Likes all round.
No good deed goes unpromoted at offshore law firm Appleby, whch has documented staff in branded clothing handing out gifts to strangers.
‘Random Acts of Kindness’ is an annual event intended to “celebrate kindness and the whole pay it forward mentality” in which proponents perform selfless acts such as letting someone go ahead in a queue, donating to a food bank or paying a compliment, organisers have said.
This year Appleby joined in with its own week-long festival of giving. Day one was “all about roses and chocolates”, said the firm. “Did you see the Appleby Jersey team out and about brightening Monday to kickstart Random Acts of Kindness Week?” Don’t worry if you didn’t, they posted about it.
The next day, staff headed to the market “armed with M&S gift cards to spread some cheer”.
Cue snaps of lucky locals posing with their Appleby-branded vouchers.
Flying low.
The firm sought to made clear that it was helping the needy. “Our recipients, including mums with babies [bless], construction workers [ew], traders [goodness] and shoppers, said we’d made their day – and gave us a smile in return!”
On the final day things got slightly stranger when the firm sent out children in Appleby gear to distribute toys to kids who looked less fortunate.
“For our final Random Acts of Kindness day, Appleby Jersey brought in some little helpers to hand out toys to children”, explained the firm.
They're not the only saints.
Even the little givers were grateful to Appleby. “They said choosing toys to make someone else’s say made them feel as happy as those who received their gifts!" said the firm. "Thank you for all the smiles this week!"
'You look like you can't afford daddy's legal advice, have a plushie.'
'You want a PS5?! We're from Appleby, not Kirkland.'
One source suggested Appleby was engaged in Strategic Acts of Marketing as much as Random Acts of Kindness, but such cynics just have a lot to learn about altruism and PR.
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Comments
63
18
I literally cringed when I read this. So you think the kids were children of the firm’s partners? ‘Look mummy! A poor person! Can we keep it as a pet? Please? I’ll take it for walks and clean out its cage every day. I promise!’
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Appleby is NOT a kind firm. They treat their staff like rubbish, including firing them unceremoniously following [redacted]
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Good Lord. Offshore lawyers really are the absolute pits.
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My previous comment didn't seem to get published. Appleby is NOT a kind firm. They have a history of treating offshore staff really badly, including unceremoniously firing female employees after they have been [redacted]
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How crass. This is what happens when people who swim in the shame-free LinkedIn ecosystem get their hands on the tiller.
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Damn I missed these freebies
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I'm not clear on the comments here - you may think it's a cringy marketing campaign but you'd also have to ask yourself why you think it's cringy to participate in "Random Acts of Kindness" events.
Giving out freebies to random people can simply be a nice thing to do. My employer (a well-known management consultancy in London) did it too. We didn't market it on LinkedIn but it still went down well with colleagues and the people who benefitted.
Appleby did something nice in their local community and they published that fact on social media. Big whup... - like it or don't like it but either way, move on.
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The point is why they did it. The result is a good one. But the motive is cynical - if they really wanted to just do good things, they wouldn't have splashed it all over social media in a heavily branded fashion.
Would they have bothered if they weren't promoting it? No. So I reserve the right to think that the whole message of "we just wanted to do some nice things, lol" is morally bankrupt.
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A real act of kindness would have been to stop the tax evasion that them and other similar firms facilitate…
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Exactly 12:38. Promote it internally by all means. But what are they achieving by posting it all over linkedin? They're simply telling everyone they're good. Why do it then? Because it is marketing. Once they broadcast how good they've been, their claim that the original act was altruistic is forfeit.
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When doing kind acts, leave the camera at home. And the horrible branded hoodies.
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At least Appleby still practise a bit of law. Conyers just sells pizzas in the BVI.
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LOL people in the comments are ruthless. Offshore firms tend to be populated be somewhat nice people who didn't want the backstabbing nasties of law in London. I am not vouching for the particular firm etc. etc. but come on, they just thought internally it would be a good thing to do, and then someone very junior in marketing, probably about 22/23 just having left university, posted the photos - they'll do this for any firm event or initiative or where someone has run a race for charity or whatever. The whole of LinkedIn is a DFI/ESG circle jerk, this is so softcore compared compared to the violent bum plugging you see on there generally.
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Offshore 16 March 24 17:38 - no offshore law firm really practises law. They are a post box for onshore law firms.
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@Anonymous 17 March 24 19:48: offshore lawyers are not nice people, but chippy failures who couldn’t make it onshore.
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Shame people can’t see this for what it is and have to put them down. The world is a slightly nicer place thanks to the likes of Applebys handing out free stuff to the underclass. So what if they post it on LinkedIn? It’s what LinkedIn is for, connecting with others around the globe to share stories of charity and good cheer.
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Seems to be an inverse relationship between people and organizations spouting the "be kind/do better" mantra and how genuinely caring and nice they are.
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This is a stunning and brave move by Applebee's. They are like the heroes of Telemark, but if Telemark was a town centre in Jersey.
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I am a litigation partner at another offshore firm. I have never worked for Appleby but know plenty who have, and I work with/against them frequently. While not offering any comment on this reported charitable initiative, in my experience the Appleby lawyers I come across are decent people and competent and straightforward lawyers who absolutely do not deserve the ill-informed snidey jibes posted here. As for the "Pandora Papers", I am unaware of anything in that stolen data (handled by the Guardian) that disclosed any wrongdoing by Appleby whatsoever. Three cheers for Appleby!