The current trend of gaining popularity for many companies today is by hiring the service of well known personalities, either from show business or from the field of sports.
They use the image of these celebrities to draw the attention of the people in order to increase their sales or earn more money. There are also efforts of collaboration between organizations to boost their sales or to meet their goals. These include cooperation of the big business companies and non-profit organizations in order for both their benefits which are not limited to financial concerns only.Service and Public Relations: Why do non-profit organizations and charitable organizations engage in partnerships with big companies and famous celebrities? Looking at the part of the non-profit organizations, they engage in such partnerships so that their influence could grow. It could also mean more donations, since they are not veered to making profits.
According to pillsburylaw. com, “Nonprofit organizations and associations often request our assistance to ensure consistency of their articles and bylaws with state law ("Nonprofit Organizations", 2004).They rely on the donations of people as a manifestation of their support for the organization’s cause. They see that they can achieve this through associating themselves with big companies who has already made a name in the world. These organizations are more on social service and support for the less fortunate.
They follow a cause that would really require financing. The fact that they are not profit generating would really mean that they have to rely on other’s support, and they have found this on multinational companies, who has already made their names big all over the world.Celebrities and Big-brand Companies: How would they benefit from partnerships with non-profit/ charitable organizations? On the other hand, these big brand labels also benefit from this partnership because it will be able to tell the people that they have a heart. Simply put, they are also concerned with various social issues that the world is experiencing today. They are not only concentrating on making profits, but they are also looking into concerns of the masses, with the growing poverty all over the world, these multinational companies are but a speck in the total population of our planets.They are cleaning their names by involving in these conglomerations with non-profit organizations, so to speak.
According to Shear, “As a rational human being, I know luminaries have brains like everyone else and are certainly capable of embracing a cause passionately (Shear, 2006). ” This is referring to celebrities engaging into endorsements of non-profit organizations. Their concerns are more into the alleviation of the bad image they have on most groups of people.It is undeniably true especially in their case, where this usually happens with institutions that earn loads and loads of money. Topic Question: Why are companies like BP, Ford, Ricoh and many others taking the concept of CSR so seriously? What is the significance of CSR for public relations? Basically, these companies have to do so.
Why? Because CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility is but a description of the company’s commitment, as they are held responsible by their stakeholders – the people they wish to sell their products to; their supporters and patrons (Websper, 2005).CSR is a way to align their business to their values and behavior, thus putting the burden of meeting with the expectations of their stakeholders, which include the costumers and investors, along with the business community, and the people directly or indirectly related to the business. The benefit of CSR for public relations is that it is a way to meet with the expectations of the people, which give the company a better name, a better image to the people they are employing or are availing of their services or merchandise. It basically gives you an edge in this competitive world.It gives you a competitive advantage because you are fulfilling a duty in the society. We can’t help but think that the companies who are earning a lot of money are doing evil things.
This is a common mentality for those who are looking at the situation with a humanitarian perspective. We always think that there is something wrong with the situation, since these companies are earning a lot, yet there are those people suffering from hunger, illiteracy and more. It is hard to think that they are not doing something bad or unjust to earn such amounts.We always see this misappropriation of wealth as something associated with the illegalities of life.
The ambiguities it produces, especially in the minds of the masses, mostly composed of the lower middle class people of the society. Profit: the reason why non-profit organizations engage on partnerships with major corporations. According to archespite. org, “During the last decade, competition between charitable nonprofits for diminishing financial resources has inspired them to embrace new skills that will improve their fundraising ability while also serving their constituents better (Hoffmann, 2002).Looking closely, non-profit organizations are mostly those who are fighting for a good cause. These wish to alleviate people from the harshness of poverty, from illiteracy, from hunger, and other social problems we are experiencing.
They are also the ones who fight for our environment, so that we will continue to breathe fresh air and drink clean waters. These organizations protect our wildlife, fighting for the protection of threatened and endangered species of our world.They are the ones who fought for the lives of these creatures who cannot defend themselves from guns and evil intentions of the people. Non-profit organizations also wish to educate the people on how to deal with problems in life. They do humanitarian missions to give children from backward areas the basic education.
They also do medical missions, helping the sick, curing the poor for free, wherein they won’t be able to provide for their medicines at their current situation in life (Cuomo, 2005).Looking closely, these people in the non-profit organizations got their hands full with the growing problems of the world. They are the ones who have taken action in order to lessen or eliminate such problems. They literally have to involve themselves, including physical involvement, in these kinds of efforts. If you would consider the costs of these actions of good will, you would see that it really needs great funding (Hoffmann, 2002). Money is really an issue here, since these organizations are not profit-generating, they don’t have other sources for money except the donations of people.
They depend on the loose money that they are giving out in charity meetings or gatherings. If these non-profit organizations don’t engage themselves on these big shot companies, they won’t have anything to support their cause, thus their initial efforts would be wasted. These partnerships mean much to them, since these big multinational companies have undoubtedly caught the attention of people in order to reach that level in the business world. Their popularity would be the life and blood for the non-profit organizations, since they will also benefit from it.
