



Thanks to a $25,000 matching gift from a company called Omni Consumer Products,

.

In case you’re wondering, yes, RoboCop’s corporate sponsor is literally

. However, this OCP makes real life versions of products from movies. They’re responsible for Brawndo, the electrolyte-filled energy drink from “

,” Mike Judge’s masterwork about the dumbing down of society. Let that one process for a second.

Yesterday, I

objecting to this idea because – while ridiculous – the inevitability of the

made arguing against RoboCop even more ridiculous. Now, it’s all over but the shouting.

However, there might just be a silver lining in this. Detroit’s philanthropic community is stretched a million different ways, but local non-profit organizations remain behind the times in harnessing the internet’s power to efficiently raise a lot of money from small donors.

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The trend has the potential to turn fundraising consultants and high-priced development directors into the not-for-profit world’s answer to typewriter repairmen. In a city like Detroit, where the calcified leadership class is more interested in appeasing the swells than accomplishing a task, the democratization of philanthropy is considered almost unseemly.

Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this: Did the “

” campaign happen because it was the best strategy to encourage local volunteerism or because the right kind of person pitched the idea at the right cocktail party on Mackinac?

Babbittery: I’m A Believer!

So as absurd as this effort is (quick thought for the RoboCop boosters: Arguing that

is as meaningless as saying

) and

, this effort should be

to other, more vital charitable efforts.

Because, oh noble marshals of social uplift, you were just pwned by a campaign to erect a monument to the Hollywood blockbuster.