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Journal of Promotional Communications

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Published

2017-02-07

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Vol. 5 No. 1 (2017): Special Edition on Thought Leadership for PR

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Articles

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Without Proper Regulation, is Corporate Social Responsibility just a Public Relations Tool?

Vivien Lebbon

Abstract

Since 2000, we have seen corporate social responsibility (CSR) become integrated more frequently within business strategies, making it less about public relations (PR) and more about society. However, there have been various cases recently where high profile brands have been publically shamed for misusing CSR in some way or another, like Volkswagen, who designed technology to deliberately falsify emissions data in 2015, undermining their previously awarded CSR commitments and activities. One of the main reasons behind this is the fact that there is little or no clear regulation, standards or guidelines for CSR and because of this companies have little fear of the consequences if caught misusing it. The following article examines the view that without legal supervision CSR is discretionary to each and every company, allowing them to cherry-pick issues, which in most cases just align with Western values and do not transfer to other parts of the world. This means that companies often ignore pressing issues and merely focus on the most convenient

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