{"id":8781,"date":"2021-11-04T15:32:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T15:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1372145"},"modified":"2021-11-04T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T15:32:18","slug":"consumers-see-through-woke-washing-but-real-change-is-possible-for-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=8781","title":{"rendered":"Consumers see through \u2018woke washing\u2019 \u2014 but real change is possible for brands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With brands increasingly engaging in social change campaigns and leveraging their influence to be \u201cpurpose-led\u201d, the time has come to ask a couple of big questions: is this a viable strategy, and how skeptical should we be of so-called \u201cbrand activism<\/a>\u201d?<\/p>\n

In recent weeks alone, Ben & Jerry\u2019s has launched<\/a> a new ice-cream flavor called \u201cChange is Brewing\u201d to support Black-owned businesses and raise awareness of the People\u2019s Response Act<\/a>, proposed legislation to establish a new public safety agency in the US.<\/p>\n

Lego declared<\/a> it would promote inclusive play and address harmful gender stereotypes with its toys. Mars Food rebranded<\/a> Uncle Ben\u2019s rice to Ben\u2019s Original in response to criticisms of the racial caricatures in its marketing.<\/p>\n

At the same time, businesses have a chequered history when it comes to engaging with societal problems, from self-serving \u201cbox-ticking\u201d corporate practices<\/a> under the guise of social responsibility to shifting responsibility to consumers<\/a> to make ethical choices (such as reusable coffee cups).<\/p>\n

More recently, \u201cwoke washing<\/a>\u201d has seen brands promoting social issues without taking meaningful action. Consider fast fashion brands<\/a> that promote International Women\u2019s Day while simultaneously profiting from the exploitation of female workers.<\/p>\n

Change from within<\/h2>\n

How then can brands legitimately shoulder responsibility to support or promote societal transformation?<\/p>\n

Our research<\/a> introduces the idea of \u201ctransformative branding\u201d. This involves companies working with customers, communities, and even competitors to co-create brands that lead on both market and social fronts.<\/p>\n

Transformative branding can be achieved by for-profit organizations, not-for-profits and social enterprises. The common factor is balancing business and societal goals to create change from within the market system.<\/p>\n

Marketing concepts with a social edge have proliferated in the past 50 years, but finding actual solutions has been less successful. We ask how corporations can act to genuinely contribute to society and show how transformative branding can help brands shoulder that responsibility. Beyond making money<\/p>\n

Transformative branding works via two main market-shaping elements: leadership and collaborative coupling. These enable companies to partner with stakeholders to change their business landscapes.<\/p>\n

First, leadership involves building a vision for the transformation. This requires leaders to think flexibly and creatively, work to long time horizons and stay attuned to changing ideologies. This involves fundamentally re-imagining what branding can do \u2013 beyond making money.<\/p>\n

Second, collaborative coupling involves implementing this vision across the different dimensions of the brand. The key to this is mobilizing stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, suppliers, governments, communities, and competitors.<\/p>\n

When the brand and its stakeholders collectively throw their weight behind the goal of transformation, it signals commitment, distributes expertise and resources, and establishes legitimacy.<\/p>\n

Leadership and collaborative coupling work together to change the business environment. Our research shows this has ripple effects, creating opportunities for transforming economic, regulatory, socio-cultural, and political environments. Transformative branding in practice<\/p>\n

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is a good example of transformative branding at work, particularly in his candid admission that the notion of a fully sustainable business is \u201cimpossible\u201d. Instead, Patagonia has reframed its priorities around responsibility<\/a>, with Chouinard re-imagining the brand as a solution to environmental degradation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This vision is central to the brand\u2019s iconic \u201cdemarketing\u201d campaign, \u201cDon\u2019t buy this jacket<\/a>\u201d, which aims to shift the consumption ideology from purchase to repair.<\/p>\n

More recently, Patagonia\u2019s \u201cBuy Less, Demand More<\/a>\u201d campaign and its \u201cWorn Wear<\/a>\u201d scheme for used apparel has brought the notion of a circular economy into the company\u2019s strategy to promote a culture of reuse rather than always buying new.<\/p>\n

Dutch chocolate brand Tony\u2019s Chocolonely demonstrates collaborative coupling in its campaign<\/a> to clean up production and supply chain practices in the chocolate manufacturing industry and to eliminate illegal child labor and modern slavery.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s \u201copen-chain platform<\/a>\u201d helps all industry players, including competitors, to foster equitable and transparent supply chains and ensure a living income is paid to cocoa farmers. The brand actively erodes its own potential competitive advantage in the process.<\/p>\n

Staying skeptical<\/h2>\n

But transformative branding is complex and dynamic, and authenticity is paramount. For instance, earlier this year, Tony\u2019s was removed<\/a> from watchdog organization Slave Free Chocolate<\/a>\u2019s ethical producers list over its partnership with a major chocolate producer being sued for allegedly using slave labor.<\/p>\n

Tony\u2019s responded by claiming it was important to educate and inspire business partners and competitors to adopt ethical principles and practices.<\/p>\n

This complex and often slow process of negotiating what it means to be ethical is all part of transformative branding. It adapts to the differing goals and values of many stakeholders.<\/p>\n

And while transformative branding offers a path towards a more sustainable and equitable future, we should continue to cast a critical eye on brands claiming to be a force for good, challenge them and hold them accountable where necessary.\"The<\/p>\n

Article by Amanda Spry<\/a>, Lecturer of Marketing, RMIT University<\/a>; Bernardo Figueiredo<\/a>, Associate Professor of Marketing, RMIT University<\/a>; Jessica Vredenburg<\/a>, Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Marketing, Auckland University of Technology<\/a>; Joya Kemper<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Auckland<\/a>, and Lauren Gurrieri<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, RMIT University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With brands increasingly engaging in social change campaigns and leveraging their influence to be \u201cpurpose-led\u201d, the time has come to ask a couple of big questions: is this a viable strategy, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}