The fraudsters have clearly identified what kind of advertising works best to solicit donations, so why don’t good charities exploit the same advertising?
Cynical explanation: because advertising that works is low-prestige. (i.e., it does nothing to build the image of the organization, because it’s not a costly signal.)
Note that this applies to (theoretically) profit-oriented businesses as well: it is a tired trope among direct marketing professionals that nearly every businessperson cares more about how the ad reflects on him/her self than how it affects his/her profits.
Actually, this effect can also be seen in the average small business website design: the uneducated businessperson chooses a site design that is personally pleasing and which he/she perceives to signal status, over a site design favoring customer preferences or ease of use.
I’m not saying anybody consciously does this; it’s just that most people lack sufficient reflectiveness to even consider anything other than their gut reactions to these things, and their gut reactions respond positively to personal prestige and signalling. To even try to take somebody else’s point of view is an immense leap of cognitive effort that our brains usually try to avoid as much as humanly possible. ;-)
Cynical explanation: because advertising that works is low-prestige. (i.e., it does nothing to build the image of the organization, because it’s not a costly signal.)
Note that this applies to (theoretically) profit-oriented businesses as well: it is a tired trope among direct marketing professionals that nearly every businessperson cares more about how the ad reflects on him/her self than how it affects his/her profits.
Actually, this effect can also be seen in the average small business website design: the uneducated businessperson chooses a site design that is personally pleasing and which he/she perceives to signal status, over a site design favoring customer preferences or ease of use.
I’m not saying anybody consciously does this; it’s just that most people lack sufficient reflectiveness to even consider anything other than their gut reactions to these things, and their gut reactions respond positively to personal prestige and signalling. To even try to take somebody else’s point of view is an immense leap of cognitive effort that our brains usually try to avoid as much as humanly possible. ;-)