Originally published at: Kars4Kids jingle gets creepy
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I think it’s an improvement, YMMV.
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As wretched as the Kars4Kids jingle is, it becomes even worse when you find out it’s in service of a religious fundie scam.
The organization has been criticized for inadequately disclosing its Jewish educational work.[42][43] In 2009, Joy for Our Youth paid $65,000 in fines in Pennsylvania;[44] while Kars4Kids paid $65,000 in fines in Oregon[45] in settlements reached with the respective state attorneys general as a result of their contention that the organization had to state clearly that the beneficiaries were of a “certain religious affiliation.” In Oregon, the attorney general added that Kars4Kids failed to disclose that its offer of a “free vacation” for vehicle donors was designed to recruit people to attend timeshare presentations.[45]
In 2017, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson conducted a compliance review and submitted a 300-page report to the Internal Revenue Service. The report found that 44% of funds raised by Kars4Kids went to program expenses, and most of that money had gone to its sister organization Oorah, whose concentration in New York and New Jersey meant only one Minnesota child was believed to have benefited from one of its programs in the years 2012–2014. The report also mentioned the charity had lost money in real estate investments in the financial crisis of 2008 and may have been a victim of losses from a Ponzi scheme.[46]
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Not in my case. My head rejected both versions of that tune within seconds.
realize that the concept of “TV channel” is moribund, nonetheless “ratings/time sales folks” should know that the moment “kars4kids” comes on there’s a fast dive to the remote to change to any other channel. that is, you want eyeballs? air just about anything but that creepy-ass scam. (and if you’re selling some crap non-stick pans and you’re in an ad series following after kars4kids you’ll never be viewed and should demand your time slot money back)
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Huh. Never heard it before. Is this something only running in certain markets or am I seeing too few commercial TV shows?
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Yep. Donating your car to K4K helps fund (1) first and foremost, more K4K advertising (about half of their revenue goes to pay for more advertising), (2) a bunch of administrative expenses, and (3) a big grant to sister organization Oorah. Occasionally they give out some small grants to other random Jewish groups, but a grant to Oorah is almost always their only material “charitable” activity. K4K 990s are here: Kars 4 Kids Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica
Oorah is an ultra-orthodox intra-Jewish missionary organization that tries to get secular and liberal Jews (I think they focus mainly on immigrant families from the Former Soviet Union) to become right-wing non-hasidic ultra-Orthodox Jews. Oorah 990s are here: Oorah Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica
Note that the officer slates of K4K and Oorah overlap–most of them draw salaries from both organizations. While the salaries aren’t huge (in 2021 the CEO took about $50k from each organization), I’m pretty sure they find other ways to benefit from running these enormous organizations. K4K brought in $100MM in 2022 and $120MM in 2022–it’s a big business.
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They’re in all 50 US states and they spent at least $35MM on advertising in 2022. I don’t come across their TV and radio ads very often, but I think they tend to run on the same stations/programs where personal injury lawyers and predatory debt relief firms advertise. They also buy a lot of billboards.
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That’s an entirely different commercial than the one they play in my market. They still managed to capture the same horrible atonal sound.
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Just yesterday I donated my old car to a different organization: The Derby Divas, which is an all-women demolition derby group. I guess they’re nominally associated with various charities but to be honest I don’t really even care much about the charity angle- I’m just looking forward to seeing my 330,000-mile, beat-to-hell Honda Fit go out in a blaze of glory.
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