WAC Assignment - GAP-RED Case Study

Question: Why would some argue that the Gap exemplifies an ethical organization?
Why would others disagree?

Answer 1
There are days when I do not know where I will find the strength to get out of bed. But
sickness, exhaustion and despair wont feed my children or fetch the water, and so, somehow,
I will myself and step into the harsh sunlight of another sub-Saharan morning, tells Mary
Mwasi to a UN aid counsellor, stationed in Kenya.
Mrs. Mwasi, mother of 3, whose husband went out looking for work 2 years ago and hasnt
retuned yet, and is left with only a couple hens to her name, is among the three quarters of all
African women between the age of 15-24 who are HIV positive. With 10% of the worlds
population, improvised sub-Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of its HIV population. Its
far from local governments control to take care of this situation. Programs like RED
(product) campaigns help bring in aid, money for those two daily essential lifesaving pills
from unlikeliest of sources.
Gap with its special line of RED branded merchandise is a major partner to the RED
campaign. By sacrificing half of the profits, Gap contributes $2-2.5 million annually. Gaps
contribution is nothing short of significant. But Gap just doesnt stop there.
Gap also aims to make lives of the workers who manufacture its merchandise better. UKs
Labour Behind the Labels, an independent organisation which supplies research from a
coalition of development agencies, labour rights groups and trade unions reveal that Gap was
one the two companies placed in their top performing category: Pulling Ahead. Gap
remains one of the most progressive fashion brands when it comes to labour rights quotes
the agency.
This is a trend for Gap thats visible from many other frontiers. Not just Labours Behind the
Labels but also many other independent agencies are placing Gap on the proud pedestal of
being an ethical organisation.
But, there will always be critiques, just like there is another side of the coin. Some mark these
western aids are nothing but an imperial apologia. They say if the western organisations
are so interested in helping us, why not invest in our lands and allow our governments to be
self-sufficient. While others just claim it all to be a marketing gimmick and raise the
important question why arent all Gap merchandise labelled as RED? There are tons of
questions, answers of which can only be found through deeper critical examination and
having full transparency.
1
Answer 2
The case Just Window Dressing The Gap(RED) campaign by Michelle Amazeen analyses
whether CSR campaigns truly represent ethics and a companys responsibility towards its
stakeholders or whether it just means of encouraging compassionate consumption instead of
conscious consumption. The Gap (RED) was one such campaign announced in January
2006. It was a business model created to raise awareness and money for the Global Fund by
teaming up with well-known brands to produce RED branded products. By sacrificing a
portion of its profit margin, the partner brand paid for the contribution to the Global Fund
which attracts, manages and disburses resources to fight AIDS in Africa.
GAPs focus on values of a running a socially responsible business supported their claims
regarding CSR. They ran two dedicated advertising campaigns in 2007 which showcased a
diverse cast of socially responsible celebrities, while encouraging consumers to do the
(RED) thing, a play on the phrase do the right thing. Gap was committed to Africa and
mentioned the (RED) campaign as a means for their company to create a reliable stream of
revenues for Africa. The campaign goal of establishing ethical trade was addressed by an
attempt to improve factory conditions. Gap was considered to be one of the 2 companies out
of the 30 surveyed in 2006, surveyed by Labour behind the Labels top performing category
Pulling Ahead even though competition for the same wasnt fierce. Thus, GAP was
considered to be an ethical organization. The other side of the argument is GAP established
an implicit trichotomy with heroes (GAP) on the first axis, virtuous consumers who bought
RED products on the second axis and the villains- the competitive retailers and consumers
not purchasing RED on the third axis.
This campaign helped product differentiation. However, GAP contribution to the Global Fund
was not released and neither was there any quantitative research on consumer awareness
utilizing pre and post campaign measures was done.
Thus, critics believe that the RED campaign was a marketing gimmick that used cause-
related marketing to increase sales. For other criticism it was not used the authenticity but
also the aid generated that was problematic as it kept Africa in a supplicants role when its
Governments needed to be self-sufficient.
There are two sides to every coin. Hence, CSR initiatives must be critically examined to
determine legitimacy.
2
Answer 3
To control and initiate a fight against AIDS in Africa, the Product(RED) campaign aims to
engage consumers in an economic initiative through partnership with corporates. Gap became
a part of Red Campaign as it was in line with companys values and belief to do business in a
socially responsible way. However, GAP had initiated cause-related advertising to promote its
brand which had raised a few questions. Some of the research agencies such as Covalence
had rated Gap among the top 5 companies in its Best Ethics Quote Score. Gaps apparel
were also manufactured by manufactures based out of sub-Saharan countries. Also, company
was also open to media scrutiny, however nothing illegal was found in companys association
with Red Campaign.
Some of the critics argue that while Gap was a part of the Red Campaign, it had not promoted
the cause prominently on its website. One has to carefully browse through the website to
browse through Gap(Red) website. Gaps Red campaign created a false notion that by not
buying the Gap(Red) product, they were doing the wrong thing which is in conflict with
values such as open-mindedness and others. Similarly, they were promoting their goods as
socially responsible in such a way that by buying other competitors products consumers are
not socially responsible. Also, while they have said that they promote the campaign, they
never disclosed the amount donated which was in conflict with their openness value and
hence was ethically incorrect. Company was also not open to disclose the quantitative data
related to its two social campaigns which again puts a question mark on the way they
conducted the business. Also, the aim was to fight against the AIDS, Gap was leveraging this
opportunity to support a trade act which may have provided the opportunity to manufacture
clothes at a cheaper rate rather than support the fight against AIDS in Africa.
