A STAPLE OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Before we discuss the ethical issues involved, it might be a good idea to ensure that we all have the same understanding of these community relations tools and tactics that are so popular in strategies designed to enhance relationships between organizations and their communities. What could be a more noble objective than to give back to the community?

The term strategic philanthropy is now widely used to identify a profit-making organization's strategic public relations approach in support of community activities. Here the term ˜community can refer to the local, regional, national or even international community depending on the organization's reach. The strategic objective from a public relations point of view is to maximize the image-building and relationship-enhancing aspects of the donation or sponsorship by finding a cause that can accomplish this objective.

Cause- related marketing , often confused by marketers with social marketing, is the tactic that identifies an organization's products or services with a specific social cause. For example, if a brewery creates a campaign against drinking and driving, they are marketing their beer by relating it to a social cause ”the cause is forwarded, but the bottom line is increasing market share. Social marketing , by contrast and by definition, is a campaign created (usually by an organization devoted to the cause) for the sole purpose of selling the cause (or behaviour change), with no hidden agenda of selling products. Social marketing uses the techniques and tactics traditionally used to market products and services to market ideas. If a condom manufacturer sponsors and develops a public communication campaign to promote safer sex, they are doing cause-related marketing. On the other hand, if the regional non-profit AIDS coalition develops a marketing campaign to promote safer sex, that's social marketing. The primary purpose of a social marketing campaign is to ˜influence individuals behavior [sic] to improve their well-being and that of society. ^[1]

Whereas it seems like a truly good thing for profit-minded organizations to give back to their communities, there are some issues that are often not considered , or quickly discarded as irrelevant, by the public relations professionals engaged in finding the best way both to promote the organization as community-minded and truly make a difference. These two issues of mutuality often conflict.

^[1] Social Marketing Institute [accessed 23 October 2003] ”What is it? http://www.social-marketing.org/aboutus.html