A For Effort? -The effect of CSR advertising on cause and company

Abstract: Although CSR as a strategic tool is gaining increasingly strong support from strategy giants such as Micael Porter, the connection between advertising and CSR is not yet fully established and as of today only an embryonic body of research investigates the effect on the supported cause. By using a real life initiative carried out by Pressbyrån during the Stockholm Pride Festival 2013, this thesis aims to find out whether advertising a CSR initiative can generate mutual benefits for both the supporting company and the affiliated cause and whether the effects may be enhanced by marketing effort and the perceived influence on self versus others. An experiment adding up to a total of 339 respondents tested the effects of being exposed to an advertised CSR initiative with varying degrees of effort. Findings suggest that advertising a CSR initiative does not necessarily generate any substantial benefits for neither company nor cause unless it makes people feel much more affected than others, and as a matter of fact, not devoting sufficient effort to the commitment could be direct damaging for the sake of a cause.