Glad Fights Kids' Cancer With Cookies
As part of the Glad Products Co.’s Celebrity Cookie Challenge online bake sale, three celebrities donated their time and baking skills to battle pediatric cancer. TV and film star Joan Cusack, actress Jayma Mays of the popular television show “Glee” and “The Twilight Saga’s” Peter Facinelli have gone head to head to sell the most home-baked cookies in support of the nonprofit organization Cookies For Kids’ Cancer, which raises money for research for better treatments via bake sales and online cookie sales.
The three celebs garnered support online by urging visits to the Glad to Give Facebook page, where consumers could join one of their teams by “liking” it. Joining a team enabled participants to get updates about activities regarding the challenge and display a team badge on a personal website or blog.
Additionally, each star hosted a live-stream telethon last month on the Glad to Give page, encouraging fans either to buy cookies or contribute money online to Califon, N.J.-based Cookies For Kids’ Cancer. During each hourlong virtual bake sale, consumers could ask the actors questions in real time, listen to exclusive interviews, watch baking demos of the celebrities' favorite cookie recipes and potentially win autographed team T-shirts. Buying cookies virtually from a celebrity, which consumers can still do following the live portions of the bake sales, helps a fan’s team raise “dough,” and whoever rakes in the most, wins the challenge.
“By leveraging the power of Facebook, we hope to reach and inspire consumers to help us set a record year of fundraising for Cookies For Kids’ Cancer," noted Bob Hillman, brand manager for Oakland, Calif.-based Glad, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Clorox Co.
Glad added that consumers unable to take part in the Celebrity Cookie Challenge could still help the cause by hosting their own bake sales, as through Dec. 31, 2010, the brand will match all funds raised through Cookies for Kids’ Cancer bake sales; buying specially marked Glad products, which, through September 2011, will enable consumers to enter a code at www.GladtoGive.com to trigger a $1 donation from Glad to Cookies for Kids' Cancer, up to $200,000,.in addition to the $200,000 bake-sale match this season; or purchasing cookies at www.CookiesForKidsCancer.org, with 100 percent of the net revenue going to the organization.