Responsible branding

NY Times Magazine has been running columns on responsible branding. This week the article starts with the words "Corporate social responsibility." Worth checking out. The core premise features the shift of corporations giving back to the poor from sales to the wealthy to brands being directly targeted at the poor or needy with those branded items being a necessity among them -- the responsibility part.

This is the conundrum of my profession, other than the "What's better after lunch, a cup of Starbuck's or a shot of Oban" question. When brands offer up corporate social responsibility, it is still something that is inacted in the name of the brand, for the good of the brand, and for the profit of the brand. Sometimes it's hard to use "social responsibility" and "profit" in the same sentence where they are complimentary. But why shouldn't social responsibility be profitable? And what is the essence of brand if not capital, with the "c" or the "k." There are certainly eco-brands out there today being sustained by eco-trends. Although I fear the shallowness of those trends, the market has a way of being forever etched with such experiments. It's good to see this dialog as I do not fear brands, I fear their abuse.