Should social issues be used for the company’s benefit? Where the companies are going wrong in doing so?

Social issues have become a way for companies to revamp their products by bringing it in the limelight. Marketers have identified that a lot of people are associated with major social issues and provide an easy access to greater audience for the companies.

Do companies associate with issues randomly?

Companies over the decades have decided to associate with many different social issues, be it Pepsi for social justice movements or Dove for real beauty of women. Dove was already associated with beauty products, so it was easy for Dove to take a stand against the fake image of beauty that is in the society’s mind. While this is an issue which is not always in heat and limelight but Dove decided to take a stand and address these unaddressed issues.

Pepsi with its 2017 campaign on the other hand decided to turn to social media and the online discussions forums where the issue of "Black lives matter" was already hot and people already were sensitive to the issue. Pepsi furthermore unknowingly trivialized the issue which had no connect with the brand image or portfolio. This created a spark in the already agonized community which resulted in a backlash in the sales of Pepsi. The mistake that Pepsi committed was that the Ad did not connect with the people affected at an emotional level. Pepsi quickly reacted to the situation by apologizing and discontinued the campaign.

Companies have the option of associating with an ongoing issue or an issue which their company is associated with. In any case the company’s marketing team should be wary that they are not hurting any sentiments of the stakeholders in the issue and are justifying their connection with the issue.

What are some of the major issues taken up in the past which worked for the company?

1.    Dove: #RealBeauty

This is an issue which has been a center of the brand marketing strategy throughout decades after leaving letting go of its previous POD of 1/4th cream by content. This has done some real good to the brand in terms of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE).

2.    Gillette: #TheBestManCanBe

Gillette has taken a stand against some of its own target consumer telling them to give up Toxic masculinity if there is any inside them. This led to some controversies but in any case, got the brand some publicity and appealed to another segment of customers Gillette targets i.e. the women. The brand had good appeal in the men segment with the tagline ‘the best a man can get’ but had really less connect with its women audience. This might be a good move to increase CBBE for its women product line.

3.    Tata Taaza: Alarm Bajne Se Pehle #JaagoRe

Tata Taaza has always taken a stand trying to raise awareness of people for any social issue. The campaign does not target any issue but targets the people as a whole to take a stand and to raise their voice against any social issue instead of waiting for it to grow bigger and significant.

4.    TOI: Tum chalo to Hindustan chale

This was an initiative by TOI trying to urge the citizens of India to move ahead and take up their own responsibilities, stand for themselves if they want the nation to move ahead. There was no product placement in this Ad but a great initiative targeting not any single issue but the citizen of India as whole, same as the Tata Tea Jaago Re ad. This was not much of a digital campaign but anyhow gained much attention on social media.

Companies have both failed and succeeded at trying to support a social issue. Believe it or not all of them had only company’s interest in their mind any social impact if they have is only byproduct of their efforts in gaining attention and more market share. Companies put money in creating and marketing this content only to gain from the discussion around the issue and hence around their campaign and product. But that does not mean there is anything wrong in doing so as in the end it helps the social issue gain more traction. If done right any social campaign might become good for both the company and the society. Below are some takeaway for companies to do it right.

Takeaways:

1. A company should try to associate with any issue only if the company relates with the issue even if it is a remote association.
2. Company should be able to stand by the issue as Dove stands by the issue they have taken up or Tata Tea stands by their Jaago Re statement.
3. While addressing any social issue company’s stand in the issue should be clear and unquestionable.
4. Companies should not hurt any sentiments in doing any social campaigning, every campaign and every word released in that campaign by the company should go through multiple checks.
5. Give quick responses to any negative sentiments or comments as they might develop into a bigger problem.