A Critical Review of Corporate Social Responsibility Practices from a Marketing Perspective: Is Cause-Related Marketing Really a ‘Win–Win–Win’ Situation?

This chapter provides a holistic overview of cause-related marketing (CRM) as a corporate social responsibility strategy. CRM is a partnership entailing a company making donations to a non-profit organisation (NPO) depending on a consumer purchase of a CRM-labelled product or service (Varadarajan and Menon 1988). The chapter provides a detailed definition of CRM and distinguishes it from other popular strategic forms of giving such as philanthropy and sponsorship. Further, the chapter offers a consolidated overview of consumer expectations and behaviours in regard to CRM based on academic literature and commercial survey results. In addition, real-world examples of CRM campaigns are provided and critically analysed. The chapter critically reviews the positivist claim that CRM is a ‘win–win–win’ strategy, where all parties (i.e., firms, NPOs and customers) involved in CRM campaigns experience a variety of benefits. While the chapter acknowledges that potential benefits may be derived by all parties involved in CRM campaigns, it also provides an overview variety of potential risks and costs associated with CRM campaigns, which illustrates that not every party involved may ‘win’. The chapter’s objective is not to conclude that potential risks or costs outweigh the benefits of CRM, but instead to suggest that potential negative factors should be considered when developing CRM campaigns.