Is Corporate Social Responsibility just a PR move?
Artificial Intelligence is the biggest gamechanger nowadays. In medicine, art, economy, hospitality, marketing, and many others, is setting new approaches for the consumer-brand relationship. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, this relationship is now able to raise to another level, with a more personal and detailed approach. In an era where digital is the key to the success of any business, AI is stepping up the game of digital approaches on start-ups and even bigger corporations, which need to update their services and adapt
Once upon a time, there was a world where companies only cared about making money. The end! The end of those companies and the end of this story.
Nowadays, the reality is different. We need more and better. The current differentiating factor, from the consumer’s perspective, is the social and environmental impact that brands and their products or services have in the world. People want to spend their money on things that makes them proud, so that, consequently, they feel like they are doing something good. But are organizations really worried about all of this? Let’s find out.
We are currently living in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world, which challenges us to embrace a new lifestyle. Now, organizations must be more concerned about human needs, and they can achieve this through one thing. *Knock, knock*. Who is it? Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS). The three magical words that, today, are all over the media, organization’s blogs, and sites… You name it!
CRS refers to socially ethical behaviors that organizations commit to so that they can improve society’s quality. Organizations are socially responsible if they ground their actions in three different areas: environmental, social, and financial. Briefly, they must focus on renewable resources, waste management, stakeholders’ rights, competitivity, and other notions, so that they can reduce environmental impact, educate society, or create environmental leaderships. Also, they may volunteer and donate, so that consumers can feel that they are supporting good causes. A socially responsible organization has a strong image, a good reputation, and the loyalty and trust of its stakeholders.
But how can we know, for sure, that organization’s CRS behaviors aren’t just a PR (Public Relations) move? Well, I can respond to that: they’re not. Or, at least, they shouldn’t be. PR’s ultimate goal in CRS strategy is to be the voice of the brand and ensure that external and internal stakeholders are aware of organizational efforts to improve its social and environmental impact.
However, as Matthew Rochte, from Opportunity Sustainability, says, “PR can be both a blessing and a curse to CRS” — it depends on which comes first.
Try to think about your organization’s strategy. Do you feel that PR is coming first or after CRS behaviors? If it is coming first, you may be entering the “greenwashing zone,” which indicates that you are, actually, deceiving your consumers about your environmental practices. In other words, greenwashing happens when organizations spend more money on communicating its efforts that on making them, just so that they can be well-accepted by the society.
Organizations should be doing the right thing by themselves, and the PR team should be focused on communicating everything that happens — but only if something is, in fact, happening.
Don’t forget. If done right, without CRS there is no PR. And without PR, no one is going to know about your organization’s CRS efforts.
