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Buying into development? Brand Aid forms of cause-related marketing

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 35; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01436597.2014.868985

1360-2241

Stefano Ponte, Lisa Ann Richey,

Media Studies and Communication

AbstractConsumers, partnering with corporations and celebrities, are forming new alliances in international development through what we call 'Brand Aid' initiatives. At a time of shifting relationships between public and private aid, commodities are sold as the means of achieving development for recipients and good feelings for consumers simultaneously. In this article we first formalise our conceptual model of Brand Aid at the triple interface of causes, branded products and celebrities. Then we conduct a systematic empirical analysis of contemporary Brand Aid initiatives, including three in-depth case studies of 'Win One Give One', toms shoes and Product (red). We argue that these not only use imaginaries of development to sell products to Northern consumers but also engage in the work of a 'story factory' – producing truths about international development and consumer engagement that make development appear simplified, manageable and marketable. We conclude that, in Brand Aid, the problems themselves and the people who experience them are branded and marketed to Western consumers (through celebritised multimedia story-telling) just as effectively as the products that will 'save' them.Keywords: brand aidcause-related marketingbusinessconsumptioncelebritydevelopment AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the International Development Research Group at Roskilde University, the participants of the Sustainability Seminar series at Copenhagen Business School and an extremely helpful reviewer for their feedback on earlier versions of this paper.Notes1. Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.2. Adelman, "Global Philanthropy and Remittances."3. Hawkins, "A New Frontier in Development?," 1797.4. See Biccum, "Interrupting the Discourse of Development."5. Hawkins, "A New Frontier in Development?"; and Brockington, "The Production and Construction of Celebrity Advocacy."6. See the classic Long and Van Der Ploeg, "Demythologizing Planned Intervention."7. See Brockington, "The Production and Construction of Celebrity Advocacy"; and Cameron and Haanstra, "Development Made Sexy."8. See Richey and Ponte, "Better (Red)TM than Dead?"; and Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.9. See Goodman, "The Mirror of Consumption."10. Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.11. See, inter alia, Adkins, Cause-related Marketing; Berglind and Nakata, "Cause-related marketing"; and a recent review in Vanhamme et al., "To Do Well by Doing Good".12. See Hawkins, "One Pack = One Vaccine"; Hawkins, "Shopping to Save Lives"; and Hawkins, "A New Frontier in Development."13. Daw, Cause Marketing for Nonprofits, 3.14. Ibid.15. Daw, Cause Marketing; csr, Cause Related Marketing; and Einstein, Compassion, Inc.16. Daw, Cause Marketing.17. Einstein, Compassion, Inc.18. Integer Group, "M/A/R/C Research."19. Einstein, Compassion, Inc., 35. Emphasis in the original.20. Nickel and Eikenberry, "A Critique of the Discourse of Marketized Philanthropy."21. Einstein, Compassion, Inc., 137.22. King, Pink Ribbons, Inc., 73.23. See Hawkins, "One Pack = One Vaccine"; Hawkins, "Shopping to Save Lives"; Hawkins, "A New Frontier in Development"; King, Pink Ribbons, Inc; and Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.24. Brei and Bohm, "Corporate Social Responsibility as Cultural Meaning."25. Hawkins, "Shopping to Save Lives," 758. Emphasis in the original.26. See Hawkins, "A New Frontier in Development"; and Brockington, 'The Production and Construction of Celebrity Advocacy."27. Littler, "I Feel Your Pain."28. See, for example, Marks and Fisher, "The King's New Bodies."29. See, for example, Marks and Fisher, "The King's New Bodies"; Street, "Do Celebrity Politics and Celebrity Politicians Matter?"; and Street, "Celebrity Politicians."30. Cooper, Celebrity Diplomacy.31. Turner, Understanding Celebrity.32. Littler, "Introduction," 1.33. Boykoff and Goodman, "Conspicuous Redemption?"34. For an exception, see Goodman and Barnes, "Star/Poverty Space."35. Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.36. Appadurai, "Commodities and the Politics of Value."37. See Brockington, "The Production and Construction of Celebrity Advocacy."38. Smith and Yanacopulos, "The Public Faces of Development."39. For example, after several trials, we decided that we could not use an internet search focused on a set of words or concepts to establish a 'long list' of crm initiatives, because of the many different definitions used for crm -like initiatives and the transience of these initiatives on webpages (after crm initiatives end, they are typically 'disappeared' from companies' websites). Hawkins 'A New Frontier in Development' describes similar data challenges.40. To be defined as Brand Aid, initiatives must: (1) be crm initiatives; (2) involve at least one celebrity; and (3) have a cause related to 'international development' broadly defined. See Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.41. The database used comes from www.causemarketingforum.com, a website established in 2002 with the stated goal of: 'increasing the number of successful company/cause alliances by providing businesses and nonprofit executives with the practical information and connections that they need to succeed'.42. Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid.43. http://www.generalmills.com/home/brands/baking_products/betty_crocker/brand%20product%20list%20page.aspx#{588DE128-522B-4712-9F21-ED8D2EF2CA90}.44. "One Clunky Laptop per Child: Great Idea, Shame about the Mediocre Computer." The Economist January 4, 2008. www.economist.com/node/10472304.45. www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2007/09/its_time_to_cal.html.46. F. Kanyesigye, "Rwanda: Project to Distribute 100,000 More Laptops." The New Times, 6 March 2012. allafrica.com/stories/printable/201203060083.html.47. "Education in Peru: Error Message – A Disappointing Return from an Investment in Computing." The Economist April 7, 2012.48. http://www.iadb.org/en/research-and-data/publication-details,3169.html?pub_id=IDB-WP-304.49. Ibid.50. www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2007/09/its_time_to_cal.html.51. Dr Michele Borba is 'an internationally renowned educator, award-winning author, and parenting and child adolescent expert' (according to the product website). Among her most signalled credentials are that she has 'appeared more than 100 times as a parent expert on "Today" as well as countless talk shows including "Dr Phil," "Dateline," "The View," "Dr Drew," "FOX & Friends," "The Doctors," "CNN," and "The Early Show"'.52. See http://www.toms.com/eyewear/our-movement. The other 'giving partners' are not listed in toms public information, but Partners in Health, Paul Farmer's celebritised ngo has been a partner since 2009.53. toms One for One Giving Report, 2013.54. Ethiopia has a competitive footwear industry run by Ethiopians, but this does not figure in the toms marketing imaginary.55. See Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid for an analysis of how this works in Product red.56. Letter from toms Founder and Chief Shoe Giver, Blake Mycoskie, 3.57. See http://apersonaldiaspora.blogspot.it/2011/04/toms-discussion-on-bad-aid.html.58. See www.goodintents.org/in-kind-donations/a-day-without-dignity.59. Richey and Ponte, Brand Aid. On Product red, see also Banet-Weiser and Lapsansky, "red is the New Black"; Giardina, "One Day, One Goal"; Himmelman and Mupotsa, "(Product) red: (Re)Branding Africa?" and other contributions to the same special issue; Littler, Radical Consumption; Wirgau et al., "Is Business Discourse Colonizing Philanthropy?"; and Youde, "Ethical Consumerism or Reified Neoliberalism?".60. All product information from the official website, www.joinred.com/partners/#.61. Richey & Ponte, Brand Aid.62. www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2011/12/red-partnership.html.63. See Richey, "Mobilizing for Global aids Treatment."64. Darnton and Kirk, Finding Frames.65. Appadurai, "Commodities."66. Frumkin, Strategic Giving.67. See Blowfield and Dolan, "Business as a Development Agent."68. See Tierney et al., "More Dollars than Sense."69. See McGoey, "The Philanthropic State."70. Hickel, "Liberalism and the Politics of Occupy Wall Street."71. Flannery, "Kiva at Four."