Interesting piece on Livestrong

[thehog]

Just out of curiousity... where has the LAF ever said they were about building awareness?

This gets repeated over and over again... mainly because Lance said his original return to cycling was about building awareness. But as far as I know, the LAF has always been about helping cancer survivors.

The Haiti thing is a very poor decision by the charity. It's not what the money was donated for, and is an example of them going against their stated goal.

Oh dear. And we thought you knew Livestrong so well you knew what they were about. Inside and out. I give Lance one thing. He set up a perfect operation. Even a smart guy like you got fooled.

In all seriousness. I think there is some very important support that comes from LAF. But at what cost.

 

[BotanyBay]

LiveStrong is a very intelligently marketed organization. With a champion-hero-posterboy providing the inspiration and motivation, the general public merely assumes that the LAF is all about altruism and raising money to "fight" cancer. Most people assume that "fighting" cancer is based in medical research, so they assume that their wristband funds are going into such pursuits.

Granted, the LAF never "hides" the fact that their mission has nothing to do with research, but they're happy to endorse the checks nonetheless. They're quite clear on their site that they "raise awareness".

Consider yourself aware.

 

[Polish]

Just out of curiousity... where has the LAF ever said they were about building awareness?

.

Well, it might be un-said, but the LAF certainly HAS depended on people being aware of Lance.
He is the well paid RockStar that gets the required attention for the charity.

LAF donations declined after Lance retired in 2005, and came surging back with his Comeback. Duh.
Now as Lance winds down his cycling - will the donations decline again?

Lance and the LAF need to shift focus away from cycling IMO.
What has Lance done besides cycling?

How about:

"Cheat Death - Sometimes it is OK to Cheat"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheating_death
.
.
.
.

 

[D-Queued]

Just out of curiousity... where has the LAF ever said they were about building awareness?

...

How much ownership in demand do the LAF and Lance have? Who knows? It's not publicized. I'd be shocked if it's more then a couple of percent each, but I suppose it is possible. I think the idea that Lance had some plan to direct people to the .com and away from the .org is a bit far fetched... but I suppose until demand media goes public we'll never know.

I dunno, Kurt seems like a decent guy, but I thought this might be a bit of a troll to get folks to defend how much 'awareness' was a core mandate.

Anyhow, lots of good citations... to generate awareness on awareness.

Dave.

 

[BotanyBay]

LAF donations declined after Lance retired in 2005, and came surging back with his Comeback. Duh.
Now as Lance winds down his cycling - will the donations decline again?

Who cares? The LAF makes no meaningful contribution to the fight against cancer. If "hope" is what you're after, watch the Shawshank Redemption. It'll do you better.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Thanks guys;

I am now so full of rainbow-hugging, unicorn-humping, hope, love and jellybeans that I may very well puke...

Seriously, The Man better appreciate that his operation is based in the States. I would think that most of this .org .com 'charity' stuff would be illegal in most countries.

Or at least it would garner a bit more investigative attention than it does in the US.

What a scam. You have to admire him for that...

 

[Anonymous]

The percentage of times a fanboy is right about Mr. Armstrong or foundation has to be reaching the lower single digits at this point. Impressive thread. I feel more aware of cancer than ever before.

Just out of curiousity... where has the LAF ever said they were about building awareness?

This gets repeated over and over again... mainly because Lance said his original return to cycling was about building awareness. But as far as I know, the LAF has always been about helping cancer survivors.

The Haiti thing is a very poor decision by the charity. It's not what the money was donated for, and is an example of them going against their stated goal.

The LAF has some very helpful programs. I've friends and relatives who have been helped by the information and assistance they provided. Not suprisingly, the guy going through testicular cancer was most complimentary of the help they provided.

Much of their fundraising is tied into Lance's name and the "livestrong" brand. The relationship with the "for profit" website is very vague, but my guess is it's not much like what is characterized here. Both Lance Armstrong AND the LAF were given ownership stakes in demand media. The LAF for the rights to the "livestrong.com" name, Lance for providing content to the website.

How much ownership in demand do the LAF and Lance have? Who knows? It's not publicized. I'd be shocked if it's more then a couple of percent each, but I suppose it is possible. I think the idea that Lance had some plan to direct people to the .com and away from the .org is a bit far fetched... but I suppose until demand media goes public we'll never know.

