Corporate Social Responsibility

I'm Responsible, if I Do Say So Myself

The environmental group Friends of the Earth will hold "a mock awards ceremony aimed at exposing the green spin and corporate social responsibility failings of UK companies." CSR is big business; a recent APCO Worldwide survey of more than 400 people in 10 countries found that "corporate social responsibility

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Greenwashing Ford's SUVs

"The launching of the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid this fall marks an auto industry first: the coupling of a hybrid electric engine, containing the most energy-efficient fuel system available, with an SUV, the least efficient class of passenger vehicle," writes Geoffrey Johnson. The Escape Hybrid won't do much to improve the environment, and Ford isn't expected to make money on it either. Johnson concludes that Ford, which has the worst fleetwide fuel economy of any major U.S.

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Greenwashing Koch Industries

"Flanked by 'Survivor' champions Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca and two Washington Redskins cheerleaders, a leading D.C. environmentalist took time on Earth Day to thank Wichita-based Koch Industries," reports Alan Bjerga. Doug Siglin, head of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Anacostia River Initiative, praised Koch for helping pick trash out of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. But while Koch colleagues heaped praise on the company, critics wondered whether the event wasn't designed to clean up Koch's image as much as the river.

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And Now, a Word from Our Earth Day Sponsor

"Through concerted marketing and public relations campaigns... 'greenwashers' attract eco-conscious consumers and push the notion that they don't need environmental regulations because they are already environmentally responsible.

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Beyond Posturing

Four years ago BP - the company formerly known as British Petroleum - launched a $200 million ad campaign to rebrand itself as "Beyond Petroleum" and to strut the company's avowed commitment to corporate social responsibility. At its April 16 annual general meeting in London, however, its real face was more visible.

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Don't Be Fooled

The Green Life, a Boston-based environmental organization, chose April 1 to release its "Don't Be Fooled" report on the "10 worst greenwashers of 2003." Winners included: Project Learning Tree, a front group for the American Forest Foundation; Royal Caribbean International, for giving itself an environmental award and shielding customers from information about raw sewage dumping and other forms of cruise ship pollution; the Environmental Protection Agency, for calling its plan to weaken the Clean Air Act the "C

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'Corporate Social Responsibility' Masks Corporate Damage

As the international business elite meet behind high fences in Davos, Switzerland, an international relief organization says corporate claims of good deeds often hide companies' efforts to undermine regulations and to elude responsibility for harm already done.

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Spin Doctors Examine "CSR"

"Corporate social responsibility [CSR], and the role that communications plays
within it, is a controversial subject. ... So when CSR agency Futerra Sustainability Communications teamed up with communications agency CTN, PRWeek and the IPR to run an online discussion on the issue on 12 November, more than 200 CSR practitioners and communication professionals signed in to express their opinions. ... The irony that one part of a

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Newman's Own Boosts McDonald's

Faced with the nation's growing waistline and flat sales in recent years, fast-food restaurants are relying on new products and PR to help improve their image and their profit. "Mike Donahue, VP, US communications and customer satisfaction for McDonald's, notes that PR pioneered McDonald's integrated marketing push on its salads," PR Week writes. "The company aligned its salads with Paul Newman's Newman's Own brand of salad dressings, offering those dressings for its new product. Newman's Own is highly regarded in the world of natural and organic foods.

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