SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND BRANDING

Social responsibility has permeated in our corporate and organizational fabric of life. What is of interest now is that this social responsibility is now being branded well to create a social consciousness through product displays and souvenir items.

 

Now with the innovative and radical ways in which the products are packaged in the category of ‘social responsibility’ it is amazing to find that people are also moving towards this change of heart. This means that though the products are not easy on the pocket; they definitely are going to ease your conscience!

 

Gone are the days when donations were the mantra. Later on the donations were tax exempted. Now you just buy the goods and have a ‘feel good’ factor by the branded package that you get to indulge in! This kind of branding creates a win-win situation; the products are sold; branding and attractive packaging creates market acceptability in terms of quality and even the conscience is lighter!

 

In the last decade, many organisations have come up with innovative ideas to elicit public concern and even give out goodies to promote better living ideas. A well known campaign in 2016-2017 was that of  Clean Planet.

http://cleanplanet.in/blog/category/experiences-and-inspirations/ (an organisation engaged in an active drive to ensure that people use cloth bags) came out with ‘Clean Planet Feedback’ promotion in which persons who gave feedback or ideas for environmental concerns/solutions were given free tote bags. Though their promotion led to thousands of responses it is yet to be seen as to actually how many people are acutely conscious of the environmental concerns in day to day life. This campaign was initiated way back in 2017 when “eco-conscious products” or “sustainability” wasn’t an instagramable buzzword.

 

It is debatable whether this trend is actually helping towards the cause of social responsibility or not. The recent years have given rise to many startups and brands that have used the words sustainability, green, eco-conscious, handcrafted etc. 

 

As commented by Moomal Sisodia, CEO and Founder of Upshot Brand Media,  “I get many clients who instruct me to design their brand image on the philosophy of social responsibility theme. It remains to be seen whether they actually practice this or not. But ideally it is too uncertain to make any guesses on the magnitude of the social responsibility scenario in corporate and organizational culture in India. No matter how much buzz is created, greenwashing is pretty common these days”

 

The question: Is it true that branding really works only to create social responsibility awareness or just ends up being a marketing gimmick?  

 

Maybe, a few years down the lane; the answers will emerge. Till then all the organisations just believe in the adage:

 

“Do tug the heart strings and the purses will open up”