In my experience across Australia and New Zealand no discipline that normally comes under the responsibility of public relations, communications or public affairs is more contentious, or subject to so much misunderstanding, as CSR – corporate social responsibility.
Many organisations in this part of the world talk about CSR. But most – in my experience – don’t practice it in its purest form. Most simply do community relations, or worse – cause related marketing- and call it CSR.
In fact those who are really CSR devotees vehemently object to the practice being the responsibility of PR or public affairs. They believe that any suggestion of a PR involvement undermines the credibility of CSR programs. And given where PR has gone in recent years I have some sympathy for this perspective.
That’s because as evidenced by the thrust of the definition on Wikipedia corporate social responsibility policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism in the form of corporate self regulation that is integrated into a business model.
That makes the latest Annual CSR Awards conducted by the US-based PR News worth a look.
They’ve handed awards across a multitude of categories. But in my humble opinion when awards are made for “Green PR Campaign’, ‘Social Media Campaign’ and ‘Media Relations’ it undermines and devalues the concept of CSR.
CSR in its purest form is meant to be about avoiding publicity or marketing – and the media. And heaven forbid campaigns!
Notwithstanding this, and the fact that if you are like me you will see several awards given to activities that shouldn’t have even been up for consideration, the Awards are not all bad. If you are responsible for running PR or communications within an organisation the Awards publication is worth a read.
Some major organizations such as Cisco, The Body Shop, GE, H.J. Heinz and Coca Cola are featured and there are some genuinely worthwhile examples of activities that definitely enhance the feeling of corporate responsibility or citizenship.
PR and Public Affairs Directors may also get value from reading about the skill sets and functional responsibilities of some of those chosen as ‘CSR Executives of the Year’.
But overall it just reinforces my feeling that CSR and public relations are very uneasy bedfellows and PR and Public Affairs’ executives need to be very careful when they interacting with senior management within their organisations on the topic of corporate social responsibility.
Here are three previous articles I have written on CSR in my capacity as Editor of ‘PR Influences’.
CSR – an important tool for most businesses
CSR – where are we now
Environmental PR – ‘green’ is more than a veneer
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