3
Answer 4
Any organisation can be described as ethical organisation based on the values it provides to
its stake holders which includes society as wee in an honest and integral way. The positives
and other benefits which company gets by incurring such activities, and the motive of Gap
defines the nature of the company.
The argument which can favour the Gap to be a typical example of an ethical organisation are
jotted down which gives one positive side of the story. The company has a set of products
whose 50% profit margins was dedicated to the CSR activity and making difference in Africa.
The company funded its fund via The Global Fund and out of the total fund the channel of
the companys product (RED) provided 20% of the total funds from NGO. The target
segment for the company were children and women. The company tried to engage customers
by best ad campaigns. When the independent organisation conducted a survey about the
retailers truly supporting Labour rights, Gap was one of the two companies placed in the
Labour Behind the Labels top performing category. Their focus to partner with the
manufacturers in Lesotho and other sub-Saharan countries. These was even continuous rank
in top 5 on Covalences best 5 score. These arguments supports its claim to be a typical
example of an ethical organisation.
But their arguments on the other side which questions the integrity of the Gap as an ethical
organisation and raises questions for the same. If company is truly ethical and completely
dedicated towards the society, it works for the upliftment of the society and not just to make
sure your resources as a support system for the same. The continue aid was never supporting
growth of Africa, rather keeping it run with supplements. Adding, to that all the products or
service of an ethical company is dedicated towards CSR, but only selected range of products
supported the cause. Again there were other associated miscommunication regarding the
actual amount contributed to each person as well as what percentage of companys total profit
margin will be part of this CSR activity? Again what about the marketing benefit the
company was getting in the name of the CSR activity, or expenditure on celebrity
endorsements?
All these factors questions the ethical nature of the company. But, the CSR activities are
benefiting natives of Africa and manufacturers from sub-Sahara. Thus, it is contributing to
society somehow.
4
Answer 5
A lot of people would believe that Gap exemplifies ethical organisation because Gap was one
the of the first participant of the RED product campaign. The RED campaign was thought of
being a campaign that was raising funds for AIDS affected people in Africa. They connected
with customers by advertising in an effective manner using celebrities as well to convey how
philanthropic Gap was, as an organisation. The taglines used by them were very effective as
they touched the emotional side of humans. They kept on stating about their mission, ideas
and how they plan to contribute to the society and mentioned various initiatives. This gave an
impression that Gap is an organisation that on a constant basis thinks of giving back to the
society and carrying our activities perceived ethical by most. Also, the ratings were in their
favour which influence perception to a great extent.
Some would disagree as there was never any transparency in terms of how many funds each
partner organisation contributed. Also, there was never any knowledge with respect to profit
margin of Gap. Their claim of donating fifty percent of the profits was of no use to people,
since the profit margin was not known. Also, the marketing strategies used by Gap did not
give an impression about the whole campaign being genuine. There seemed to be a great
focus on having sales volume by exploiting the philanthropic side of the target audience.
Implementation in terms of Gap setting up factories in Africa etc. & helping in ways other
than providing aid was way below the commitment levels made by them on their website and
press releases. All these factors combined made few people doubt the ethical standards of
Gap.
5
Answer 6
The Gap exemplifies an ethical organisation because it states integrity, respect and
balance as its key values to run the business. The Gap, besides finding a mention in the
Reputation Index report, has been consistently ranked among top 5 companies in the retail
sector based on the Best EthicalQuote Score , as published by Covalance, a Switzerland
based company. The Gap is socially responsible and has a long term commitment to the
RED campaign. It aims to increase awareness of AIDS in Africa and work for society. The
company has consistently shown progress to push for collaborative approach with trade
unions to improve labour conditions. The company partners with manufacturers in Lesotho
for its RED campaign, thereby providing them technical expertise and has advocated the US
government to provide preferential trading agreements for apparels industry in Lesotho.
However, some observers feel that The Gap used the RED campaign as a part of its strategy
to increase its sales. Having recognised the changing consumer behaviour in favour of
socially conscious products (and in extension, companies), the Gap used the RED Campaign
to make use of consumption philanthropy and marketed it actively (using celebrities) to
ensure a constant stream of revenue. Having positioned their product as the right product to
buy, some observers feel that if the Gap genuinely believed in duty based ethics, it would
have shifted its entire business model on these lines. The company has not released any
information on the sales figures from the RED campaign for public scrutiny. Critics also
argue that the ethical reputation reports cannot be relied upon because the metrics for ethics
are ever changing and it is difficult to rank the companies on objective data, thereby
disregarding the credit offered to The Gap by Covalance.
6
Answer 7
Some argue that Gap exemplifies an ethical organization because of the results shown by
different independent organization gives the Gap a very good rating. Currently, there is no
certain way to measure the social responsibility precisely. So, to see the impact everyone is
dependent the result provided by the media and reports. Labour behind the labels reported
that Gap was one of the two companies in the top performing companies. Covalences Best
ethical score ranked Gap in 5th in 2005, 3rd in 2006 and 3rd in 2007. The major issue is that
whether this social responsibility is really for philanthropy or just a marketing gimmick.
