Corporate Social Responsibility

Op-Ed

Who Really Benefits from Voluntary Corporate Codes of Conduct?

by Anne Landman — July 2, 2008 - 3:55pm
  • Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Ethics, Public Relations, Tobacco

    • A recent investigation by BBC Television showed British American Tobacco (BAT) violating its own voluntary marketing and advertising codes in Malawi, Mauritius and Nigeria. Contrary to BAT's public pronouncements that it doesn't want children to smoke, the company was caught using marketing tactics in these countries that are known to appeal to young people, like advertising and selling single cigarettes, and sponsoring non-age-restricted, product branded musical entertainment.

    As trading has become more global and corporations have become more multinational, countries started discovering that they have little recourse to rein in the harmful behavior of corporations. As public clamor to regulate multinationals has grown, companies have increasingly responded by adopting "voluntary codes of conduct." But what are the real purposes for these codes? Are they just window dressing, or worse?

    Pinkwashing: Can Shopping Cure Breast Cancer?

    by Anne Landman — June 11, 2008 - 3:50pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Activism, Cause-Related Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Health, Women

    • You've heard the term "greenwashing." It refers to corporations that try to appear "green" without reducing their negative impact on the environment.

    Since 2002, the group Breast Cancer Action has promoted its "Think Before You Pink" campaign. It's fighting "pinkwashing," which is when corporations try to boost sales by associating their products with the fight against breast cancer. Pinkwashing is a form of slacktivism -- a campaign that makes people feel like they're helping solve a problem, while they're actually doing more to boost corporate profits. Pinkwashing has been around for a while, but is now reaching almost unbelievable levels.

    Two Unions Are Finding Deals at Wal-Mart

    by Sheldon Rampton — June 5, 2008 - 11:19am

    "After waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company’s full-time, union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are putting down their cudgels," writes Michael Barbaro.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, June 5, 2008

    Healthcare Privacy Laws Quietly Assist Fundraising

    by Anne Landman — May 27, 2008 - 3:12pm

    When a patient checks into a hospital or goes to see a doctor, they are typically handed a booklet called "Notice of Privacy Practices" and are asked to sign a document acknowledging that they received the information. Patients assume that these "privacy practices" are in place to protect their personal information and that doctors and hospitals will keep their information in strictest confidence.

    Main Source: 
    San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2008

    Nestling into the British Government

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — May 16, 2008 - 8:45am

    As CMD has reported previously, the infant formula industry in the U.S. is committed to making sure that women aren't, as they put it, made to feel guilty about not breast feeding. But it seems that formula producers are also looking to make inroads in Europe, where rates of breast feeding are far higher than in the U.S.

    Main Source: 
    The Independent (UK), May 11, 2008

    The New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies

    by John Stauber — May 7, 2008 - 2:46pm

    Author Eric Schlosser editorializes about "the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying," citing Burger King Corporation's spying on the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers through Cara Schaffer and her private security firm,

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, May 5, 2007
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