in my opinion

For a Good Cause?

By Sarah Lowndes

A recent study by York University researchers calculates that the United States pharmaceutical industry spends approximately two times more on promotion than it does on research and development. In 2007, Advertising Age magazine reported that (PRODUCT) RED companies, in an effort to raise money for the fight against AIDS, have altogether spent nearly $100 million in advertising while only raising $18 million.

It is now the norm for companies to compete to show consumers that they care and that they are trying to make a difference. However, these corporate promotions for peace, sustainability, disease research, or other chosen causes are often extremely costly. Furthermore, Forbes magazine has affirmed that social responsibility does not correlate with business success because while consumers expect companies to be ethical and charitable, their spending behavior does not reflect this. So, if these corporations really care about issues such as saving the environment or educating the poor, why are they squandering so much money on publicizing their efforts instead of actually putting that money to work?

The money that corporations are spending on advertising their various causes can be better spent. Thirty-second television commercials aired during prime-time television cost roughly $200,000, and billboards can cost up to half a million dollars. Compare this to the cost of AIDS prevention education for five hundred people, $25, or the cost of feeding a family in Rwanda for a month, $45. An incalculable amount of money that could actually go to benefiting global society is being wasted on consumers who are largely unaware of corporate social responsibility issues.

Social responsibility has become an important facet of business ethics for many companies. This is not necessarily a bad thing; what is bad is when promotion becomes more important than the cause itself.