Now charity staff hit at cult of celebrity

Workers for children's charity Unicef say celebrity campaigns and fashion company deals are hurting its image

Dan McDougall in Islamabad
Sunday November 26, 2006
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The new vogue among the biggest catwalk labels is to adopt a charity to tell the world you have a heart. Last week Gucci joined Prada, Armani and Jean Paul Gaultier to become the latest label to embrace philanthropy by launching an exclusive Christmas gift collection in conjunction with Unicef, the United Nations children's fund.

But the motivation for alliances between high fashion and charity is being increasingly questioned by international pressure groups involved in the daily fight against sweatshops and, perhaps most embarrassingly for the UN, by their own front-line officers.

The Observer has learnt that, in a series of memos to the UN headquarters in New York, senior Unicef ground staff in South Asia have expressed their resentment at the charities' love affair with glamour and celebrity, fearing that the association is not only demeaning the UN 'brand' but also portraying its workers as hypocrites.


Unicef staff in Pakistan and India have focused their fury on the alleged working practices of the French conglomerate PPR (formerly Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), which owns Gucci and whose Asian suppliers have, over the past decade, been embroiled in damning links to sweatshops in Mumbai and Karachi.

'The association with Gucci has been the final straw for field officers,' one long-term Unicef worker in Pakistan said last week. 'The feeling, and it is a unanimous sentiment, is that we are selling the Unicef name down the river. The need for fund-raising is paramount, granted, but not at the cost of integrity.'

Three years ago Unicef was given an international report into the working practices of PPR, published by the French Centre for Business Information, which spent six months investigating the firm, concluding that Indian suppliers to their international catalogues kept workers in poor conditions, paying as little as 44p a day.

PPR cut its ties with one supplier in Mumbai, but insists it is impossible to check sub-contractors.

Laurent Claquin, PPR corporate spokeswoman, said yesterday: 'We have recently doubled the amount of social audits we carry out across the world. Our contractors sign a contract with us promising to adhere to our standards and we do everything to make sure they follow this.'

'Gucci's reputation may be untarnished, but should we be entering into this kind of partnership with the firm that owns them, especially while we are fighting against child labour every single day of the year? The answer is no,' said the source. 'Even looking at the alliance - Gucci and Unicef - it's ludicrous. Gucci's most loyal customers would think nothing of spending $100,000 a season on couture. Do you know how many lives that would save? It just doesn't sit well.'

According to a Unicef officer in New Delhi, obsession with celebrity infuriates staff. 'It's bad enough having to accommodate celebrities and their entourage in the aftermath of every major humanitarian disaster,' she said. 'But when most people think of the UN now they think of Angelina Jolie on a crusade, not the work that goes on in the field after humanitarian disasters or on a long-term preventive level. Celebrity is at the heart of every Unicef campaign these days and the association is being sold incredibly cheaply.'

Sam Maher, of pressure group Look Behind the Label, claims the fad among many fashion firms to associate themselves with international charities is more about hiding a multitude of sins than social conscience. 'Many companies look for an easy bandwagon to jump on,' she said. 'Around Christmas, associating with a good cause will massively augment your sales. If fashion conglomerates concentrated on improving their own corporate practices and the working conditions of the impoverished people making their products, then life would be a lot better for people in the developing world.

'This is the reality of the relationship between big business and charities: corporations can get more mileage out of short-term publicity stunts than the long-term slog and investment associated with defeating exploitation. It's no surprise there are now fewer major firms than ever involved in their own social programmes. All corporations have to do these days is throw some money at a charity to get the positive PR of appearing to do their bit, while changing very little about their production process.'

For companies with the worst ethical practices it is 'like a soldier shooting someone, then giving them a bandage and taking credit for their survival', she said.

Four years ago, Unicef found itself amid a PR disaster after announcing a partnership with McDonald's to create McDonald's World Children's Day.

