Oakley Marketing Helps Chilean Miners

It was just reported that Oakley donated 35 pairs of their luxury sunglasses to the trapped Chilean miners. Supposedly, doctors were concerned that the miners may damage their retinas from light exposure after their rescue. The sunglasses provide 100 percent protection from ultraviolet light and cost $180 each.

Well, it turns out that over 1 billion people watched the miner rescue, leading to an enormous advertising return for the company.  Moreover, while this may not seem remarkable to everyone, this is a clear demonstration of the market working to help others. Oakley thought it could make a profit due to media exposure, the miners needed sunglasses to protect their eyes, so everyone benefited.

Whether or not the marketing staff at Oakley did this out of the goodness of their hearts is irrelevant.  What is important is that a good and service was provided to people who needed it without any form of coercion.  That is a beautiful thing.