There is no method to measure it. With the initiative of this, the sales of Gap increased a lot.
Gap(Red) option is only available in selected product lines. Why is it so? If a company wants
to operate ethical then why they do not apply Gap(Red) in all segments? Why companies like
Gap see these countries(Africa) as a target for money and need aid? Why cant they simply
have trade relationship? There are lot of question that companies have to answer before they
claim themselves philanthropists.
Social responsibility is seen as an opportunity by many companies to market their products.
They defined the notion of consumption philanthropy as a perceived association with a
charitable aspect. Capitalism is not the only way to move forward, there are other alternatives
to progress. Consumption doesnt work in the social wellbeing of everyone.
7
Answer 8
Shopping is the crisis of consumerism, it is where the art and tricks of the weak can inflict
most damage on, and exert most power over, the strategic interests of the powerful- Fiske
(1989)
The product RED campaign, is a reflection of the social status of the consumer who are able
to purchase the higher marked prices on Gaps RED clothing. These consumers then would
wear these products to show the world that they identify with this issue and support the cause.
The message is that individuals need to become consumers in order to save Africa, and the
individuals may not be able to afford these products may opt to purchase them anyway in
order to represent the charitable trend.
However, individuals may not be aware that The Global Fund specifically invests their
resources in only a few countries in Africa. This becomes problematic because consumers
may feel that Africa is saved yet in reality only limited countries are impacted. Also in the
Gaps RED advertising campaign, the Implicit Trichotomy labelled competitors who did not
offer socially conscious products and those other consumers who chose not to purchase RED
products as bad guys.
GAP by their (RED) campaign does not at all represents an ethical organisation dedicated to a
cause. Of all the reasons, the (RED) product line was very limited, no financial goal was
publicly established, no specific figures were provided about the profit margin of the Gaps
products. The company cited(RED) campaign as a complementary revenue stream which can
exceed he corporate philanthropy budgets. In appointing Bono as the campaign face, GAP
was clearly tapping into the marketing gimmicks. And thus, I might not be best example of an
ethical organisation.
Some might agree as GAP being an ethical organisation as Gap has social responsibility as
their mission foundation and (RED) campaign has raised the awareness about the issue. On
the other hand, covalence rated GAP as 5 th most ethical organisation. But we should
remember that this was based on social media activities and response rather that the concept
of CSR operationalization.
Despite the critical rhetorical analysis of the impact of the (RED) campaign, there are still
limitations and areas to be further explored. The main area being the information on the funds
generated and how major corporations are profiting off this social cause.
8
Answer 9
The most important issue that Gap was tackling with the help of corporate social
responsibility was one of the critical issue i.e. to fight against the AIDS in Africa. According
to their tagline, when you buy (RED), you save lives promoted a business model created to
raise awareness about AIDS and to provide fund to Global fund organisation. They have also
found out their one of the goal is ethical trading. It can be seen that they were quite sincere
and was progressing in its efforts to achieve ethical trade as mentioned in annual reports
from Labour behind the Labels. Consumers have also chosen Gap over its competitors which
shows that they have trusted the Gap and their philanthropy. Some evidence which shows that
Gap has worked towards philanthropy is its partnerships with manufacturers in Lesotho and
other sub-Saharan countries to help them improve their production capabilities and it has also
ranked greatly in Best ethical quote score.
The reasons why other disagree with this argument could be that there was not any proper
numbers or evidence to show that fund is actually reaching to the Africa for the mentioned
cause. On their website, too, there was not mentioning of any specific numbers. Continuity
with this goal for five years also shows that this was more of a marketing gimmick than
actual corporate social responsibility. It was just branding of the company to get the
customers sympathy and attention towards the brand. One of the arguments by Zambian
economist make more sense which says that rather than making Africa dependable its always
better to make them self-sufficient. This will be helpful for their long term economic
development. The usage of celebrities in marketing campaign and media hype shows that its
just one of the gimmicks to play with customers consciousness.
9
Answer 10
The US based clothing brand GAP positioned itself as a socially responsible organisation
through their corporate website which claimed to bring sustained, collective value to their
shareholders, employees, customers and society and key values guiding their success were
identified as integrity, respect, quality and balance in doing business in a socially responsible
way. Gap was one of the original partners in the product (RED) campaign and were
successful in establishing it as a long term and genuine engagement on account of the 5-year
long term commitment, instead of a one-time, short time event. Gap recognised ethical trade
as a goal of the campaign and were placed in the Labour behind the Label in the top
category for engaging more seriously with the issue of labour rights and improvement of
factory conditions. The positive evaluations for 3 consecutive years, earned it the highest
report ratings and noted as the one company that ensured that trade union rights were central
to its strategic goals.
Gap was also committed to the long term economic development of Lesotho, a sub-Saharan
African kingdom with a huge population, which had manufacturing industry as central to its
economy. These efforts were also recognised by third party agencies as sincere demonstration
towards promotion of ethical trade.
However, certain aspects of the product RED campaign and tis central objectives brought in
under the purview of scrutiny. There were several speculations regarding the way it was
promoted and the huge media attention and scrutiny GAP will be imposing itself to by
employing celebrity endorsers as a measure to elicit sales. Absence of definitive figures and
quantitative research for measuring awareness impact as well as the exact contribution made
to Global funds was also a lurking question. Some also believed that not all GAP products
were offered under RED label, the efficacy was questionable. The campaign was not a well-
placed highlight on Gaps website making it look like a complementary CSR activity rather
than a core. This made Gaps ethics system as apparently situational rather than foundational.
