Extreme Home Public Relations Move?

So I just watched "Extreme Home Makeover" on ABC. If you haven't heard of/seen it, it's basically one of those home fix-up shows except they remodel the homes of people who have hit hard times.

Part of me actually thinks it's really good. I mean, at least it's better than shows like "Trading Spaces" that seem to almost exclusively deal with upper-middle class, suburban white people. At least they're improving the lives of people who really could use the help and it's nice to watch. For example, tonight, the contractor used on the show started scholarships for the two boys in the family.

The other part of me finds it disturbing. And it's not just the fact that it's followed by "Desperate Housewives." For example, the family tonight lost all of their clothes, so they got a new wardrobe as part of the package. When explaining this, the host of the show said something like, "So Sears really hooked us up with these clothes." During the show, they go to Sears to buy all the appliances and furniture and Sears, of course, sponsors the show and advertises throughout all the commercial breaks.

But it's also pretty disturbing to see all of this feel-good, supposedly altruistic behavior really not be much more than a ploy to make a profit for ABC and Sears. I don't doubt that the people who actually work on the show feel like they're doing it for the right reasons, but the fact remains that if the show didn't make a profit for ABC and Sears, there'd be no show.

I suppose if spending millions on a television show to make a profit has to be done, this is a decent way to do it. But it comes out as a big PR move for these corporations that, the rest of the time, do all they can to create the conditions that contribute to the very problems these families face.

ABC is owned by Disney, which is a very large company. You watch this show and think, "See ABC's such a good company trying to improve people's lives," but Disney is notorious for having some of the worst labor practices in the business. You see the happy family in their new home and think, "See, the corporations are taking care of people," when in fact these same corporations are the ones vigorously campaigning to cut wages, benefits and job security - the very things that make it harder and harder for people to own nice homes on their own, without becoming a charity case for some television show.

Yet, you watch this show and think that the corporations are doing all they can. I mean, they just build a mansion for this family, right? What more can you ask?