The most-broadcast telethon to date was the January 22 , 2010 '' Hope for Haiti Now '' telethon , to aid the victims of the January 10th earthquake . It offered the possibility for viewers to text donations on cell phones , and raised a reported $ 58 million by the next day . This event reflects a particular relationship between humanitarianism and entertainment that has developed in response to specific historical and economic market conditions . The increasing scope of social outreach efforts conducted online and through social media platforms facilitates the performance of moral responsibility implied by the claim of the telethon 's narrative and visual strategies . This fundraising project was designed according to a formulaic pattern that relies on a form of nationalist identification that can be achieved and reinforced in viewers through the functional logic of the spectatorial relationship , that of a stark divide between the viewer and the people surviving a catastrophic event , which is reproduced in the telethon 's representational structure
January 10th earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
Telethon