10
Answer 11
What is an ethical organisation? Is it merely an organisation that refrains from taking up
unethical practices, or is there more to it? When we talk about a business firm as an
organisation, and assume that it has come into this with the prime objective of making money,
we must not also forget the environmental, social and individual damages that are incurred as
the firms quest goes on.
Corporate social responsibility is a firms opportunity to give back to the society, a chance to
make amends for the losses to the society caused by it. But the so-called strong business
acumen of the firms, combined with the urge to push further for profits, have found out ways
for the firm to make money out of this. That is where the initial question comes back again.
Can it be called ethical? Is a social responsibility to be kept strictly non-profit earning? Or
should we be glad that the organisation is doing good for humanity and not raise questions on
how else they are trying to monetise these efforts?
Gap took a unique approach to engage in the fight against AIDS in Africa. They partnered
with other organisations and promotes their products under the Gap(RED) brand. In return,
these organisations would donate half of the profit margin to development organisations
working on the ground to supply local knowledge and technical assistance against AIDS. In
order to fund for the promotion, Gap used the licensing fees collected from their partners.
Other than that, Gap also created awareness among customers on a critical global issue. They
even had celebrities coming together to advertise for the campaign. Moreover, Gap was
committed to the development of Lesotho, a sub-Saharan country whose economy depended
majorly on manufacturing and exports.
Having started in 2007, this campaign is still on the run, thus echoing Gaps genuine concern
and commitment towards the cause. Agencies such as convalescence and Labour behind the
label have rated Gap quite high on ethical practices and adherence to labour rights.
But the question remains, that is it just an eyewash by Gap to increase their sales? Their sales
have definitely gone up after this campaign started off and the following celebrity
endorsements surfaced. So, is the fight against AIDS just a faade?
Gap tried to portray that consumers are doing the right thing by purchasing the RED product
line, and those who are manufacturing or purchasing other products, were doing a bad thing.
But ironically, many of Gaps own products were not RED products.
Moreover, Gap claimed to have increased the public awareness among consumers. But they
did not provide any research or survey or any metric whatsoever for scrutiny. So, there is no
solid evidence to prove this claim. There is also no quantified data of how much contribution
has been made towards the cause. So, while it may not be a complete window dressing, there
surely were some major flaws in implementation of the RED campaign.
11
Answer 12
Michelle Amazeen has raised some interesting points about the validity of CSR initiatives
taken by companies in present era. The author has also raised concerns regarding the use of
CSR initiatives to increase consumerism and their negative impact on society. For a company
like GAP, which undertook the (RED) initiative and implemented it on a large scale along
with all sorts of promotions, it was imperative that their actions will be weighed on an ethical
scale in the future. One of the key points that supports Gaps stand as an ethical organisation
is the fact that their foundational ethics supported their CSR claims. However, there have
been differing views on their ethical stand.
The Gap was making continuous efforts to achieve ethical trade and was cited as a firm
which was publicly committed to a project containing all four of Labour behind Labels
pillars. It is considered one of the most progressive brands in terms of labour rights and is the
only company to ensure trade union rights are central to its plans. The fact that Gap has been
ranked among top five companies in Best Ethical Quote Score by covalence for three
consecutive years (2005-2007) suggests that Gap was a leading company on ethical
reputation in retails sector. As part of (Red) campaign they had also dedicated themselves to
long term economic development of Sub Saharan kingdom of Lesotho. Gap has made efforts
to work with government and business leaders to achieve this aim in Lesotho. If we look at
the above points, it seems that Gap is doing pretty well to maintain its ethical standards but
there is more to the story. This initiative has been viewed as consumption philanthropy, which
was intended at increasing conflation of consumption and media celebration. This marketized
philanthropy creates an illusion of giving back, by taking away. Gap never created a clear
financial goal and never revealed the profit margins on its products in Red category. They
always provided aggregated figures but refrained from proving individual contribution. Gap
did not make its campaign measure available for scrutiny. Gap was also noted for making
seemingly little progress on its commitments in previous twelve months. There have been
allegations that Gap was trying to increase its market share by promoting its range on
prerogative of CSR.
On a closing note, any company undertaking a major CSR initiative will be closely monitored
in its activities. There are positives and negatives to every aspect and it is the call of the
consumer whether the actions of the firm lie on a moral compass before buying its products.
12
Question: What do you think the Gap needs to do to dispel criticisms of its (RED) campaign
participation?
Answer 1
The major criticism of RED campaign participation were, one. It was identified as a business model
rather than a cause, the appearance of giving back disguising the fact that it is already taking away;
Gap was well aware of the scrutiny they were opening themselves up to by participating in the (RED)
campaign to the degree that this attention was elicited to increase sales, Gap being included in the
covalence analysis suggests the degree of international media attention and lastly the aid generation
through the campaign was considered to be a problem in itself stating that foreign aid was bad for
Africa and bad for Africans because it keeps Africa in a supplicants role when its government need to
become self-sufficient.
The first criticism was taken care by increasing the duration of the commitment to minimum 5 years.
