Everything that advertises must converge

Earlier this week I read an article about how American Idol was responding to a decline in ad revenue "through brand extensions, marketing partnerships, licensing fees and more." I duly bookmarked it and scheduled my after-class time tonight to write a blog post about how social entrepreneurs should consider selling out to support their mission--that is, licensing their marks and personae to fund less (or non-) profitable social ventures.

As it turns out, however, we don't have to bow to Idol to find a suitable illustration of this point. Today Tactical Philanthropy posted a pic of a bag of Doritos featuring Kjerstin Erickson of FORGE, evidently one of a series of do-gooder bags sporting images of "those who do something." Sean--the tactician in chief!--aptly makes the connection to Nathianiel Whittemore's appeal for nonprofits to improve their branding.

Some will object that blending social enterprise with junk food is inappropriate, but that's an issue for another post. For now, I merely want to call attention to the trend. It may be that social entrepreneurs can monetize their mission without selling charity itself.