Ramsey Naja is chief creative officer, JWT MEA
“I wonder sometimes whether we, as advertising agencies, take ourselves too seriously. This is not some angst-ridden, finger-chewing phase I’m going through. It is simply the fact that, in touch as we are with a large body of people that we can influence, we sometimes feel we have the right to propagate messages beyond the ones that contribute to pay the bills, and this is frankly as stupid as it is pretentious.
In the past few years, CSR or, if we want to call a spade a spade, large corporations’ desire to water down their commercial ethos by injecting a dose of ‘we care’ into their activities, has grown to such an extent that it h
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Corporate entities conducting CSR activities purely for the sake of awards or marketing haven’t grasped the true concept of CSR. Social responsibility efforts need to be ingrained into the business model, only then will a company see the long term benefits of CSR.
I feel many companies underestimate their consumers’ knowledge of corporate social responsibility, whilst in reality, the new generation who have buying power are becoming far more savvy, both in terms of sustainability and marketing.
That said, if criteria of awards do not consider longevity of a CSR initiative, then they are effectively encouraging these short-term marketing campaigns, rather than sustainable social responsibility. Too often the finger is pointed at the corporations, when we need to remember best practices in CSR is a combined effort…