But Unicef's UK spokeswoman, Sarah Epstein, says: 'Partnerships raise money for children, awareness of children's issues and allow Unicef to involve millions of people not reached before; a very positive contribution. Unicef is protective of its brand and chooses partnerships carefully. We do not enter into partnership or allow use of the Unicef brand without a minimum six-figure contribution. By being selective and strategic, Unicef has formed some of the most successful and long-lasting alliances, such as the Change for Good programme with British Airways which has raised £23 million in the past 12 years.

'Unicef receives no money from the UN and is supported entirely by voluntary contributions, so corporate partnerships make a significant contribution. Sixteen per cent of Unicef UK's voluntary income in 2005 came from corporate sponsors, including companies such as BA, Starwood, Kodak, Ikea, HSBC, Orange, Gucci and many more.'

According to Professor John Fernie, head of business studies at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, which recently created a school of excellence in conjunction with Next founder George Davies, alliances between charities and big business have benefits. 'It is the perfect way to build brand awareness and establish brand credibility and ultimately boost profits,' he said.

Gucci's Unicef programme is fronted by Hollywood actress Jennifer Connelly, who is helping to sell a Christmas collection of 15 products, including scarves, bags and luxury Christmas decorations, in 200 Gucci shops worldwide. Gucci describes the range as a festive rendition of Gucci's strong-selling Flora print featuring berries and holly.

According to Mark Lee, a Gucci spokesman, the new campaign is part of the most extensive philanthropic programme in Gucci's history: 'We are committed to supporting important humanitarian efforts through Unicef. Connelly has spent considerable time in Mozambique and has personal ties to the well-being of the children from this and other regions. Twenty per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the Gucci pieces will go to Unicef to support educational programmes and services for children in Mozambique.'

Celebrities have long involved themselves in causes since Audrey Hepburn, herself a refugee from the Nazi atrocities of the Second World War, worked with the UN's International Children's Emergency Fund until her death in 1993. But, according to critics, the UN is now bulging with celebrities, all as eager to make an impact on the political stage as on the rock stage or the cinema screen.

King Kong star Naomi Watts has recently acted as a UN ambassador to get the message across about Aids, while George Clooney has drawn media attention to Darfur. Angelina Jolie has been unkindly dubbed 'The African Queen' by American pundits for her activities as a UN ambassador for refugees. Red-carpet favourite Nicole Kidman has become the UN voice of the Balkans.

In the US there are now organisations that cater to celebrities who need help in getting to grips with issues and becoming better activists. These groups run elaborate workshops that teach actors how to be effective 'issue' speakers, introduce them to other activist-minded celebrities and suggest causes in which they can get involved. The New York-based Creative Coalition (started by Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and others) specialises in arts-related issues, regularly sending celebrity activists to lobby in Washington.

Of course, things can go wrong The adoption of a one-year-old child from Malawi by Madonna was deemed a PR disaster for all concerned. Paris Hilton, heiress to the hotel chain, who recently signed a deal with a green handbag company, Ecoist, let the side down when invited on a tree-planting trip to Haiti. Hilton reportedly admitted that she had no idea where Haiti was. When she was told that they speak French there, she said, 'I wouldn't mind spending a few days there and the weekend in Paris.'
But the ultimate recent evidence that the trend had gone mainstream was during a recent acceptance speech at the MTV awards in Los Angeles when Hollywood actress Jessica Alba gushed out her two earnestly touching pieces of advice for the audience: 'Practise safe sex ... and, oh, drive hybrids if you possibly can.'

This is a great post. I've said before that the world is obsessed with celebrity and it's just a matter of time until it pays the price. Celeb causes are just PR stunts and it's crazy that corporations and, now, a supposedly neutral and formerly credible organization like UN falls for the charades perpetrated by celebs and their agents.

I love how some university professor mouths off about branding. The UN is not some agent for corporations to buy goodwill and boost profits. By the way, who the hell says that brand building = profits? GM and Ford have widely known brands they created through celebrities prostituting their products. How high are their profits?

When the UNICEF worker says that he fears the name is being sold down the river, he's a little bit late. The name was sold down the sewer when the UN decided to associate with hypocrite rappers. There's an uproar about Seinfeld actor Michael Richards spewing off with the "N" word. Rappers use that word every second sentence, but since they have notoriety, they're welcomed to the UN!