A roadmap for socially conscious brands

My girlfriend insists that we buy an eco-friendly brand of dishwasher soap. Ditto for a lot of our other household products.

When I tell people who don't know us very well that we actually pay more for products that make us feel better about a particular issue or cause, they often ask if we're hippies. (To be clear, we are not hippies. Not at all, in fact.) I suspect that these same people also wonder if we're suckers. Perhaps they think we're being duped by a clever marketing message designed to appeal to our young, hip, West Coast sensibilities. This, I think, is possible. Neither of us knows the first thing about chemical engineering, biology, or any of the science used to make the stuff we buy every day. Packaging and branding aside, we wouldn't know a harsh, toxic cleaner from one with a low environmental impact. Our ability to verify a brand's claim to be working toward a public good is limited to our own drive to dig deeper, and the availability of trusted third-party fact-checkers.

When one considers the state of the news today and the frenetic pace of modern life, we are, sorry to say, at the mercy of the branded message. We take the label on the box or in the ad at face value, which is to say that we're equal parts cynical and hopeful. We're hopeful that a brand will share our values (after all, we are paying them, right?). But we're not so naïve to think that every brand will put its money where its marketing is and actually deliver on their promises.

I mention this experience because I think it's important to take cause marketing with a big grain of salt. Social causes and corporate interests don't always align. In fact, sometimes they end up in direct conflict, and other times they're only marginally compatible.

Some brands take up causes because they believe customers will think better of them for sharing their values -- and more importantly -- taking action. Ben & Jerry's comes to mind. In 2009, for example, the company renamed Chubby Hubby, calling the ice cream instead Hubby Hubby as part of its commitment to gay marriage. Is there any connection between ice cream and marriage? Probably not. Did the move help Ben & Jerry's with its more liberal customer base? Perhaps. Did social conservatives switch to Baskin Robbins? Maybe. But regardless of the motives or the outcomes, this kind of messaging doesn't set off my cynic alarm.

Whatever could have been gained by the move could just have easily been lost by the change in name. In the final analysis, whether you liked the decision or not, it just feels like something the company wanted to do. By the same token, Chick-fil-A, which is pretty much on the exact opposite end of the political spectrum as Ben & Jerry's, has a policy of closing its restaurants on Sundays (something I learned the hard way a few years back in the Atlanta airport). As you would imagine, the policy is religious in nature. Diehard Chick-fil-A fans have told me that they love the brand's commitment to their values (incidentally, they love the chicken, too). But the merit of this policy is debatable. Obviously, some customers think better of the brand for representing their values, but clearly other customers (me) can't buy their product on Sunday. It's a debate that can go on forever. But like Ben & Jerry's, Chick-fil-A's position seems genuine. That, by the way, is where my hope for this kind of marketing comes in.

But there's also that pesky cynical side. It's clear that some companies present a socially conscious message because changing the public's perception of what they do is the only way to preserve and grow the bottom line. Think about the oil company ads you've seen over the last few years. Wait a minute, you haven't seen oil company ads; you've seen energy company ads. What's the difference? Honestly, I have no idea. But they tend to feature images of scientists working on cutting-edge, eco-friendly fuels and nature living in harmony with industry. Do I sound cynical? Yes, you've got me. I am indeed incredulous when I see this kind of marketing. Now, it's possible that some people see this marketing and think differently about energy companies. The ads are very clever. But whether they work or not seems besides the point, because unlike the kind of cause marketing Ben & Jerry's and Chick-fil-A engage in, something about this kind of messaging just screams cynicism, no matter where you fall on the political spectrum.

Now, I don't mention this to praise ice cream and fried chicken and bash oil. In fact, I use all of these products regularly. But it's important to note that when these products are advertised in a straightforward way, without any social context, the brand raises a very limited set of questions. Is it any good? Is it competitive in terms of price? Will I be cooler for buying it? But when a brand chooses to marry its message with a cause, an entirely different set of questions arises. And unfortunately, for the marketer, they're bound to be a lot more complicated, and perhaps even messy.

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