ABSTRACT

“Brave the Shave”, a campaign by the UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support, encourages people to seek sponsorship to shave off all their hair and share the event on social media. Brave the Shave has attracted fierce criticism from a group of breast cancer survivors who have made it clear that they find the campaign deeply offensive and insensitive. Despite the controversy, Macmillan is continuing with this fundraising initiative, arguing that it is financially successful and provides much-need resources for its services. Its line of defense amounts to the argument that the ends justify the means. This apparent refusal to hear and act upon the complaints forms the central focus of this article. Macmillan’s denial sits uneasily with its mission to improve the lives of cancer survivors. The case invites ethical questions around how much voice clients have, the lack of recognition for cancer survivors’ experiences and the general power deficit in the donor-recipient relationship. The article argues that a commitment to a meaningful dialogue and a willingness to be transparent with clients about campaign strategies would be a potentially important step toward avoiding offensive fundraising narratives which deny the suffering of the very people charities aim to assist.

摘要

“Brave the Shave”是英国慈善机构麦克米伦癌症支持组织发起的一项活动，鼓励人们寻求赞助以剃掉所有头发，并在社交媒体上分享这一活动。Brave the Shave 引起了一群乳腺癌幸存者的激烈批评，他们明确表示，他们认为该运动非常冒犯和麻木不仁。尽管存在争议，麦克米伦仍在继续这项筹款计划，认为它在财务上取得了成功，并为其服务提供了急需的资源。它的防线相当于结果证明手段合理的论点。这种明显拒绝听取投诉并对其采取行动的做法构成了本文的中心焦点。麦克米伦的否认与其改善癌症幸存者生活的使命令人不安。该案例引发了关于客户拥有多少声音、对癌症幸存者的经历缺乏认可以及捐助者-接受者关系中普遍存在的权力缺陷等道德问题。文章认为，承诺进行有意义的对话，并愿意就竞选策略与客户保持透明，这将是避免冒犯性筹款叙述的潜在重要步骤，这些叙述否认慈善机构旨在帮助的人民遭受苦难。