Aug 23 2011
Wayne Pacelle, Book Salesman?
The other day we noticed that Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle is still on his book tour. Yes, still: You might recall that Pacelle released his book The Bond and started touring back in early April. As we approach September, he’s still going. His recent stop in Frederick, Maryland was number 87—yes, eighty-seven—out of a 100-city tour. (Does he have any “groupies”? We wonder.)
Isn’t Wayne supposed to be running a multimillion-dollar organization? Or has his primary role shifted from CEO to book hawker?
Let’s contextualize by comparing Pacelle to some notable figures who have recently gone on book tours.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (whose brand surely has more recognition than Pacelle’s HSUS) recently went on a 14-city book tour. Former First Lady Laura Bush had a modest 22-city tour. And rancher (and now Food Network host) Ree Drummond, whose blog attracts millions of visitors a month, went on a 19-city tour.
And according to Politico, Sarah Palin’s two most recent book tours have been a 16-city tour and a 35-city tour. The latter was for her book Going Rogue—the bestselling nonfiction book of 2009.
Pacelle, by contrast, is going on a tour nearly three times as long for a book that is nowhere close to as successful. (The Bond made it to number 11 on the nonfiction best-seller’s list for one week, before dropping to #23 the following week and then falling off the list.)
One person we can find surpassing Pacelle is former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who recently went on a 111-city tour. But let’s face it—Pacelle’s stature is nowhere close to that of a former advisor to the President.
We’re not sure who’s paying for Pacelle’s tour—the book publisher or HSUS donors—but surely traveling to 100 cities is taking a toll on how effectively HSUS is run. It’s not like Pacelle is getting mobbed, at least judging by a couple of pictures of the event. And The Bond was immediately discounted 40 percent at Amazon and other e-tailers following its release.
In fact, HSUS’s original announcement was that Pacelle was only going on a 50-city book tour. At some point, the length doubled. So what’s the point? Is this really about promoting “the bond” between people and animals, or about Pacelle’s self-promotion?
Comments
he’s a traveling man.. dodging the charity ratings and the hard ball questions.. groupies.. yup.. white women over 60. or maybe vegans who are 20 but look 60 .. LOL
He has to hit so many places and, continue for so long to even sell any of the things. He has been quoted as saying ‘He has never had a real bond with an animal’ so who wrote this book, I don’t think it has anything to do with the book, he’s just out to get more donations for the H$U$, so he can spend the contributions on more ballot initiatives, he has already put more than $90,000 out in Missouri again, sure isn’t spending on the animals in the shelters!!!
I am sick at my heart…..about the money and how it is not spent on animals rescued and in shelters. I am committed to a monthly donation but when I see something else that will help, I donate to that too. Unfortunately HSUS was one of those additional places to donate for the animals.
What else can we do to make sure the allocations to animals are truly distributed to the right organizations??????
Thank you. WATCHING IS THE BEST IDEA FOR NOW.
Can’t wait to hear that The Bond (Wayne Bond) has been remaindered!
I think people like Wayne need to get a real life.
Just because they have a dislike for something they feel they have the RIGHT to lobby Washington and try to make their way in history because they pushed a law through so that they can sleep at nights. In fact all they did was infrenge on other peoples rights. You see animals can’t talk that is why he lobbys for them because they can’t tell him to shut up like people can. He is only fooling him self and his followers. Wayne get a real job.
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There must have been some other motive besides selling books on Pacelle’s grand tour. Was he checking out pet stores, AKC kennels, legit rescue organizations and real Humane Societies? Something must be “up”. I think he is gathering data to use in his next big campaign. We should figure out which nonsense it will be about and start preparing our data now. Purebred Rescues: get together and share your adoption rates and all data with AKC or whatever organization you’re registered with.