No Good CSR Deed Goes Unpunished

We all knew that Pepsi’s Refresh project was a risky proposition. Their decision to ditch their million-dollar Superbowl ads opened the door for their rivals at Coke to advertise essentially unopposed during the country’s biggest broadcast. Furthermore, while many have commended Pepsi’s authentic, interactive approach to corporate social responsibility, there’s still no guarantee that this campaign will make Pepsi a more resonant brand in the long run.

Pepsi undoubtedly spent a lot of time considering this tradeoff before delving into their CSR campaign, but one thing they probably didn’t anticipate was that the perception of the Refresh campaign would be shaped by the company’s tangential actions elsewhere. Like, for instance, a Pepsi-sponsored nutrition blog with some questionable assertions.

Welcome to the Reputation Economy, where instantly-accessible information makes it infinitely easier for consumers to connect the dots between a brand’s disparate actions. While a massive company like Pepsi probably isn’t making any connection between the Refresh project the nutrition blog, the consumer experiences these efforts as a composite branded experience, and makes their judgments accordingly.

And Pepsi’s not alone. A recent article from Forbes touted a list of the most imaginative CSR campaigns, but many of brands lauded within have encountered some backlash for their own tangentially-related missteps. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is one of the most heralded CSR campaigns in recent memory, except by the critics who noted that Dove’s sister company Axe was doing just as much to undermine women’s self-images. Even the comment section on the Forbes article displays these sentiments, such as one poster who questioned how Levi’s could justify a campaign focused on the struggling American worker while producing their jeans in overseas factories.

So, is the lesson here that CSR campaigns aren’t worth the trouble? We wouldn’t go that far. The “economy” in Reputation Economy isn’t just jargon; rather, it signals that brand-building via CSR is a long-term process that requires continuous attention, and is bound to have its ups and downs. Still we believe that there’s a worthwhile long-term payoff. If Pepsi, Dove, Levi’s, and other brands stick to their guns, they have the opportunity to connect with consumers on a deeply resonant emotional level that goes far beyond the utility of their products. If done properly, these gaffes will ultimately be considered missteps, rather than fundamental flaws that derail their CSR efforts. Still, any company that chooses to invest in CSR campaigns must consider this high-risk/high-reward tradeoff, and be extra careful in ensuring that their company’s broader actions do not contradict or undermine their more noble efforts.