigns themselves ethical in their storytelling techniques? Where did the money from such successful campaigns go if not towards the programs they promised? The disparity between the advertising and the follow through leads to a wide range of questions that are critical to understanding when learning from this tragedy and developing higher quality, more effective and ethical humanitarian and developmental responses.