THE DARK SIDE OF THE CSR

Let's talk about responsibility.

I will start with a question. What is responsibility?

The dictionary tells us that responsibility is a value that is in the conscience of the person and that allows him to evaluate his actions and their respective consequences.

With this definition we can deduce that responsibility is a state of consciousness. But what is consciousness?

The dictionary tells us that consciousness literally means having knowledge of something. And what makes us aware of something? The key is in the information about what you do. If you are aware of what you do, you will also be aware of the impact you cause. In this way you achieve what is known as a criterion, which in turn generates an awareness, which in turn also generates a responsibility. Therefore, this means that responsibility is a voluntary act.

Having said this, the following reflection arises me; Although we have said that responsibility is a voluntary act, would it be logical to promulgate or promote laws that oblige companies to be socially responsible?

In our world there are several codes and laws that regulate our way of acting. But what about everything that is not contemplated within a law? How should we act? Very easy, the answer is simple: as your conscience dictates. This is where true responsibility begins.

In the business world, social responsibility is generated through a state of awareness of a company about its impact on society. Social responsibility is fulfilled when companies work with responsible management processes, that is; with their employees, with the environment, with their technology, with their competitors, with their clients and with all the advertising they carry out, whether on social networks or in other media. That is when the company manages to generate the much-appreciated confidence from the part of the consumer.

But what happens when a company achieves this trust with a false social responsibility?

That is the ethical problem that surrounds the entire issue of corporate social responsibility.

It has always been said that in this world there are both good people and bad people. Well, the same thing happens in this case. Without a doubt, there are honest companies that dedicate their efforts and money to corporate social responsibility to achieve a better world. But unfortunately, without a doubt, surely there are dishonest companies that would not dedicate their effort and money to CSR without knowing that they are going to get something in return. The real problem begins when in order to achieve that something, which is basically the improvement of its image to achieve more sales or a whitewash of said image to hide unethical actions, lies and deceit are used.

Surely many of you have heard of the green-washing phenomenon, and if you haven't, then I'll tell you about it.

Surely you have noticed that the environmental wave has invaded the market. Since more and more products are sold as ecological and sustainable or responsible with the environment, announcing it loudly. What you probably haven't realized is that a good percentage of what they sell us as eco-friendly really isn't. I will not tell you about the Volkswagen case, since we have all seen it, but I will tell you about the following study on the environmental disguise of some companies.

In 2020, the European Union carried out a study on this topic, with a sample of 344 business statements about their own sustainability. This sample brought together companies from all sectors such as textiles, cosmetics, or household items.

Well, the study had several conclusions and sections on which I do not want to focus, since this article would be too long. However, there is only one fact that stands out above the rest.

In 42% of the reports analyzed, the information given about sustainability practices was “exaggerated false or misleading claims and could be considered as unfair commercial practices under the UCPD (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive)”

This figure means that almost half of the products that are sold to us as green or ecological really are not, with this figure we are able to get an idea of the magnitude of such a lie.

Once explained and commented on what greenwashing is, surely you will have realized that there are many other image washes, such as rainbow-washing. This new image wash is simply based on showing support for the oppressed minorities of the LGTBIQ+. There are many examples of this wash, but I am going to focus on telling you the one that has been the most impressive for me.

Surely you all know the famous Victoria's Secret lingerie brand. This brand, famous for its ultra-sexist marketing campaigns and its “Angels" perfect as if they had fallen from the sky, decided to fire their 90-60-90 models and hire models who are overweight, refugees, with burka, feminists, gays, queers, Asians, and all kinds of activists belonging to a social minority oppressed.

Apparently, Victoria's Secret believed that the "pro-LGTBIQ+" move would go well for her, but unfortunately for the brand, it did not, and after receiving a tremendous wave of criticism on all social networks, she realized that the social image of a company cannot be washed by going from one extreme to another, as easily as they thought.

There are as many image washes as there are colors. Some of the most famous are Black-washing, yellow-washing, pink-washing, purple-washing, and others. Of which you can get an idea of what they deal with just by their name, so I will not dwell on them any longer.

As a final reflection on corporate social responsibility and its dark side, I would like to point out its main guilty, Politics. I know that he is the guilty par excellence, but he is very deserving of his position. Well, it is none other than politicians, without any distinction, who create and promote social wars, taking them to the extreme and radicalizing them, to scratch a few votes more than the rest of the parties, and achieve their main objective, which is not other but the power.

Finally, I would like to end with a question: Are we not excessively politicizing the market while leaving aside what really matters, which is nothing more than that the company covers a need of society in an honest, clean, fair, and reasonable way, without gender, number, race, or religion involved?

 References:

•  20minutos. (2021, junio 18). Así son los nuevos ángeles de Victoria’s Secret: desde una futbolista y una mujer refugiada hasta una modelo “plus size”. 20minutos. https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4735109/0/asi-son-los-nuevos-angeles-de-victoria-s-secret-desde-una-futbolista-y-una-mujer-trans-hasta-una-modelo-de-tallas-grandes/ 
• Thecircularcampus, P. P. (2021, julio 28). Greenwashing: Así es el informe de la Unión Europea. Ecoembes TheCircularCampus; The Circular Campus. https://www.ecoembesthecircularcampus.com/asi-es-el-informe-de-la-union-europea-sobre-greenwashing/