The next major criticism of aid being a problem cannot be taken care by Gap given it defies the basis
of corporate social responsibility. The other criticism was Gap oneness to celebrity endorsement
targeting to increase the sales. This can be handled by Gap with some campaign with no celebrity
association whatsoever, The campaign can show common people form Africa their situation over
there which in turn will increase the awareness among people about African situation. This at the end
how a customer is making contribution to improve the situation should also be conveyed through the
same campaign. Also Gap can come up with their metrics for monitoring social responsibility and
make it public. Based on these they should come up with an annual report stating how they have
helped. They can also get it audited by some firm to gain trust and confidence of people.
13
participation?
Answer 2
The criticism for GAP (RED) campaign arised because it was identified as a business model rather
than a cause. In the other words of Nickel &Eickenberry, 2009, marketing philanthropy is an
especially insidious case because it creates the appearance of giving back, disguising the fact that it is
already based in taking away. Many considered the GAP(RED) campaign as a way of increasing
sales and to penetrate consumers segment who care for social cause and philanthropy. The other
criticism for the RED campaign was that its use of celebrity endorsement perpetuated the dependency
relationship of Africans through negative stereotyping. Moyo, one of the critics, suggested that instead
of aid, there should be other paths to financial and democratic independence like bond issue, trade,
foreign investment.
In order to prove the authenticity of its socially responsible campaigns, GAP should come out with
facts and figures highlighting the amount of aid generated through the campaign. It should also
highlight its commitment to the long term economic development of Lesoth, a kingdom in Africa. By
doing this GAP would be able to put a point forward that its GAP (RED) campaign is not just merely
a publicity gimmick but they are actually committed to the social cause and are doing everything
possible to make it a success.
One of the way to highlight above points is to revamp the website of GAP RED. They can provide the
details of total aid and many other things that they have been doing to have a positive impact on the
lives of people. All of this should be supported by facts and figures available in the website itself. By
doing this, they will come out in the open and will have data to substantiate upon and to support their
social cause.
participation?
14
Answer 3
The article explores the tension between conflicting values of profit making and social ideals of an
organization. It takes example of GAP (RED) campaign and raises the question whether the campaign
is mere a marketing gimmick with the intention of cashing on the notion of consumption
philosophy or it has some substance.
Gap launched two campaigns to promote its Gap (RED) brand. The campaigns showcased socially
conscious celebrities endorsing Gap (RED). It also used phrase Do the RED thing as its tagline. The
campaign is criticized because it is alleged that it is trying to categorize consumers and retailers into
two segments, good guys who purchase and sell RED products and the bad guys, who dont.
Further financial goals of Gap were not defined clearly for its RED campaign. Also the data there was
no data available on the profit margin and contribution of Gap towards stated cause. Another criticism
of the cause was that only the donations were not sufficient for resolving challenges in Africa. In fact,
it made its condition even worse by making it dependent on them. Finally, Gap claimed to work
towards the goal of ethical trade and it was backed by its good rating on many trade and labour
issues however it was criticized for its slow progress in those areas. In all, Gap (RED) was considered
as a business model rather than a social cause.
Gap can consider multiple options to dispel the criticism. First, it should change its advertising
campaign in order to avoid hinting that consumers or retailers not dealing in RED products are bad
guys. It would also help Gap improve the image of its program from a business model to a cause. Gap
need to set financial goals for the program and share information about profits made and money
contributed to RED. Gap has to aggressively move towards its goal of ethical trade. Also, as Gap
has admitted that only donations are not sufficient to combat problems in Africa, it needs to put it
weigh behind AGOA act and continue to work on economic development of African region as it is
doing in Lesotho.
The goal of any business is to maximize the value of its shareholders in socially responsible and
ethical way. Gap is working towards it and has gone through scrutiny of the groups like Labour
Behind the Label. However, Gap needs to get its messaging right for the campaign. It cannot come
across as categorizing society and cashing in on consumption philanthropy. To do this it can begin
by changing its tagline to a more apt one. It can also educate customers about its long term
commitment towards the cause. Gap must disclose financial information about Gap (RED) brand and
the money spent for the cause in Africa. Finally, it can induce the confidence in its promise of
improving working conditions of labour as stated by its goal of ethical trade by mentioning a timeline
and measurable goals. All these changes would signal strongly that Gap has aligned its mission and
social ideals. It will prove that profits need not come at the cost of social responsibilities and vice
versa.
participation?
15
Answer 4
The first criticism Gap needs to address is to define the exact portion of money which goes for the
social cause when a consumer buys a particular product. The second criticism was to distinguish
whether they were acting as being good or bad. Being good that they were supporting a noble cause
keeping people affected with AIDS in Africa or being bad by using this agenda to increase their sales
leveraging the social cause. The third criticism was there was not data to provide the profit margin of
the Gaps (RED) product and also the number of Africans treated by donations from Gap (RED)
products. The major problems was to show to the public was that were ethical in their attitude towards
contributing for the social cause. They even used celebrities to advertise their products and it was
suspected whether it was a strategy of taking away from society or giving back to them a noble cause.
The best solution to above issues can be to reveal all the data which was being donated to the global
fund. The exact figures would definitely provide the true picture. Another approach can be to
participate in research companies which determine companys ethical quote score and help determine
the fine intention behind their contribution towards CSR.
Another measure can be to talk or survey the employees of organisation and find out if they have
imbibed a culture of being socially responsible amongst its employees or if they are just being
window dressed on the outside.
participation?
