Not all that glitters is gold -The CSR Paradox

Cecilia Badano

From the “Gold rush” to the “CSR rush"

Over the past decades, Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives have globally risen in number and  quality to the point that we could talk about a real “CSR rush”. Brands are enhancing their CSR communication as a response to the increasing public demand to take a stand for relevant societal issues. Modern campaigns are interactive, issue-oriented, intriguing and authentic. PR practitioners recognize the value of CSR for improving corporate reputation and several field studies, such as the Cone Communications CSR Study, support this view. Anyway, as it always happens in rushes, also in the one toward CSR there are some potential pitfalls that diligent contestants need to know how to avoid.

The CSR Paradox

“Achilles and the Tortoise” Paradox Illustration © Anastasia Yevtushenko

Even though there seems to be a general agreement on the effectiveness of CSR within Public Relations, the academic world has been coming up with interesting researches that need to be evaluated to have a deeper and more critical overview of the practice."The CSR paradox: when a social responsibility campaign can tarnish a brand" by Johnson-Young and Magee is one of those.

The most interesting finding of this study may seem shocking for old-fashioned PR practitioners: CSR campaigns are not always beneficial for brand’s reputation, even when they manage to create a positive attitude towards the issue or the contents end up being overall appreciated.

Everyone working in PR knows that, even though being sustainable and support societal issues is important for responsible companies, a firm cannot accept that a communication campaign undermines its reputational and financial returns. That is why there is a strong need for CSR to be well reasoned to be effective.

The way to run out of the paradox

According to Johnson-Young and Magee’s research the central point for a successful, and paradox-free, communication campaign lies within the practice of auditing the audience, which helps determinate the issue of interest for CSR and the way to frame it. 

The importance of knowing the audience is a Public Relations 101 lesson but still some practitioners tend to neglect this first step, banishing it to the marketing practices.

The Power of Collective Efficacy ©MIKE AUSTIN/THEiSPOT

Individual characteristics strongly affect the public’s response to CSR initiatives. When it comes to CSR communication, in particular, two variables need to be taken into consideration: the collective efficacy and the level of involvement with the CSR issue. They both have consequences so they both require different strategies.

Individuals with high levels of collective efficacy believe that a group effort can actually make a change within a societal issue and consequently respond more positively towards messages containing call-to-actions. In other words: they want to be part of the solution.
Highly involved people, instead, tend to be more attentive to the communication messages, which is positive whether the campaign is well-reasoned and risky in case of a message with potential pitfalls.

In the following paragraph we will see a practical example of how these characteristics, analysed by  Johnson-Young and Magee’s, can play a key role in the designing of a CSR campaign.  

COCA-COLA running faster

Coca Cola Brazil’s campaign “Essa Coca è Fanta” (“This Coke is a Fanta”) is a perfect example of how a deeply thought and well-targeted communication initiative can overcome the CSR Paradox. The brand decided to stand for the LGBTQ+ community in Brazil where their products were involved in a form of homophobic discrimination. In fact, “Essa Coca è Fanta” was an offensive expression used to refer to gay people implying that they are not what they are supposed to be.

Coca Cola found itself to target a highly involved community, directly offended by the issue. Moreover, it was possible to expect a high level of collective efficacy, with people believing that a more open-minded and tolerant world could be constructed with everyone’s effort. As seen above, in this case a campaign in order to be efficient should present the problem together with a solution and ask the public to be part of it. This is what Coca Cola did, creating a very involving and interactive communication campaign, using limited edition cans, to spread its solidarity message during the Pride Day celebrations. It ended up being a success for both the brand and the LGBTQ+ community.

To have a look at what they did watch: 

Finish line

Even though it may be complicated, it is important to embrace the CSR paradox and make the best out of it. Trust me, you want to be the tortoise rather than Achilles this time.

About the author

Cecilia Badano is an Italian student, currently approaching the end of the MSc in Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam. After her bachelor in Milan, she decided to leave“la bella Italia” to start her new life in The Netherlands. Her interest for Media Relations and PR in general  led her to undertake courses from both the Corporate Communication and Political Communication tracks in order to have a wider perspective on these topics.

Want to read more?

Johnson-Young, E. and Magee, R. (2019), "The CSR paradox: when a social responsibility campaign can tarnish a brand", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 179-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-08-2018-0090

Cone Communications (2017, n.d.). 2017 Cone Communications CSR Study. Retrieved

from http://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/2017-csr-study#download-theresearch