コーズ・マーケティングと広告に関する研究

Abstract

Recently, one of the most influential changes in social environments for a firm’s activities should be the emergence of corporate social responsibility(CSR). Under the CSR environment, cause marketing has drawn attention as a new type of social philanthropic activity among firms. The cause marketing is referred to as a marketing tool that firms donate or allocate a specific proportion of sales into non-profit public activities or philanthropic organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-profit organizations (NPOs). The ultimate goal of the cause marketing is to bring and enhance friendly corporate images to the public through consumers’ perception of benevolent activities of a firm. For the selection of public themes, firms need to consider their given capabilities to solve social concerns and to maintain sincere attitudes toward social issues. Additionally, firms are required to have a long-term and comprehensive perspective when implementing a cause marketing. By calling for public participation, they will anticipate that consumers’ perception of corporate image is to change in a favorable direction. However, corporate image could be undermined when firms draw on it as a one-time commercial campaign to induce consumer attention and are known to pursue only profit maximization under the name of public interests. Namely, corporate brand image would not be enhanced when firms are perceived to lack their social interests and willingness to contribute to society. This research examines the relationships between a firm’s cause marketing and corporate social responsibility and its theoretical background to identify the desirable use of cause marketing based advertisement.