Drug Company Charitable donations

This morning I received an email from a good friend:

Today, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical monolith that charges nearly $1,000 for a 30 day supply of one of its HIV/AIDS medications, is donating $1 to the National AIDS Fund for each person who simply visits their website and "virtually lights a candle." The tally is near 800,000 now.

Sounds great and your instinct, of course, is to do it.

But I took a few minutes to look at their web site and this is what they say:

"For each virtual candle lit through December 31, 2006, Bristol-Myers Squibb will contribute $1 to the National AIDS Fund, up to a maximum contribution of $100,000, to benefit AIDS service organizations in underserved communities in the U.S."

In other words they get all this wonderful publicity for a measly $100,000 - it's a snip in any drug company marketing budget.

so I won't be lighting a candle.