Why it doesn't matter if people are offended by Live Below the Line

From A Turn of Phrase:

Poverty in the UK is not a fun game or experiment for those who are fortunate enough to never have experienced it to play with. … If the excuse is that it’s to raise money, find something else to do. Something that doesn’t appropriate or make light of other’s [sic] difficult and painful situations.

The ‘cost per life saved’ for the most effective charities in the world is hard to calculate. GiveWell estimates it’s between $31 and $25,000. Let’s take $25,000 (£15,000) as a very, very conservative estimate for the cost of saving one life in the developing world (a few dollars spent on a mosquito net or an improved stove could conceivably save a life). That means the £330,000 that Live Below the Line has raised so far, if donated in entirety to highly-effective charities working on extreme poverty, and given the most conservative numbers possible, would save the lives of at least 22 people in developing countries (likely many more). No matter how distasteful the campaign may be (which I don’t think it is), the offence it causes is not morally equivalent to having 22 people needlessly die. Keep donating!