Community, Consumers

We've highlighted before the Mandy Rice-Davies problem with these surveys about cause-related marketing - well, they would say that, wouldn't they. After all, you've got to be a pretty tough nut to answer the pollster 'no, even at the same price, I prefer the product that destroys the planet.'

Thankfully the evidence reported above gets beyond that. First, the fact that more people are responding in the affirmative indicates growing expectations; even if the reality is still overstated, the trend is clear. Second, the hard data on actual purchasing helps put a number on that reality; again, it confirms the trend is moving up.

Until recently, CRM fell into two main categories: the '10p to charity' promotion and niche products such as Ben & Jerry's ice cream or Body Shop cosmetics - discretionary purchases appealing to the affluent middle classes. Now it's starting to reach the mainstream. For example, Tesco said in November that sales of organic products will exceed £1 billion by 2006, five per cent of its food total and up from around £150 million today. But let's not get carried away quite yet. The Co-operative Bank's estimated £5.7 billion in purchasing amounts to a market share of only 1.5% across the seven product categories. And compare its estimated £7.8 billion in ethical financial services with research published in November by Britain's citizens advice bureaux: £8.5 billion is being overpaid each year by some of the poorest consumers through unnecessary consumer credit and inappropriate debt consolidation. Which is the more socially responsible bank - the one offering ethical investments or the one with robust procedures to prevent misselling of its basic products?

Corporate Citizenship Briefing, issue no: 61 - December, 2001