Posts filed under 'social responsibility'
The power of ‘we’
Becky Rowe writes:
I’ve been in Australia for a few days for a client project and one of things I have noticed (aside from the jetlag and great weather) is the constant reference across all kinds of public communications to ‘us’, ‘we’, ‘together’, ‘you’, and ‘community’.
New building projects mention ‘helping our communities grow stronger’, while ‘no alcohol’ signs on the beaches explain why it is beneficial to everyone if you don’t drink your beers on the beach. The taxi rank at the airport had a large sign which communicated clearly and simply what you could ask of your taxi driver, and what he could expect of you (you are entitled to ask your driver to turn on or off the radio or aircon, and to take a different route, but you aren’t allowed to be drink or eat in the cab).
The prevalence of these signs, the explicit wording, and clear reference to shared responsibilities, all communicated in a friendly and understandable way, somehow surprised me. In some ways I found them a bit patronising, but I also found it refreshing to have ‘the rules’ of ‘good citizenship’ made clear.
Knowing the rationale behind an apparently bureacratic or even irrational rule can make all the difference to compliance. I think the UK has something to learn from the Australians about how to behave - and how to get people to behave.
1 comment 15 May 2008
Environmental damage a modern day sin
Amy Esser writes:
In recent years the noise around environmental sustainability has increased, and society mostly now acknowledges its part in damaging the planet. Despite this, we are not yet seeing significant changes in behaviour to reverse the damage and help preserve our planet for the future.
Sadly it seems that even the prospect of environmental Armageddon is not enough to prompt real action or even divert our moral compasses. If we as individuals are lacking motivation and desire to make the changes ourselves then who needs to take the lead? Perhaps sensing that faith could make a difference, the Vatican announced earlier this month that environmental pollution and damage is a modern day sin.
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary, said - in language that was largely misunderstood in the (non-Catholic) English media - that priests must take account of “new sins which have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation”. Whereas sin in the past was thought of as being an individual matter, it now has “social resonance”.
Bishop Girotti told L’Osservatore Romano,
“You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbour’s wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos”.
The effect of this interpretation will take time to manifest itself. Perhaps it is more interesting to see the re-emergence of old authorities in response to more turbulent times.
Image source: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1308679,00.html
Add comment 28 March 2008
Social consciousness is high in Brazil
Camilla Parke writes:
If you were starting to lose faith in your less-than-philanthropic next door neighbour, don’t give up on them just yet – especially if they are Brazilian. Reassuringly, it appears that we are getting better at doing the right thing: A recent global study from PR firm Edelman on consumer attitudes towards social purpose and the role of brands showed that 37% of consumers say they are more involved in good causes then they were 2 years ago.
And it appears that some nations are much more socially conscious than others – compared to the encouraging global average, 63% of Brazilians say they are getting more involved, and according to the study each one is actively supporting an average of just over four social or environmental causes (twice as many as the rest of us).
So what makes Brazilians so socially conscious, and what could this mean for companies that operate there? The disillusionment with government and its inability to address social ills is a significant factor. Some of HCHLVs recent global research on sustainability shows that Brazilian consumers attach importance to social and community issues – and that they expect private companies and brands to do the same.
Add comment 21 February 2008
Do I like you?
Jo Phillips writes:
We have been talking a lot here at HCHLV recently about the influence that a powerful personality with strong beliefs sitting at the helm of a company can have on brand perception. Bill Gates and Anita Roddick are archetypal, but more modest entrepreneurs can have a similar brand impact (think of Johnny Boden, Stelios, or Richard Reed of Innocent) My view has been reinforced by conversations I have had with consumers across the country this week, as I’ve heard often that Richard Branson is the only man who can save Northern Rock, and indeed any other problem we might care to throw at him.
So it might be thought foolish of Michael O’Leary to publicly declaim his discompassionate greed and complete obliviousness to the cares of people and planet:
“We would welcome a good, deep, bloody recession in this country… It would help see off all the environmental nonsense that has become so popular among the chattering classes.”
He chooses to overlook that people lose jobs and homes in a recession, not to mention the fact that not even George Bush is stubborn enough to deny climate change any more, or come to that that people fly less when they have less money. It was enough to lose Ryanair one customer at least – I have just paid £20 more for a BA flight rather than travel with his airline.
Add comment 14 February 2008
New ways to donate
Eleanor Cooksey writes:
With the rise of CSR and increasing interest in pro bono work, I was struck by an article in last week’s Economist which describes the range of projects now available which use spare processing capacity on ordinary PCs. They range from the biggest and best known, SETI@home, which started in 1999 searches for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence, and now has over 3 million contributors, to projects looking for the next prime number. Whilst we are used to the idea of volunteering about ‘doing good’, donating spare PC processing power suggests we could think more laterally about how we can share under-used resources.
What is also interesting is the ever widening pool of those who might volunteer in this way. A growing number of other devices, including games consoles, also contain significant amounts of processing power and are internet enabled. One of the projects, Folding@home, (which looked at protein simulations) became the largest known distributed computing network thanks to its 40,000 plus PlayStation 3 volunteers.
Add comment 17 December 2007