Answer 5
16
From a cursory reading, GAP gives the reader an impression of being a company genuinely
committed to social change through its involvement in the (RED) campaign. It has had a continued
association with it and has made no secrets of how limited it feels its role is in the fight against AIDS
in Africa.
Having said that it has faced a barge of criticism for its participation. One of these is related to the
notion of consumption philanthropy. Another has to do with the fact that no financial goals were
publicly established. Consumers and critics were unable to clearly calculate their contribution. This
could have been tackled by increasing transparency in its reporting and helping make their
contribution more concrete.
The information collected by GAP about the effect its efforts had and its success towards the stated
goal of raising awareness was also not made available for public scrutiny. Reports by Labour Behind
the Label, and Covalence, which lauded GAPs CSR efforts and the consistency and commitment in
its approach towards (RED) must be cited and in fact publicized by GAPs Social Responsibility
Report. These reports legitimize the effect of GAPs involvement and would serve as effective
neutralizers to the criticism it has faced in its (RED) campaign.
Another important critique revolves around the number of GAP products with the (RED) tag. It
should publicly clarify why it wasnt offering more products to its (RED) campaign, if purchasing a
GAP (RED) product was the right thing to do.
In summary, one can safely assume that GAPs involvement in (RED) campaign isnt merely a
marketing campaign, and that awareness about its CSR activities by giving it a more prominent
place on its website, or even its involvement in Lesotho, needs to be publicized. These and becoming
more transparent, opening it files to public scrutiny will help dispel criticism.
participation?
Answer 6
17
Popularity of the belief right from the days of Adam Smith that earning profits is the primary motive
of business enterprises encourages everyone to view companies with certain amount of skepticism
when they claim to focus on things beyond profit. This apprehension along with ethically questionable
practice of contributing by increasing consumption, conflict of philosophy by having majority of its
product line whose purchase doesnt contribute anything and absence of elaborate objective metrics of
success cast serious doubts on intention of Gaps RED product line.
Of different issues mentioned the one which influences a consumer the most is the question am I
making a difference. While the questions of philosophy and ethics are important, they turn out to
become irrelevant if the campaign fails to make a considerable change in life of Africans. Hence it is
important that GAP communicate its success in the whole program.
There are multiple platforms through which GAP can increase awareness to the customers like ad
campaigns in mass media, earning accolades from independent evaluators and indicating the benefit
of program during purchase. Among these three approaches, the last makes most sense for a variety of
reasons. The primary one being that this approach is not too loud which avoids the good vs bad debate
to some extent. The intent of purchase might strengthen if social benefits are conveyed at the time of
purchase. The cost of implementation would also be lower.
The contribution a particular purchase can make may be indicated in the form of a tag along with
price tag. This tag can give the exact amount which goes to the fund from the purchase. If the exact
number is too small, the benefit if offers can be given (e.g. this shirt can give medicine to the patient
for one day). Selected success stories can be shared through available platforms to further strengthen
the belief.
participation?
Answer 7
The major criticisms against the (RED) campaign were lack of transparency, crowding out traditional
philanthropic activities, being identified as a business model than a cause and not impacting Africa to
18
become self-sufficient. Out of these major problems, the two criticisms which I feel Gap certainly
needs to look at are:
1. Lack of transparency and the claim that its more concerned in advertising than supporting the
African government to become self-sufficient
The lack of transparency criticism can be shaken off by providing financial specifics and
letting the buyer know what amount is being contributed to the Global Fund from every dollar
he spends. Instead of providing an aggregated amount of contributions, individual
contribution from the Gaps participation should be told.
2. Impact in Africa
Moreover, the impact can be shown by providing the users with pre and post analysis data of
the (RED) campaign. To implement these solutions, I believe Gap can take help from the
same celebrities and can market the impact through providing facts and data points. This
would make the consumer as well as the partner believe that their deeds are benefitting the
society and they can feel genuinely committed to social change.
participation?
Answer 8
Product Red has been criticized for not having an effect proportional to the advertising investment as
well as being less efficient as compared to a direct charitable contribution. Also, lack of transparency
with regards to the amount of money going to charity as a percentage of every purchase. The
19
campaign encouraged consumption of products, thus encouraging companies to use product for
publicity rather than social responsibility. It offered a lot more benefit to the partner companies than
that of the benefit Global Fund in terms of profitability these companies gained compared to the
donations made to Global Fund.
Gap needs to demonstrate higher level of transparency of operations and disclosure for funds to obtain
the label of integrity and transparency. It must disclose the proceedings of donations made by it to the
Global Fund publicly through convenient channels that are in reach of general public. It must also
educate consumers by exhibiting them about the business model followed by Gap and its contribution
so far in eliminating AIDS in Africa by use of social media platform or by making use of platforms
like YouTube and Google. Gap can also reduce its marketing budget and use less expensive platforms
to market the campaign thus donating more to charity.
To increase the transparency, Gap should partner with third party and with the help of them publish
the amount of funds that are contributed to the charity and how it is impacting the lives of people in
Africa.
participation?
Answer 9
Since GAP RED campaign was identified as a business model rather than a cause, it raised concerns
about the increasing conflation of consumption, media celebration and philanthropy result of which it
received criticism. Some of the root causes of this problem are:
20
Gaps projected their selective set of products were manufactured in right way which raised
question that why the remaining merchandise are not.
Gaps (RED) website did not receive the prominence it deserve on its retain website.
