For many companies worldwide, awareness months (or weeks or days) have become an increasingly important marketing tactic. These cause-driven campaigns offer businesses the chance to publicly support a social issue of their choice and brand themselves as socially conscious.
But does participating in awareness campaigns really mean a business is socially aware? If not, what should consumers consider when reviewing a company’s social responsibility efforts?
And what can they do to hold companies—and themselves—more socially accountable year-round?
Below, Kogod marketing professor Ron Hill explores answers to these questions and offers examples to consider. An expert in consumer behavior, corporate social responsibility, and marketing for social change, Hill examines what serving the social sector really means in business and how companies (and consumers) can better align themselves to affect change.
“From a marketing perspective, awareness month campaigns can be compelling and engaging—but only if a company is aligned with the cause,” says Hill.
Consumers want an authentic connection between the company’s purpose and the issue it supports. “This can enhance corporate reputation and boost sales,” Hill says. “It can create a ‘halo effect’ that draws people to the organization—and increases support for the cause.”
Conversely, if a company participates in an awareness month or day for a cause it is not aligned with, its support may have the opposite effect. For instance, a clothing or cleaning product brand that emphatically supports breast cancer treatment month may repel customers.
Hill cautions that regardless of alignment, businesses should anticipate some degree of pushback from the public. Not everyone agrees with the importance of an issue or how a company chooses to support it, he says.
“The biggest drawback is some part of your target market audience will always say, ‘Well, why this?’”
When the World Health Organization and the United Nations launched World AIDS Day in 1988, AIDS was still a highly divisive topic. The general public still viewed it as a “gay disease,” a stigma that incited controversy for many companies that openly discussed it.
When considering an organization’s social impact, Hill encourages consumers to look beyond awareness days to investigate its mission and values.
Companies that integrate social responsibility into their identity rather than pursue one-off initiatives tend to be more impactful and authentic.
More siloed CSR practices, such as cash donations or volunteer work, can still make a difference. But Hill advises consumers to put these actions into context. For example, if a company donates $1 million to fight gun violence, but its annual income is $3 billion, its overall investment to support this cause is not very high.
“Corporate social responsibility can be very anecdotal,” says Hill. “You have to look at the broader picture.”
He also notes that a business’s social goals can be separate from its financial ambitions, but ideally, the two coexist to help advance a greater good.
“The idea that social goals have to make economic goals shine doesn't make much sense,” says Hill.