Tips for writing to sponsors:
1. Be polite. This is no time to rant or use profane language. As angry as you may be for one of your favorite companies to be supporting this show, your email or letter must be polite. Simply mention that you are concerned about the content of the show and that you are unhappy that their company has chosen to align itself with the show. Keep it clean!
2. Don't rant. By now, most of these sponsors have heard many comments about the show already from people who started contacting them months ago. Keep the emails and letters short and to the point. Choose one or two particular concerns you have about the show and expand on those, but don't make a laundry list of everything you have a problem with.
3. Use proper punctuation, spelling and capitalization. You are writing to a business and your email or letter should reflect that. This isn't the time to use cute smiley faces, or lack of capitalization or any other "creative" ways of writing. Pretend you are writing a letter to a company for which you'd like to work. How would that email or letter sound? Be professional.
4. Mention specific action you plan to take. Do you plan to stop purchasing their products? Do you plan to purchase a competitor's product instead? Do you plan to stop using a specific product until something is done (such as a sponsor discontinuing their sponsorship) after which you will gladly return as a customer? Or do you plan to tell friends about their sponsorship? Be honest about what you plan to do. But don't go overboard. Be honest and direct.
5. Be reasonable. While your letter is important to sponsors (and research shows that companies heavily weigh their attention to letters of complaint more than to letters of praise) remember that this is a group effort. These companies will surely receive a great deal of feedback. Don't expect a letter or email back that specifically addresses your concerns. While you might get a form letter or canned email response, this doesn't mean that companies aren't taking your efforts seriously. Write your ONE letter or email (don't write over and over again!) and move on to another sponsor if you wish. Then, let it go....the sponsors will eventually see that there is a great deal of concern about this show.
Your concerns ARE important to these companies! Let them know!
