There was a story a couple months ago in our local paper about charities complaining about the Color Runs, where people run through colored corn starch during a 5k, for just the heck of it. The charities complained that the color runs got more participants than their particular 5ks to raise “awareness” and money. They also complained that the color runs were not raising awareness for anything, they were just a for-profit venture. They stopped short of asking the color runs to be banned though, which I thought was very kind of them.
Those color runs look like fun, but messy. I know folks who do them. Everybody is chasing dollars, charities just as much as everybody else. There’s only so much money and “needs” for many times more than there is.