Gap advertisement which projected African people as victims and Gap and other like minded
consumers as heroes while competitive retailers and people who are not buying Gap products
are projected as bad guys.
Since all the Gap products are not following RED business model, the entire campaign
appeared situational rather than functional.
No financial goals was publicly established except the notification indicating 50% of the
profit from the merchandise will be contributed. The consumer who purchases the product do
not know how much of the amount he/she spends was actually contributed to the cause.
Hence it is necessary for the Gap to take steps to address the above issues. Focus on the above issues
will dispel most of the criticism of its (RED) campaign. Some of the possible solutions could be
allocating more space on their retail website for their red campaign, setting periodic financial goals,
do away with Right vs Wrong Ad campaign. Also, Gap can leverage the Ethical trade that they
achieved by manufacturing 75% of their exports from Sub-Saharan countries. Focusing on the Ethical
trade will get support from locals like Dr. Dambisa Moyo who supports the causes which makes
Africa self sufficient.
Since Gap was already known for its collaborative approach, labour rights commitment, focusing on
above issues will strengthen Gaps long term objective.
participation?
Answer 10
The denunciation of GAP circulates around the concept of replacing collective political action by
consumer activism campaigns are designed in such a way that fantasy of being a hero, without
sacrificing anything, is perpetuated and accentuated among consumers. On analysis, more than Ethical
Consumption, the idea reflects the idea of low cost heroism, as consumers are not paying for entire
social cost. More than the idea of bringing positive outcomes it showcases the demand to at least not
21
bringing negative outcomes. There is not much change in the business profile but a significant one in
CSR profile of GAP after campaigns. The Red Campaign might look like an easy solution of current
crisis in international arena but offer no real solution. As the consumption is voluntary and
volunteering cant be the real solution. The problem entails are cause marketing being created as
corporate social responsibility.
To dispel the criticism idea of
participation?
Answer 11
While Gap had been doing well in its (RED) campaign but there were still some holes to plug. Some
of the problems which were quite apparent were (a) no proper mention of its participation in (RED)
campaign on its website, (b) lack of quantitative and measurable goals that Gap intended to reach, as
in how much impact it could create, through its participation, (c) Gaps ethical stand appearing to be
situational rather than foundational because it was applicable to only its T-shirts business, and finally
(d) its alleged participation in marketized philanthropy which creates the appearance of giving back
while disguising the fact that it is already based in taking away.
22
If we were to identify which of these problems were leading to most of the criticism, we do not have
to think hard. The reason is that, had Gap tried to take care of problem (a) by giving more mention or
display space to its participation in the (RED) campaign, it will automatically aggravate the problem
(d) as it would appear that the intensity of marketized philanthropy is even higher. Also, as
participation in the (RED) campaign was a voluntary step taken by Gap so no one should question
whether their ethical stand is situational, based on merely the fact that it is applicable to T-shirts only.
It is a positive step taken by Gap and they can do it only for T-shirts or for all their products as and
when they feel it right.
So we are left with the problem that the impact that Gap intended to generate was not measurable or
not provided in quantitative terms. Solving this problem will automatically solve the others to a
certain extent. Possible solutions are either to involve in research to use Social Impact Assessment
tools and publish results or hire a third part to do it for them.
Best solution, according to me, would be to give some third party, probably an unbiased NGO, which
has an expertise on social impact assessment tools, to undertake a study and publish results on its
website stating the source. This will ensure that those who criticise Gaps stand now know the impact
it is creating and how it is actually going to achieve it. This shall also help Gap to modify its future
plans to ensure that it maximise the created impact.
Once Gap has achieved this, it may further invest in developing an index similar to Timberlands
Green Index to display the extent of impact on each of its products and how it intends to make it
better in future. This will show that Gap (RED) is not merely Window Dressing but Gap is really
committed towards this.
participation?
Answer 12
The criticism of GAPs participation in (RED) campaign is along 3 fronts efficacy, transparency and
philosophy. Along the efficacy front, major criticism was on identifying the extent to which GAP
contributed in eliminating AIDS in Africa and spreading consumer awareness about AIDS in Africa.
The GAP faced criticism on transparency front for not following the (RED) business model for all of
its products and along the philosophy front, it faced criticisms for promoting consumption
philanthropy.
23
In order to address efficacy criticisms, the GAP should dwell on the fact that the number of lives
impacted are more important than the amount donated for the cause. For addressing the awareness
issue the reports about consumer awareness can be made public for their scrutiny by the public.
For addressing the transparency issue, the GAP should focus on conveying that their current African
partners do not have the capacity to meet the demands of the entire product but as multiple reports
suggest, they are one of the top contributors in improving labour conditions, trade practices and
production capabilities.
For addressing philanthropy critics, the GAP should emphasize on the fact that (RED) is a business
model and not a cause. Hence, in order to generate constant stream of revenue for them, it is necessary
that the produce and market dedicated products. Secondly, (RED) is another part of their CSR
initiatives and not the entire CSR program of the company and they do not promote consumption
philanthropy for their initiatives.
Amongst the 3 fronts, transparency and philosophy issues are more prominent than those of efficacy
as information is readily available for the latter. Hence, the GAP should focus on addressing
transparency and philosophy issues first.
Question: why does the author argue that gap (RED) ads are problematic? What do you
think?
