Corporate social crap?

It's generally taken as read that corporate social responsibility (CSR) improves the reputation of your company...right? But it turns out that if you are a 'socially stigmatised' firm it may in fact do the opposite. So, if you're a tobacco firm, an alcohol firm, or a firm with an otherwise less than sparkling reputation it may be that your CSR efforts are perceived as insincere and may not help your brand at all. Sometimes known by sceptics as 'whitewashing', such CSR can be seen as merely painting over the cracks in the rest of the organisation. This is also called  'greenwashing' if regarding environmental issues - such as this ad for Shell.

A paper by Steltenpool & Verhoeven in this month's Public Relations Review isn't the strongest piece of research ever but it's an interesting view on a topic that is generally accepted as indispensable in modern day corporate comms.