Local Girl Scout’s Online Cookie Video A Huge Hit: Opponents Biting Back
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Girl Scout Video
Girl Scout VideoIf you need a tasty treat, or just a good laugh, Wild Freeborn has the skills and the smile to make you want to buy just about anything. Selling shortbreads was one reason the Asheville 3rd grader signed up for Girl Scouts this year. She had one big goal in mind. “if you sell 1000 cookies, you get to go to summer camp. So then I really wanted to sell those cookies!“ The order was tall enough, but then the 8 year old got another wild idea: sell 12,000 boxes and send her entire troop on the trip. “why not try?“, her father Bryan says. “The world has been made by people who try to do the impossible.“
The Freeborn’s took the cookie campaign online, with a Youtube video that was an instant hit. In it, Wild makes the pitch: “Help me help others. Buy cookies! They’re yummy!“ The yummy message worked. Within weeks, Wild had 700 new orders. But not everyone liked the sweet sell. The local Girl Scout council complained, saying the video violated the scout’s policy of no online selling. The Freeborn’s took it down. “I worked just as hard as everyone else,“ Wild says.
Still, the 8 year old wouldn’t quit. Now, her family has found other ways to market the treats online. She even has facebook followers to help the cause. “I think it’s great!,“ Wild says. The lesson at the end of the day, her father says, is simple. “Stick with it, and don’t let the nay sayers get you down.“ Judging from her results, nothing will stop the gifted girl, with a spirt just as sweet as what she’s selling.
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Girls are not allowed to sell online to protect them. Selling door-to-door is only to be done with a buddy and an adult is to be present for younger Girl Scouts. Booth sales should not go on after dark, also for the girls’ safety. The idea behind the video is a good one, and if done in the right context could have benefited large numbers of girls without breaking the rules. In the end, making a video and watching 700 orders come in is not “working as hard as everyone else” who is walking door-to-door to sell those same 700 orders. Girls are also given restricted areas (although very large) as to where to sell. Generally, these do not cover multiple states and never include the entire country. Being “honest and fair” is part of being a Girl Scout, something that should be remembered during cookie sales as well as every other part of life.
My daughter and hundreds of others are selling cookies and they have all went by the rules given to them. I can not understand why this girls parents and the news media think it is ok for her to break the rules. I also do not think it is fair for this child to win prizes and awards over the girls who followed the rules. Other kids could have made web sights but they were asked not to and they did not. Now we get to tell our kids this girl sold more and will get more because she broke the rules and thats ok. The child is not to blame as much as her parents are. Shame on them.
Not letting nay-sayers getting you down is a good thing to teach - however teaching your daughter that breaking the rules is also a good thing to do is destructive and irresponsible. How about we make sure that Girl Scouts live by the Promise and the Law, as they promise to do when they become Girl Scouts? Girl Scouts play fair and by the rules, and if the GSUSA says you can’t do something, you don’t do it, because that is what is right. Remember, Girl Scouting is not built around cookies, no matter what the people say. Girl Scouting strives to build character and teach girls leadership skills. It’s not a program in which one learns to beat the system and then whines when one gets caught.
Sounds like another parent who thinks the “On My Honor” Agreement they signed agreeing to abide by the rules of the sale does not apply to them. Way to go parent. Show your daughter that by your actions you lack integrity and honesty. And don’t even try to convince yourself that she is working just as hard as everyone else selling cookies. My daughter has sold over 1000 boxes for 5 yrs. in a row. You have not figured it out yet that it’s not about selling cookies. It’s about learning skills, like how to handle rejection and dealing with people who are just generally in a bad mood. They don’t teach those skills in school. You only acquire those skills by dealing with it person to person. Thank you for being an example of a parent who does not last long in scouting because they lack integrity and a sense of fairness.
Ms. Freeborn is not the first to try to sell Girl Scout cookies on the internet nor will she be the last. She’s certainly getting a lot of attention, though. All sorts of girls try it every year and are told by their councils not to do it.
In brief, the GS rules are 1) to protect the girls from online dangers and 2) to avoid “jurisdiction” problems. By marketing online, this young lady may well be taking away sales from other girls who are following rules and going door to door with buddies or selling at approved concession stands.
Girl Scouts also promotes teamwork and cooperation with others and I don’t see this in action here. I applaud Ms. Freeborn’s desire to send her whole troop to camp, but since there are also 11 other girls involved, she would be better off getting together with them and doing group sales at the local WalMart. (I wouldn’t advise selling late at night, as the previous poster mentioned, but I don’t know what’s acceptable locally.)
Internet advertising can be fine, as long as it doesn’t step on anyone else’s toes, and I’d rather see Ms. Freeborn make a Youtube ad for her council and encourage everyone to contact their local Girl Scouts to buy cookies. That wouldn’t break the rules at all and would be a service to Girl Scouts everywhere.
Sincerely,
A Girl Scout leader living elsewhere
Umm, no online selling… What about the girl scouts that were outside Wal-Mart still trying to sell cookies at 10:45 pm the other night? Not too smart…
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