The recent digital upheaval caused by the organisation TetayTeta following a viral video has laid bare an unbridgeable rift. This is not a case of a strategic failure or a ‘communication error’; what has happened is, quite simply, that they have been caught red-handed, and it is this reality check that has triggered the crisis. When the actual aid is negligible compared to the publicity campaign, the problem is not that the message was poorly managed; it is the lie. It is the fundamental lack of consistency in organisations that, quite profitably, confuse marketing with ethics.

The trick of donating stands instead of cash

The transparency report from the organising company, Sport Life Ibérica, reveals that it allocated €264,967 to “charitable initiatives”, a figure it claims represents 20% of its net registration revenue. It sounds impeccable in a press release, but the small print analysed by El País hides the accounting sleight of hand: of the 36 beneficiary organisations, 23 received this aid in the form of the provision and assembly of stands at the event’s fair. To imagine a team of scientists trying to pay for reagents in a cancer laboratory with three square metres of advertising marquee and foam board counters is almost a joke. Valuing the space you manage yourself and counting it as a “donation” is not philanthropy; it is a commercial exchange disguised as aid. Financial transparency is the only antidote: if an initiative does not specify from the outset how much cash is going towards research, brands should not offer their support. Otherwise, they are not victims; they are complicit in an accounting sleight of hand.

The legal excuse for ethical deception

Faced with the runners’ outrage upon discovering they were funding a for-profit event, the organisers defended themselves by claiming it is “a sporting event with a social commitment, not a charity run”. Their aim, they say, is to promote exercise. They are right about one thing: their strategy is entirely legal. In Spain, there is no specific regulation governing charitable advertising and, as FACUA points out, the masterstroke is that not a single poster needs to use the word ‘charity’. The sea of pink and the ribbons do all the associative work implicitly in the consumer’s mind. However, under the Unfair Competition Act, a campaign is misleading if it presents information in a way that misleads the recipient, thereby altering their economic behaviour.

Women don’t pay a registration fee to play sport on a rainy Sunday; they do so because they firmly believe their money will go towards saving lives. Exploiting legal loopholes to rake in millions with the public’s emotional complicity is, quite simply, an ethical deception. This ‘pink capitalism’ also generates a dangerous anaesthetic effect: it stifles political demands and mobilisation by delegating the solution to consumer brands. Who do we ask to look after us – a brand or public institutions? Window-dressing solidarity privatises empathy, turning it into an indicator of advertising performance.

Four rules to ensure CSR is no longer just for show

For brands seeking genuine commitment and wishing to avoid the backlash of pinkwashing, the solution lies in taking action with radical honesty right from the outset of the project. We must focus on and demand transparency regarding the flow of funds: before signing, the CSR department must audit where the funds are going. Demand clauses stipulating the actual net percentage of cash that will reach the laboratories. If there is a lack of transparency, withdraw the sponsorship.

Swap large-scale events for local aid: large-scale events provide spectacular photos but dilute the impact of aid. It is far more transformative to work directly with grassroots organisations or independent foundations, fully funding a researcher’s salary or local equipment. The impact is direct, measurable and human.

Assess the consistency of the product: It is inconsistent to see highly processed food or cosmetics companies that are under scientific scrutiny sponsoring women’s health events. If your products are not suitable for someone whose immune system has been compromised by cancer treatment, you fail the ethical test. CSR starts within your own production chain.

Start showing solidarity within your own organisation: there is no point in funding external ‘pink tide’ initiatives if, behind closed doors, your work-life balance policies penalise female employees undergoing medical treatment or fail to support staff with sick relatives. Involving your workforce in the assessment of social projects fosters a genuine sense of pride that no amount of advertising can buy.

Show the impact, hide the logo: effective communication gives the floor to those at the heart of the story. Showcase the scientific progress you’ve funded or the families supported thanks to your direct cash transfers. When the facts speak for themselves, slogans become unnecessary and any suspicion of a mere facade naturally disappears.

The end of pink paint

This crisis of confidence is not directed at the thousands of citizens who are acting in the best of intentions. It is a warning to the management committees. Consumers have become more discerning; they know how to access transparency portals and are no longer satisfied with the colour of a T-shirt or with press releases drafted by public relations departments.

Companies face a very simple ethical dilemma: either they continue to spend their budget on tins of pink paint to hide the cracks in their corporate inconsistency, or they start investing that money in laying the foundations for genuine social impact of which they can be proud, without fear of being called to account.

