Consumers
November 01 2004
by Oliver BalchConsumers have long been bundled in with other drivers for corporate responsibility, but their position in the CSR debate remains equivocal. This is understandable to an extent. Some consumers care, but, as innumerable surveys will show us, not enough to alter their shopping habits dramatically.
So instead, busy CSR managers become quickly embroiled with the needs of other louder and more pressing stakeholders. Sure, CSR must account for the needs of community groups, employees, investors etcetera, but surely not at the expense of the bread-and-butter consumer?
So what of the corporate-consumer relationship? Twenty years ago, 90% of consumers would trust the claims of a company about a new product. The number now stands at 10%. Need we say more? The National Consumer Council's Deirdre Hutton argues in her guest editorial that regaining consumer trust will depend on companies becoming more upfront about consumer risks in their communications. It's a timely message, as is Roger Cowe's investigation into advertising codes and whether the ad industry really buys into them. They should do, argues Nicky Amos, who's out to prove the pollsters wrong and show that a consumer-centred approach to CSR really can turn a profit.
Yet, beyond the confines of sales and brand equity, CSR still has much to say about the consumer. How, for example, is British business responding to the 9.7 million people living below the poverty line? We look into equal access and what it means. Identity crime is on the rise: what are you doing to protect your customers' details? And the issue of the day, obesity: Briefing talks to Kellogg's about how it's not just changing what consumers eat, but how they live their lives. In our consumer society, where you know who is king, forgets the consumer at its peril.