By James Murray
Since this story was published Ms Samways has made contact with 3news.co.nz. She had this to say:
"You should understand that it was his mistake in the press release that caused the whole thing.
"If the price point was $19.95, I wouldn't have had a beef with it - $5 out of $19.95 is reasonable - but $5 out of $29.95 is too much profit in my opinion."
She also gave 3news.co.nz a copy of the press release - click on the link above to see it.
Since news of the Christchurch earthquake hit, the online community has come up with some innovative ways to raise money from the public.
The most publicised has been Mr Vintage’s Christchurch earthquake t-shirt, which Ana Samways criticised in her NZ Herald Sideswipe column.
Mr Vintage said they would donate $5 to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal for each t-shirt sold. The t-shirts were priced at $19.95.
Ms Samways wrote: “Not one to miss a marketing opportunity, t-shirt purveyor Mr Vintage has created a benefit t-shirt with a seismograph in the shape of the Christchurch Cathedral to support earthquake victims. How lovely! From every sale, $5 will be donated to the Red Cross quake appeal. How generous ... Or is it? The T-shirt costs $29.95, so if they sell 150, Mr Vintage will bank $2842 (minus an estimated $6 each to make) and Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal will get $750. Plenty of businesses will be trying to capitalise off the earthquake in Christchurch - 'buy this product and we'll donate [insert amount here] to such and such appeal. Please, just donate the full amount directly. Or make an automatic $20 donation by phoning 0900-33-200.”
Mr Vintage replied with a blog on their website clearing up some inaccuracies in Ms Samway’s piece and arguing strongly that raising money via selling t-shirts encourages people to give money who would not otherwise do so.
They also made a one-off ‘I Love Sideswipe’ t-shirt priced at $1000, the whole cost being donated to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. If the t-shirt sold, Mr Vintage said they would match the amount.
The next day they published another blog saying: “We’re donating an extra $1,000 out of our own pocket to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.”
Twitter users, on the whole, did not approve of Ms Samway’s comments - as you can see here.
However, Mr Vintage did receive criticism on their second blog post.
“Sorry Mr V, gotta agree with Jo and Wendy. Lost a lot of respect for you guys over this whole stupid childish drama. You've turned this tragedy in Christchurch into a thing about you. It isn't about you, it never was. May this be the end of it,” said a commenter called Lucy.
Courting less controversy is a Facebook page dedicated to a Christchurch quake telethon. The page has 4000 followers already, with one poster at least offering his band to play.
Open2View is offering free photography for insurance assessment purposes – those interested should contact Jamie Armstrong at jamie.armstrong@open2view.com.
Not to be outdone, Twitter users are also offering their help.
Te Atatu woman Vanessa Liddell is arranging a ‘Cupcakes for Cantabs’ on Monday, September13 to fundraise (via twitter) @nessliddell.
Christchurch woman Rebecca Davies has offered her washing machine to Cantabrians who want clean laundry (via twitter) @BexieLady.
And @jransom tweeted: “Rural house with room for horses, dogs, cats etc available , rent-free, six months, Levin. Pass word if you know someone who needs it.”
3 News