The idea of a charity auction where you get to meet your favorite star or have dinner with them or attend a premiere always sounds like a great idea. You help a worthwhile cause and get to spend time with a celebrity. The problem is though that it seems the bigger the star, the more disappointing your experience. Whether it is Scarlett J just passing you a note saying hello instead of being your date to a premiere, or any number of other instances where the person donating the money feels ripped off by what they were promised and what they actually received in return, this is not unusual.
In the latest didn't get what I paid for case, TMZ is reporting that a man is suing The Lili Care Foundation because he donated $30,000 to the foundation just to get to meet Angelina Jolie. Well, two years later, Angelina still hasn't found the time to meet with him, or even send a thank you note. The foundation is trying to keep the money and probably just promising the guy they will send him an autographed copy of Mr. & Mrs. Smith or something. Whatever it was they offered him in return, it obviously didn't make him happy because he is suing for the return of his money, plus damages.
I think the idea of a charity auction is a good one. I do think though that, you need to limit yourself to items, and not the idea that you are actually going to get what is promised when the prize is a meeting or lunch or a date with a star. They don't care about you and you are so far down on their list of priorities that you will probably never donate again to anything. All of the above doesn't apply to Colin Firth who, as far as I know has always delivered on what has been promised.
Yea Colin Firth!
ReplyDeleteMaybe charity auctions need to limit their prizes to items and not meeting celebrities? Maybe celebrity publicists need to stop lying to charities and making promises their client can't keep?
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for both the guy and the charity. Part of me was thinking the donator was a money grubbing ass, but also, it was a "purchase".
ReplyDeleteBRB, gotta go find out when Colin is next up for auction, then rob a bank...
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about Jessica Beil, but she has delivered as well. I live part time in Boulder where Jessica is from. About 3 years ago a teen girl from Denver was all but ripped in half when she was caught part inside the limo as it was pulling away. This happened on her prom night. Anyway there was an auction for a lunch date with Jessica Beil as the prize. The money went to the girls care. She came to Denver and went on that lunch date with the guy that spent $30,000.
ReplyDeletegood for the biel. and good for firth, i really like him
ReplyDeleteangelina can't be bothered to schedule in a mtg w/ the guy? so much for her charitable image.
ReplyDeleteshe always has reeked of phony, imho.
My brother teaches Colin Firth's son at a private school in Canada. He says that Colin and his ex are very involved parents (hard, considering they like out of town) and are kind to absolutely everybody.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a little crush on him. I like the modesty mixed with an English accent. Hello, Mr Darcy!
OT, but because the post is re: Jolie it reminded me... the other day a poster here asked if anyone had ever checked out ianundercover.com and asked their thoughts... OH.MY.GOOOSH. If you want to be entertained for a bit, go there! There are a couple posters who comment lliterally every five minutes that are so delusional and they think anyone else who posts is literally Angelina Jolie. It is tres amusing!
ReplyDeleteThere are some interesting viewpoints being thrown around about BP/AJ tho...
I'd be mad pissed if I were that guy, too. She can't even acknowledge him after he paid all that money on false pretenses? What a bitch.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all do we know that Angelina agreed to this or did her publicist make that up? wait does she even have a publicist? Angelina seems to be a very busy woman I wouldn't doubt that she forgot and I'm sure her people weren't hounding her to go through with it.
ReplyDeleteThat said I never give to charities thinking I'll meet a celebrity in return...that would be a bonus and a big surprise!
juicy- i also checked out ianundercover.com after that post. it seemed like a whole shitload of phony ass interviews.
ReplyDeleteie;
An interview with some dude who slept with Lilo. Seems like you'll get some juicy info, but no. Just some loser with ZERO credibility giving some lame interview.
Same goes for AJ's past lesbo lover's "interview".
The other shit was basically gibberish...
Why did he wait 2 years to sue?
ReplyDeleteSylvia, prob becasue he didn't want to look like a dick.
ReplyDeletesorry but a sale is a sale and if he didn't get what he paid for, charity or not...sue the bastards.
we can't just assume the guy is so rich he doens't need it or wouldn't have donated anyway, but that's BS.
IF A CELEBRITY COMMITS, AND THAT'S THE REASON A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY IS PLEDGED THEY NEED TO FOLLOW THROUGH. IN FACT THEY SHOULD BE MADE TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT A CONTRACT AS THEY PROBABLY GOT A TAX DEDUCTION ALSO.
ReplyDeleteOk, how about we donate for the cause and not to meet a celebrity. I mean I understand it's like oooh dinner with Angelina Jolie, wow. But like enty said, they DON'T care about you. Just the $$ in your pocket. I'm not the least bit surprised about this. Angelina going to dinner with a civilian? yah, ok, sure, whatever. So please, just donate for the cause and tell your friends you donated to their charity and show them the signed copy of of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and a receipt as proof of your donation so they know you're not BS'ing. The cause is much more important than these people saying three words to you for less than 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Let me make clear, I'm not justifying her actions or the foundations for not keeping their word. I think it's an awful way to make people donate, specially since they will not follow through. It's lying and deceiving.
I'm not surprised at all.
ReplyDeleteBut I think I'm home alone on Friday. I think I might watch Bridget Jones' diary and swoon over Mr. Darcy. Possibly while eating cupcakes.
lol@jax saying dick. U r funny hahaha
ReplyDeleteJuicy- O my Gosh- i just visited the web site yesterday and yes, veryyyyyy interesting....I think there is some truth to it.
ReplyDeleteJuicy-thanks for the link. Extremely extremely interesting. I'm sure there's truth to this. I very highly doubt Angie and Brad would still be together if it wasn't for the publicity.
ReplyDeleteMan, when these two announce their breakup-holy heck, the media will turn over. I can't even imagine.
Simon Baker recently told a story on Jay Leno about him donating a surfing lesson for a cause. He thought the recipient would be a newbie who would wear out in half an hour. Instead, it was a 32 year old woman, and the lesson lasted for hours.
ReplyDeleteI found a reference to this,
http://tvnewsandreviews.today.com/category/primetime-tv/mentalist-the/
scroll down to the Feb 9 entry.
Colin Firth is uber hotness.
ReplyDeleteAngelina HOEly can drop off the face of the earth.
"...the lesson lasted for hours." The end of that sentence took me to a different place than you probably intended. ;)
ReplyDeletei imagine he would drop the suit if he was just acknowledged. that's a helluva lot of money. and if the charity MADE UP the whole thing, then yes, he needs to sue. if she made the agreement, and it's her charity thing, the money should come out of her pocket, not the charity's.
ReplyDeletei've never liked her, ever. and i've never believed all this charity "we are the world" BS, either. she has ulterior motives, as does pitt. at least that's MY point of view.
Juicy/Jungle: I did too!! I can't stop looking at that site. I am addicted to it and have added it to my sites.
ReplyDeletewell. she's an uber bitach. she claims to not have publicist so this is really on her.
ReplyDeleteshe probably couldn't find the time between giving birth to the holy ones or adopting from 3rd world countries. she is a saint after all.