Is CSR just public relations?
Former BP CEO, Tony Hayward, speaking during the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.
Is CSR part of public relations (PR), or vice versa? Some see CSR as simply a part of their company's communication strategy. After all, is there any point to CSR if you don’t talk about it? Well, if you believe that CSR is part of corporate citizenship—that a company should be contributing to the communities in which it operates—then it should exist whether the company chooses to talk about it or not.
It’s obvious why PR is interested in CSR. Telling good news stories, or anything that touches on goodwill or positive news stories is PR heaven. The problem comes when that’s all CSR is used for.
If a company’s CSR program and team sit within the PR team, this may be cause for alarm. CSR is something that is part of a company’s values and culture. It shouldn’t be something that’s rolled out to make the public feel good about the brand, or to outweigh negative news stories.
The argument that CSR is a PR tool and therefore belongs within that realm raises the question, should we also have the finance team report to PR given their love of talking about impressive financial results? PR is about communicating positively and strategically with the public. CSR is about the company’s sustainability and support for its community. Of course the two are related, but neither one should drive the other.
The way companies talk about their CSR efforts tell us a lot about them. For example, if a large corporation announces that they will match money that employees give or raise for a charity, we may be sceptical of their sincerity for the cause. Compare that to a friend telling you that the company he works for allows him time during his week to work on key non-profit projects, as well as providing a percentage of profits and other resources.
Maybe there’s something different in their approach, and that’s something you want to support. Perhaps it’s something genuine.
It is both the level of commitment, and the form of communication that makes one more sincere than the other. We may have no reason to distrust a company, but most of us have a healthy dose of skepticism about anything that they say about themselves.
Let the company culture and values drive your CSR projects and strategy, and it will speak for itself.