They will be able to receive more donations if they have a popular substrate in the form of these multinational corporations. They are also receiving constant support from these companies in order to keep their partnership. This funds their needs in order to continue their efforts on promoting the welfare of the people (Fritz, 2007). Topic Question: Imagine you are advising BP on corporate-level public relations. Identify the key publics the company should take into account in order to improve its performance on social responsibility.
Give brief reasons for your answer. The ways to make the company socially aware or socially responsible can be summed up in three means: society, environment, and the people. The company should consider giving extra efforts towards society, for example how it governs their personnel, or what is the current status of the company in its appeal to the society? Does it jive with the social background it is in? They could solve these questions by adjusting themselves, wherein the change depends on the demands of the society. Another point to consider is the environment.It is an old issue when it comes to social responsibility: are they aware of the possible environmental threats that their company could bring? This is addressed by properly assessing the environmental scene and doing the right adjustments so that they don’t pose any danger to the environment. The last is the one that poses great social responsibility: the people.
The company should take into great consideration whether or not they don’t violate any human rights. They should also have a good relationship with their personnel and staff, making sure that their needs are properly met.Through this, they are assured of a positive feedback from the people, giving them a better image for everyone to see and tell. The other side of partnership: big-shot multinational companies and celebrities’ take on the partnership with non-profit organizations.
When well-known celebrities engage on tie-ups with non-profit organizations, it is a manifestation that they need the influence of these groups. They are also benefited with this partnership, if not financially, then it will be in order to clean their names.There are a lot of underlying principles that are involved when they associate themselves in various advocacies like human rights movements, animal rights activists, environmental movements and more. It could mean that they themselves are advocating the ideology, that they are rooting for what the organization is fighting for (Duncan, 2005).
It is good, especially for the part of the organization, since their name could attract attention for the groups, and entice more members to join up or donate for the same cause that they are fighting. But it is not always like that.Sometimes, these big-brand names and celebrities have hidden personal benefits that they wish to achieve from the tie-up. Some celebrities and multinational corporations use these non-profit organizations so that they could look good on people. This is to awaken their interests and also to create a good image in front of the people.
If we consider the current trends, celebrities lose their glitter of stardom as time passes by. Other stars are emerging which boasts more brilliance than them. Attaching yourself to humanitarian organizations would surely change the way people look at you (Neilson, 2006).It could also be different for a rising star. Their endorsement of the non-profit organization could spell popularity for them. It is undeniable that these organizations have made a name for themselves also, and that these stars could ride in the fame of the non-profit groups ("Celebrity for Humanitarian Cause: John Barnes Pushes Cause of Ethiopian Children", 2005).
For the multinational companies, associating with these non-profit organizations could clear their names from any anomalies that they have created in the past.There are also those who tie up with these organizations to ensure a good image in front of their buying costumers. In the tightness of the competition today, it is important to create a name and carve a good impression in the people’s minds (Duncan, 2006). These people are the main reason why these companies exists, either to serve them or to make profit out of them, which is true in the case of these profit making big brand names.
Topic Question: Using the four models of public relations as a framework, discuss the approach companies wishing to implement CSR should take to their corporate communication.Do you believe major multinational corporations are generally sincere in their efforts to be more socially responsible? Why or why not? Companies wishing to implement CSR should refer to Grunig’s Two-way symmetrical model ("The Importance of the Four Models of Public Relations", 2005). This is a two-way type of communication wherein both the company and the audience/market can say and show what they feel about the company itself, thus being able to justify actions which could rather be misunderstood by some.Through this, the company is able to negotiate with the people by relying on communication. They can resolve problems that arise with their business and promote a mutual relationship and understanding, which earns them of the people’s respect. Sincerity may be out of the question, but the company should have it in their efforts in being more socially responsible.
If not, their efforts may go to waste, thus leading to recurrence of problems concerning the society. If they don’t take the matter seriously, it won’t be that effective, which makes the actions they took futile.Being serious and taking it seriously is not for anybody’s sake but theirs. The effects of these tie-ups to the non-profit organizations: What are the negative implications to non-profit organizations with these kinds of engagements? There are instances that associating with famous celebrities or big-brand companies could bring nothing but demise for the non-profit organizations. There are times when they suffer from bad publicity, especially when the people view it as something bad.There is a saying that negative publicity is still publicity, but it greatly affects the case of the non-profit organizations.
The amount they are getting from donations could be lessened, or worse, people may see them as organizations which are not credible when it comes to public service, that’s why they would cease receiving supports from the people who would have been willing to extend their helping hand and share what is in their pockets ("Collaboration and Endorsement Guidelines", 2005).Though it is still publicity, negative publicity has no use in the case of these non-profit organizations. They are associated with public welfare that is why supporters cannot risk giving their money to those who might do something bad. This is because of the impression they received from associating with these personalities or companies.Referenceshttp://www.safecosmetics.org/about/http://advertising.about.com/cs/advertising/a/endorsements.htmhttp://advertising.about.com/od/celebrityendorsements/a/celebendorse.htm