From the Livestrong.org "What we do" page:

and the home page:

And a few others from the website:


Now, what they are "raising awareness" of is another thing. Is it awareness of cancer itself, or awareness of programs and facilties available to the cancer community, or is it awareness of the global Armstrong/LiveStrong brand? Very muddy water there.

See. They almost never actually know anything about what they are talking about, but talk they must.

Hey Milo, now that you have no more suction cup arrows in your quiver, I'd say you should move to spitballs or maybe a flower that squirts water. Clowns are famous for flowers that squirt water.

 

[BotanyBay]

See. They almost never actually know anything about what they are talking about, but talk they must.

Hey Milo, now that you have no more suction cup arrows in your quiver, I'd say you should move to spitballs or maybe a flower that squirts water. Clowns are famous for flowers that squirt water.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

LiveStrong is a very intelligently marketed organization. With a champion-hero-posterboy providing the inspiration and motivation, the general public merely assumes that the LAF is all about altruism and raising money to "fight" cancer. Most people assume that "fighting" cancer is based in medical research, so they assume that their wristband funds are going into such pursuits.

Granted, the LAF never "hides" the fact that their mission has nothing to do with research, but they're happy to endorse the checks nonetheless. They're quite clear on their site that they "raise awareness".

Consider yourself aware.

That picture has to be my favorite of your posts with the graphic backup! Congrats.

 

[Polish]

Thanks guys;

What a scam. You have to admire him for that...

Who is Lance scamming exactly?

The Charity riders and runners who do fundraising?
The dudes and dudettes who buy the yellow wristbands by the milions?
The guy who buys the livestrong nike shoes?
Funny, you won't here them whining "waa waa waa what a scam. Waa."
Don't be such a baby.....

OMG, is Lance scamming the hopes and dreams of cancer patients? Eeeek.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Who is Lance scamming exactly?

The Charity riders and runners who do fundraising?
The dudes and dudettes who buy the yellow wristbands by the milions?
The guy who buys the livestrong nike shoes?
Funny, you won't here them whining "waa waa waa what a scam. Waa."
Don't be such a baby.....

OMG, is Lance scamming the hopes and dreams of cancer patients? Eeeek.

I'll go with 'all of the above'.

You don't hear them whining? Perhaps that's because LA and his crew have done such a beautiful job in confusing where donated money goes. I'm sure if donors knew that the lion's share of profit was funding one individual, the tone may change.

Not only that, but having a muti-million dollar charity based on something as ethereal as 'awareness' is disengenuous as well. People donate to this pole-smoker thinking that it's going to some sort of cancer research or treatment. It's not.

To coin your own phrase, 'don't be such a blind baby'...

 

[Benotti69]

Who cares? The LAF makes no meaningful contribution to the fight against cancer. If "hope" is what you're after, watch the Shawshank Redemption. It'll do you better.

"Hope is a dangerous thing. Drive a man insane. It's got no place here. Better get used to the idea..."

 

[kurtinsc]

From the Livestrong.org "What we do" page:



and the home page:



And a few others from the website:







Now, what they are "raising awareness" of is another thing. Is it awareness of cancer itself, or awareness of programs and facilties available to the cancer community, or is it awareness of the global Armstrong/LiveStrong brand? Very muddy water there.

You know what... I'm going to admit I was wrong about this.

I could swear I read through the website 6 months ago and the word "awareness" was either nowhere to be found, or very hard to spot. But now it's plastered across their page. Either I have a horrible memory... or the website has changed.

All I remember seeing previously is just in the "approach" section now:

"We empower the cancer community to address the unmet needs of cancer survivors. To do so, we encourage collaboration, knowledge-sharing and partnership.

Then, we develop evidence-based solutions to address both the common and unique problems survivors are facing around the world."

The experience the people I know have had with the LAF has been positive... but it was several years ago as well. Perhaps things changed since then.

 

[MacRoadie]

You know what... I'm going to admit I was wrong about this.

I could swear I read through the website 6 months ago and the word "awareness" was either nowhere to be found, or very hard to spot. But now it's plastered across their page. Either I have a horrible memory... or the website has changed.

