BRANDS AND BRANDING
GlaxoSmithKIine (gsk) point to their programmes for improved access to medicines in developing countries and partnerships with non-governmental organisations (ngos) such as Médecins sans Frontières, and even British American Tobacco is aiming to be the world’s most socially responsible “tobacco company”. But is it really all so rosy? The “face” of a company’s csr programme is usually demonstrated through its corporate social and environmental report. From a few deep greens such as The Body Shop or Traidcraft, to “ethically challenged” companies such as Shell just a few years ago, companies as wide ranging as Cadbury’s, Unilever and British Aerospace have prepared such a report. These are particularly popular in the UK. Just two years ago, fewer than 25 UK companies reported on their social performance alongside their annual report. Econtext, a consultancy group, now finds that 50% of ftse 250 companies are reporting5 on their social and environmental impacts on a voluntary basis, and SustainAbility, another consultancy, has found 234 companies reporting globally.6 However, the quantity of csr-type reports says little about the quality of what really goes on. csr, it seems, is now more about public relations than anything else. Repeated studies, including SustainAbility’s Global Reporters Survey released in November 2002, confirm that there is little meaningful social and environmental reporting by companies to indicate that they are grappling with the great issues of our time, from climate change to tackling poverty. gsk’s drugs programme has come to fruition as the company has finally had to face critical competition from generic manufacturers and the threat of regulation by governments. Its temporary climb-down is a defensive move against losing critical intellectual property rights and to protect its reputation. It is certainly not a result of the moral impetus of tackling aids or malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. And most people would still argue that attempts such as gsk’s are still inadequate to deal with the mammoth health challenges that developing countries face. bp has had immense success with its social responsibility policies. Sir John Browne, its chief executive, has effectively been the poster child of the csr movement. But ngos are highly critical of bp’s attempts to demonstrate social responsibility. In 2001, when it tried to rebrand itself as “beyond petroleum”, activists pointed out that it was not actually moving away from hydrocarbon production. In the end, bp was forced into an embarrassing climb-down.7 In the latest challenge by a consortium of ngos, bp has found itself at the front end of a challenge to the
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