PLEASE DO NOT MARK. When we talked about TOMS in class yesterday I wasn’t sure if I truly believed their marketing strategy, especially with the controversy going around lately. Some people say TOMS shoes is good marketing but a bad aid (http://goodintents.org/in-kind-donations/toms-shoes). I disagree. After doing some research and looking into what TOMS really does, they are truly doing good, but of course there are always individuals who try to ruin that and destroy the company because they are envious and jealous. Why not embrace a company such as TOMS? As our textbook states “Critics worry that cause-related marketing is more  a strategy for selling than a strategy for giving” – not in TOMS case. The really great part, from a marketing perspective is that where a “typical company spends about 20% of sales on advertising, TOMS has not spend a single dollar on it!” Yet, they are incredibly successful and they are not just dropping the shoes off in countries, they are actually putting the shoes on these kids and taking the time to do so. So why is this one-for-one idea TOMS created so popular, especially during this economic downturn? TOMS believes that “with the rise of social and Eco-consciousness and the economy in a downturn, people were looking for innovative and affordable ways to make the world a better place”. When I bought my first pair of TOMS that was my exact reaction, and besides TOMS are incredibly comfortable and stylish, so WHY would I choose to buy Keds if I could by TOMS and contribute to the betterness of the world? At last TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie said ” My thinking was that TOMS would show that entrepreneurs no longer had to choose between earning money or making a difference in the world. Business and charity or public service don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact when they come together, they can be very powerful”. Indeed they can. GO TOMS!