You might also notice that whenever the phrases "raise awareness" or "raising awareness" are used in a list of what the goals or functions of the LAF are, they are always listed first, before anything else. Every time.

 

[BotanyBay]

Scavenger hunt:

Try and find three things (that you can link to) where they've spent money on DOING something for someone, as opposed to holding a fund-raising event.

All of this fund-raising is supposed to lead to something. Apparently it just always leads to more fund-raising. They never seem to get to the expenditures. I guess that fund-raising IS the awareness?

 

[reigarc]

there's certainly livestrong over-awareness in this forum..

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Cancer! CANCER! CANCER!

Look at me! I'm raising awareness!

Where's my cheque?

 

[kurtinsc]

Scavenger hunt:

Try and find three things (that you can link to) where they've spent money on DOING something for someone, as opposed to holding a fund-raising event.

All of this fund-raising is supposed to lead to something. Apparently it just always leads to more fund-raising. They never seem to get to the expenditures. I guess that fund-raising IS the awareness?

Actually, if you go to the "get one on one support" section, you'll see some very useful stuff they spend money on. They have a clinical trial search, and the "livestrong guidebook" they provide to those diagnosed with cancer proved useful to some people I knew as well.

But it seems like that stuff might be getting pressed to the side now... it's nowhere near as prominent on the site as I remember. They also stopped funding cancer research last year or the year before (they used to put a portion of their revenue to research).

All in all... disappointing. I DO think there is a need to provide information and support for those who are going through the process of dealing with cancer. There are a lot of issues with the US healthcare system that an organization like the LAF was needed to address. But apparently they are moving away from that, which is sad.

 

[Race Radio]

You know what... I'm going to admit I was wrong about this.

I could swear I read through the website 6 months ago and the word "awareness" was either nowhere to be found, or very hard to spot. But now it's plastered across their page. Either I have a horrible memory... or the website has changed.

You were probably on the .com and not the .org

 

[MacRoadie]

All in all... disappointing. I DO think there is a need to provide information and support for those who are going through the process of dealing with cancer. There are a lot of issues with the US healthcare system that an organization like the LAF was needed to address. But apparently they are moving away from that, which is sad.

You will get no argument from any of us on these points.

You're just seeing what others have seen before and are critical of now.

 

[Hugh Januss]

You were probably on the .com and not the .org

Don't you think it's kind of mean to "pile on" right now, when Kurt is clearly suffering a certain amount of disillusionment with an organization which he was defending before.

 

[BotanyBay]

You know what... I'm going to admit I was wrong about this.

I could swear I read through the website 6 months ago and the word "awareness" was either nowhere to be found, or very hard to spot. But now it's plastered across their page. Either I have a horrible memory... or the website has changed.

All I remember seeing previously is just in the "approach" section now:

"We empower the cancer community to address the unmet needs of cancer survivors. To do so, we encourage collaboration, knowledge-sharing and partnership.

Then, we develop evidence-based solutions to address both the common and unique problems survivors are facing around the world."

The experience the people I know have had with the LAF has been positive... but it was several years ago as well. Perhaps things changed since then.

Every time I see an apologist (or Fabiani) say that we should all lay-off due to Lance's fight against cancer, I get visions of the Taliban using children as shields.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Every time I see an apologist (or Fabiani) say that we should all lay-off due to Lance's fight against cancer, I get visions of the Taliban using children as shields.

There you go! I envision an entire army of little blue-eyed Texans, armed with automatic weapons, ready to take up the fight against cancer...

Where's the militant Lance Army? Not just a golden bracelet, but something that'll get the job done!

Call in the fast-movers and bring on the napalm...

 

[Polish]

I could swear I read through the website 6 months ago and the word "awareness" was either nowhere to be found, or very hard to spot.

Its OK Kurt - many are not aware that "awareness" is important.
You are not alone. There is a lot of work to be done.

Seems Lance needs to get on a Jetplane

 

[kurtinsc]

Every time I see an apologist (or Fabiani) say that we should all lay-off due to Lance's fight against cancer, I get visions of the Taliban using children as shields.

And every time I see someone compare something to terrorism, nazi germany, or another attrocity that isn't in the same ballpark as those things, it reminds me why I support abortion rights.

But that's neither here nor there, is it?