Automaker Kia is currently running a television ad boasting it will donate $8 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for every vehicle it sells or leases at its dealerships between Nov. 11 and Dec. 31.
The commercial – which aired on TNT during Tuesday’s Celtics/Lakers game – doesn’t exactly highlight the $8 amount. In the ad, a graphic tells viewers, “This holiday season, Kia is donating to St. Jude for every new car purchased.”
The tiny fine print at the bottom of the ad provides the details:
Kia will donate $8.00 for every vehicle that is purchased or leased at authorized Kia dealerships and delivered to retail customers between November 11, 2022 and December 31, 2022 – with a guaranteed minimum donation of $1,000,000 – to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
St. Jude is a world-renowned pediatric treatment facility in Memphis, Tennessee that specializes in cancer research. It does not charge its patients or their families for care.
Kia’s $1 million donation is undoubtedly a net good, as are its $8 donations per car sold or leased at authorized Kia dealerships. However, the amounts are fairly modest given the company’s financials.
The South Korean automaker booked $3.7 billion in profit in 2021. Kia’s $1 million base donation – while obviously a good thing – amounts to 0.0027% of its profits from last year. In 2021, the average American wage was $60,575 before taxes. That means a person looking to match Kia’s base donation as a percentage of their salary would have to give $16.36.
But Kia also pledged to donate $8 for every vehicle sold or leased at authorized dealerships. While the final numbers remain to be seen, a rough estimate of sales might be gleaned from looking at last year’s data.
In December 2021, the company sold 209,000 vehicles worldwide, but Kia’s donation window on sales ranges from Nov. 11 to Dec. 31 – or almost seven weeks. Kia sold another 22o,000 vehicles in November 2021. If the automaker sells and leases as many cars from the holiday season this year as sold last year in all of November and December, it will move 429,000 in total.
At $8 per vehicle, that’s $3.43 million, which would mean $4.43 million after the base donation is added. That amount is 0.01% of Kia’s 2021 profits. For an American making the average wage of $60,575 a year to match Kia’s projected donation – pound for pound – the person would have to donate a cool $60.58.
If so inclined, you can help St. Jude by donating here.
Watch above via Kia.
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