In his weekly appearance on Mike and Mike (ESPN Radio and ESPN2), Dick Vitale was talking about the Jimmy V Foundation, a great organization raising money to fight cancer. Dick Vitale himself is doing a lot of great work to raise money against cancer and other causes, and for that he should be applauded.
However, during this segment he (intentionally or not, I don't know) tried to emotionally manipulate the audience by using an example of a young girl battling cancer and getting very emotional about her situation. This is a similar technique used by certain televangelists and others who try to manipulate people's emotions and convert them into a donation. Now if Vitale was just an average Joe making an emotional plea for others to commit their resources to this great cause it would be one thing, but this is coming from someone who flies around the country in a private jet and lives in a palace. Surely if this is such a desperate situation the V foundation could use the extra funding if Vitale made the sacrifice of taking commercial flights and living in a smaller palace. When you make desperate emotional pleas for a great cause, you are subject to the "practice what you preach" test. (you may remember the Benny Hinn story on network TV a few years ago flying around the country like a rock star in private jets while begging people to give and give and give).
Dick Vitale, being who he is, has been able to get away with doing a lot of things and saying a lot of things on TV that most people would get in trouble for. However, even for Vitale there are limits. Did he cross the line this time?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Did Dick Vitale cross the line?
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6 comments:
You are kidding, right?
Nope. Read the whole thing, not just a line :-)
I did read everything. I personally don't see anything wrong with making an appeal to emotion. It is a form of persuasion. It is still the listener's choice to make a donation.
Well it is not the emotional appeal that seemed out of line, it was the way it was used and presented in that particular segment. I would give him the benefit of the doubt if he wasn't selling tickets for his own charity event at the same time, but everything combined seemed to cross the line (intentionally or not I don't know).
I have heard Vitale speak before (eg Jimmy V Classic) and most of his speeches are inspirational and emotional but this is the first time I saw him cross the line on this particular issue which is what prompted me to write this.
ok, I understand where you are coming from.
BTW, great blog.
Thanks!
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