08/06/07
i'm sorry, i know this is really not what this piece is about but i really just have to say this:

fuck honda, fuck british american tobacco, and most definitely, fuck american idol.

i'm not all cool with Al, but at least the film hit me with something genuine, no matter what the true motives are. I mean, if it's not someone like Al Gore, if it's just another regular guy on the street, would that make it more honest? would that make it less fake? would it make any difference what it's about?

the fucking corporates are different, the goals are so bloody clear it's bullshit. it's like Nike telling you to say no to sweat-shop labour, well hey, fuck that shit.

07/05/07
Hello Meh,

This thing started out of Al Gore and Honda, with me being a film and Formula 1 fan. Looking around, and realising that there are more and more such examples, I decided to do some research and write about it, so this doesn't quite cover all the companies and people doing CSR and various forms of philantrophy.

But yes, to me, some of the bigger companies that do conduct CSR only spend a nominal amount of money on it (see the Honda example). For me, CSR is not the first thing that jumps to mind when I am considering companies' products, but I imagine that it makes a big difference for others.

Having said that, it's still money that helps out in whatever small way they can help out. It might only be 0.000001 percent of their profits, but I suppose if channeled effectively, it can still make a big difference to someone somewhere in the world.

Thanks for your comments.

Fikri

07/05/07
CSR sounds like PR masked as a social cause. The cost of doing it isn't much vs. a company's annual profits. Rather than criticising CSR activities in isolation, we need to look at how the company operates--for e.g., how they get their labour and supplies, how they treat their staff, whether they charge an atomic bomb for their products--and see if the company's sustained practices are ethical. It would be better to support a more ethically-run company than a big brand that dumps in 0.00001 percent of its profits on a big, media-covered annual CSR stunt.

CSR isn't a fad--it's a trend that will stay awhile as winning over consumers and their loyalty is king, but that may also mean that as the company's cost of operations factor in these activities, at the end of the day, ultimately it is the consumer paying for these image-boosting exercises. - Meh