La entrada The pink wave: the great accounting illusion behind the brands se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

When we talk about CSR we always take into account the 3 dimensions in which a company should measure its performance: economic, social and environmental; All these dimensions are interrelated and essential to ensure that an organisation’s strategy is holistic and healthy;

For example, if the entity makes decisions that aim to maximise its profitability by reducing operating costs that imply a high level of environmental pollution, or worse conditions for its workers, it is not applying the principles of social responsibility;

Basic principles of CSR

It all starts with good intentions, but as the concept and, above all, the importance of corporate social responsibility becomes more widely adopted, common parameters are needed to give it the corresponding seriousness as a management strategy in as many companies as possible;

In this way, guidelines and standards have been developed that provide clarity, not only to companies, but also to those who evaluate the information they communicate regarding their social responsibility policies; This is the case of ISO 26000, an international standard that offers a guide of good practices and recommendations for the correct implementation of a CSR strategy;

The seven fundamental principles of corporate social responsibility

According to this rule, theseven fundamental principles of socially responsible behaviour are:

• Accountability
• Transparency
• Ethical behaviour
• Respect for stakeholders interests
• Respect for legality
• Respect for international standards of conduct;
• Respect for human rights

In short, the basic principles of corporate social responsibility have to do with observing respectful behaviour towards all groups that are directly or indirectly affected by an organisation’s activity;

This might be taken as a truism, but in reality such codes of behaviour are necessary to prevent the relentless pursuit of profit maximisation from overshadowing collective welfare, equity, social justice and environmental protection;

But how is Corporate Social Responsibility measured?

As crude as this question may sound, it is the expectation that there is only one concrete answer; There are infinite variables, perspectives, realities, methodologies… in which CSR can be applied and be considered ‘effective’;

However, many companies have fallen prey to the much talked-about greenwashing -and others like pinkwashing or whitewashingThis is image-washing that wants to make people believe that a company is sustainable simply by implementing a measure or launching a superficial campaign, which in reality becomes a marketing strategy and not a real factor of transformation within the organisation;

CSR norms and standards

It is in this sense that governments, international organizations, academics and many other institutions, interested in a real commitment and accountability, especially from large corporations, have been shaping regulations and standards that accelerate the process of formalising the incorporation of CSR in companies.

An example of regulation in Spain is the Non-financial reporting law, which is applicable to entities with more than 250 employees (in addition to other conditions) which, in turn, is based on the GRI standards as a reference for organising the type of information to be reported, although other types of standards, such as SASB, can be applied later;

Reflection and decision-making on corporate social responsibility

Specifically, the idea is that each company should reflect deeply on its impact on its environment and set goals for improvement in order to become transforming agents of the society in which it operates, without forgetting that for a business to survive it must be profitable;

There are different factors to analyse in order to better understand what kind of decisions need to be made:

• What is the size of the organisation?
• In which sector are you active?
• What regulations apply to the industry of which it is a part?
• Do you operate on national or international territory?
• Who is the industry benchmark for CSR?
• Etc.

CSR: what is our starting point?

This starting point opens the way to a materiality analysis that allows distinguishing which are the critical points of attention, as those that most affect stakeholders, and on which the company can act directly.

Obviously, to start measuring the results of implementing a CSR strategy, you must first know what the baseline scenario is, what the indicators are and the values against which the results will be compared to determine whether the objectives have been achieved.

We are a long way from that inchoate idea of patting ourselves on the back for doing ‘something’, which is always better than ‘doing nothing’; CSR has evolved, it has matured, it is no longer confused with charity or philanthropy; it has become an essential pillar of management that must be considered with the same importance as financial management or human talent management;

How to measure corporate social responsibility

In order to measure CSR there are some fundamental steps:

• Determine the key points for improvement (materiality analysis)
• Establish indicators for these points;
• Measure the initial status of these points (digital tools, such as sustainability software, can be used);
• Define the objectives (do not forget that they must be SMART);
• Measure the situation of the same indicators after the action plan has been carried out
• Compare the initial scenario with the scenario resulting from the implementation of the CSR
• Organise and communicating the data

For example, to improve the indicator of female representation on its board, a company should start by measuring the initial situation (% of female directors in relation to the total); set a target (in two years, this proportion should be increased by X%); and measure the result at the end of the period (what percentage of female directors the organisation now has).

The role of communication in CSR

To make real progress on sustainability, transformation must happen at the very heart of the organisation, starting with top management commitment and moving through policies that drive change in the day-to-day processes of the business;

It is not possible to measure, let alone communicate, a good intention or a temporary action aimed only at pretending a model of sustainability that is not real;

Obviously, in this context, communication plays a key role throughout the whole cycle of a CSR strategy: in its definition, its implementation, the dissemination of its results and the corrective measures, if necessary;

The importance of stakeholders in corporate social responsibility

This is because the impacts of a business on its stakeholders and their needs cannot be determined without active and constant listening. Communication does not work if it is not bidirectional and the first thing that those responsible for sustainability in any organisation must do is to ask, listen, understand… Moreover, this listening does not only apply once, but is part of the day-to-day CSR strategy;

On the other hand, these same stakeholders, including regulators, want to have a clear understanding of the performance of the organisations they engage with, so that they understand the criteria that affect them, while at the same time driving them to make decisions about consumption, loyalty, involvement, support, legitimisation, investment, etc., with respect to these companies;

Communication, a vehicle for the dissemination of CSR

Communication is the essential ally of a CSR strategy: it supports its correct definition and is the vehicle for its dissemination, which allows companies to transmit information in an honest, consistent and comparable way;

If a business is coherent with its social responsibility, and if it is also transparent in its communication, the perception in its environment, both external and internal, will be favourable to continue building solidly one of the most delicate assets of any organisation: its reputation;

La entrada Corporate social responsibility: what is its importance? se publicó primero en Agencia comma.