More than Good, CSR Demands the Bad and the Ugly, Too
Not so long ago, a corporation could say it was a good citizen simply by printing an annual report that summed up its actions in the area of corporate social responsibility, or
CSR. And that was considered satisfactory, just putting it on paper.
But that's not good enough anymore. In the age of the Internet (and Sarbanes-Oxley) stakeholders are savvier (and more skeptical) than ever. So while it may seem
counterintuitive, a meaningful CSR effort today will not just tell the story of what you are doing right, but also what you are doing wrong, warts and all.
"The biggest change is toward being a credible broker and arbiter of information: Information about both your successes and your failings," says Chris Deri, a senior VP at
Edelman Public Relations in New York. "It means talking about the challenges, talking about the criticisms that stakeholders are making."
Deri points to the CSR efforts of two comparable companies, Dole and Chiquita, to demonstrate the media impact of full disclosure.
The Dole Web site on CSR is thin, with meager pronouncements about the integrity of corporate practices. "It is Dole's policy to comply with Labor Codes in the countries where
it operates," says the site. Chiquita, on the other hand, describes past instances of how the company violated child labor laws in countries in which it operated -- and the
remedies taken to stop such practices.
You might think Chiquita was shooting itself in the foot. But consider this: Chiquita, with its candid disclosures of both good news and bad news, won the Organization of
American States' (OAS) 2004 Corporate Citizen of the Americas Award while Dole became the subject of a Human Rights Watch campaign. Knight Ridder put out headlines like, "Group
Blames Dole Food Co. for Child Labor Illegalities" while the Washington Post described Chiquita as "pro-environment and profitable."
The Dole/Chiquita comparison may be an isolated case, but PR execs who communicate CSR say the theme rings true. The issue right now is credibility, and that's something that
can only be won through total transparency. How did we get here? War and corporate chicanery are two reasons. Says Betty Lovell of Lovell Public Relations in Dallas, "Prior to
9/11 and some of the corporate scandals, the atmosphere was so different. The media did not question nearly as much a corporation's motivations."
Examples abound of cases in which incomplete disclosure seems to run hand in glove with media skepticism. Take, for instance, McDonald's. The documentary "Super Size Me" --
which chronicles a young man's efforts to eat three squares a day at McDonald's, for a month straight -- may have launched the present media feeding frenzy about whether
McDonald's contributes to obesity, but a rah-rah! CSR attitude by the fast food giant didn't help matters.
In a recent CSR press release McDonald's boasted "an array of new menu items, physical activity programs" and referred to the 2003 creation of a global advisory body to guide
the company in regard to nutrition issues. Yet the release made no mention of recent criticisms of McDonald's menu.
McDonald's spokesman Walt Riker notes that a new CSR report discusses what still needs to be done. "[McDonald's will] explore new ways to deliver nutrition and balanced
lifestyle information to our customers," reads the report. But Riker agreed that the 80-plus-page report contains no overt reference to criticisms leveled against the company for
being part of the obesity problem.
The PR outcome of failing to face reality is clear. In an item on the food chain's move to phase out the 'Super Size' option, CNN described the dietary changes this way:
"McDonald's added entree salads last year and has been moving to provide more fruit, vegetable and yogurt options with its Happy Meals. But the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company
remains a magnet for public concerns -- and legal actions -- when it comes to obesity."
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Yet full disclosure is not easy. While some PR professionals may see the value of a frank and open discussion, others on the executive team may defer to the conventional wisdom
about not airing your dirty laundry in public.
One way around this is through eternal vigilance. Jennifer Silberman, vice president of the strategic communications practice at APCO in Washington, D.C, argues that an
effective CSR strategist will look for the CSR angle in every significant corporate move. Find the CSR story, if it is there, which will provide PR ammo in two important ways.
First, it can make openness more palatable, by offering a ready response. Say the firm has been accused of environmental recklessness. In response, a program is launched in
which PR can convey a positive environmental message. When the CSR report is released with an acknowledgment of the charges that have been raised, the very next paragraph can
reference a program (or plan) that has been created to address the problems head-on.
At the same time, CSR communications lend credibility to the entire firm. If you are constantly looking for a CSR angle, "then it will not be seen as an afterthought,"
Silberman says. "If a new product has an environmental sustainability component to it, you want to be talking about that right at the beginning as you formulate your messaging.
You want that to be a part of the overall package, rather than having it appear [to stakeholders] as an afterthought."
Another important way to achieve full disclosure in CSR is to talk to the opposition openly and often. "There is one company I know that wanted to make the environmental
community aware of some of things it was doing," says Jim Sloan, director of corporate social responsibility at Hill & Knowlton in Chicago. "In the past, companies might have
tended to go out and communicate aggressively through the media, without beginning the process with direct stakeholder dialogue."
In this era of transparency it's far better to go directly to the source of the criticism, and perhaps come out with a joint message saying that while things are not perfect
they are getting better. "If you work on a smaller scale first, then you can go out and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as having been part of the solution," Sloan says.
Contacts: Chris Deri, 212.704.4520, [email protected]; Charles Harris, 714.940.2903, [email protected]; Betty A. Lovell, 972.788.4511, [email protected]; Jennifer
Silberman, 202.778.1476, [email protected]; Jim Sloan, 312.255.1200, [email protected]
CSR's Close Cousin
Standing in the same room with corporate social responsibility, but not quite sitting at the same table is community relations. Although the two terms are sometiemstossed
around interchangeably they are in fact separate strands of PR. While companies strive for an ROI to their CSR efforts, community relations stands for all of the volunteerism,
product donations and scholarship funds that companies use to give back to their communities.
Corporate America does its fair share of community relations. The down side for PR is that it can be hard to get noticed. Yet Charles Harris, publicity director for the
National Hockey League's Anaheim Mighty Ducks, has found a way to get the club's charitable efforts past the (media's) goal posts.
This year, for example, the Ducks raised more than $300,000 for cystic fibrosis. And when fires raged in southern California in July the team collected 20,000 pounds of food
and raised another $20,000 selling Ducks jerseys on eBay. But these efforts didn't get much notice on the sports pages.
So Harris introduced several Ducks players to other writers and editors -- aside from those working the sports beat -- and made a case for covering his team's services in
other areas of newspapers beside the sports section. "A lot of this stuff can stand on its own, and it should. The community stuff is news in itself," he says.
Harris' outreach to metro and lifestyle editors has paid off, with stories about the Ducks charitable efforts having run in the local news and lifestyle sections of the Los
Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. People picked up the story, too, and it was even woven into a recent episode of the ABC "reality-TV" show "The Bachelorette."