Answer 1
As every noble cause attracts scrutiny and retribution, so does GAPs RED mission started as
an alternate business model to support and sustain the ethical marketing, GAPs
advertisements attracted criticism regarding its multiple aspects
The first issue is with the way GAP used Red brand to claim to be socially responsible but
not according the RED products necessary space on its website. The line to reach RED
products is placed alongside other less used and more ignored options to understand their
24
terms and conditions on the website. The second issue is regarding the campaigns GAP
launched with much social and media coverage but are not so merrier on closer inspection
While the first campaign one kid can change the world tries to model our thinking into
replicating the actions of celebrities on a larger picture, it is communicating that consuming
GAP red products is the solution to the problems being faced by the victims in a way
disconnecting the consumers from the real problems.
The campaign Do the RED thing is more situational to GAP than foundational. The major
criticism to this campaign are more valid as they question the philosophical basis of the
campaign and GAP; of buying RED products was the right thing to do, they why arent all
GAP products being marketed under RED; of consumers dont buy RED products does it
make them bad, in league with competitors who dont support this cause.
GAP should address these criticisms actively if it has to receive continuous support to its
much believed cause. GAP should counter the arguments on its targets achieved, try
providing relevant data whenever possible. It could also come up with a plan on how GAP
would expand its products into wider ranges as the production in LESOTHO steps up. GAP
should provide details on how it is making a difference in lives of increasing awareness about
AID as an active partner rather than as another contributor to the global fund.
Solutions could be plenty, but the challenge is on how to tread the line between RED being a
business model for GAP and another CSR in GAPs portfolio. The suggested strategy could be
to team up with other manufacturers and improve the lives of its manufacturing workers, they
can then introduce more products in RED category, educate opening up more trade relations
with African nations, leverage these initiatives to ascertain its intention to its consumers of
thus benefit from advocating the cause. Moving ahead with all its partners in tow, will truly
help GAP walk its talk.
think?
Answer 2
The author says GAPs ethics system is situational rather than foundational. I believe this
statement raises the key issue with the product RED ads. Author makes an argument that the
campaign is based on consumption philanthropy with prime objective being revenue growth
rather than social responsibility. This is well supported by the argument that the ads used
celebrities and over simplified the industry into good and bad. The key purpose here is to
distinguish GAP from competitors which is argued by highlights that RED campaign was not
adopted for entire product portfolio of GAP. GAPs conscious decision to promote itself as a
25
hero is made by using taglines like DO the red thing, save someones life, however the impact
of its moves is kept well-hidden since no data has been shown. The author made a balanced
critical analysis wherein he highlighted the positive aspects of GAP CSR initiatives
especially regarding establishing ethical trade but goes on show that all these measure are
situational rather than foundational Dr. Dambisa Moyos ideas are stressed to focus on this
aspect only. Authors argument with the ad campaign can be seen in the light of business also.
The donation made by GAP to RED campaign is more on the lines of an investment rather
than a selfless effort to improve the society, which is the key problem that author has with the
program.
In my opinion CSR goes beyond running a single campaign. It is fundamental duty of every
organization and social costs should be minimized at each and every step of business
undertakings. I agree with the author that using the campaign to increase sales defeats the
purpose of campaign RED which could have been an example for the world for good
corporate governance and CSR. GAP should have acted more transparently and by doing so it
would have still benefitted from its CSR while achieving much bigger goal than PAT and
market share.
think?
Answer 3
The campaign RED is used to funnel money from different companies to support the fight
against AIDS in Africa with a clear indication that it was neither a charity nor a cause. In such
a case, GAPs ad campaign comes in a bad light in a way that it was only partially taken up by
GAP by associating only with a narrow range of products along with not promoting this
26
campaign on their website on a prominent basis. When they have campaign taglines like Can
one kid change the world? Every organization has a voice etc. to captivate the audience,
capitalizing on their emotions and inducing a sense of guilt if they decide not to buy GAP
products. Also, they ran a campaign called Do the right thing to say that buying GAP
(RED) products is the right thing to do. Leveraging on the Good and bad propaganda created
by showing AIDs victims appears to be ignorant of other problems like poverty, sanitation
etc. and definition of a righteous path to justify the association with RED campaign is a
conflicting proposition. Keeping these in mind, one has to think whether the association is
genuine or just a way to leverage this to increase sales across all categories &portray GAP as
a socially responsible organization. In this tenet, we should also look at the morality of all
such associations / CSR activities which results in capitalistic gains through a socialistic
facade of solving a humanitarian cause. We need to question the concept of consumption
philanthropy where we leverage celebrities to exploit their associations to promote buying of
a product in the pretext of helping a cause which is oxymoronic. The debate should be to
whether to promote financial aid through marketized philanthropy or help them by providing
real access to money / facilities by increasing wages, procuring raw materials, better working
conditions etc.
think?
Answer 4
According to the case, GAP launched its RED product line with two dedicated advertising
campaigns in 2007. Both the campaigns were launched with celebrity endorsements with
taglines such as can one kid change the world?, Every generation has a voice, Every
generation has a heart, Inspire the next generation to change the world and Do the RED
thing etc.
I think the second campaign with the tagline DO the RED thing which did not garner much
respect from the author. It was consider to be a play on the phrase Do the right thing which
27
was purchasing GAP (RED) products. In my opinion there are two main issues which are
evident from the case due to which the whole ad campaign did not go down well with the
author. First the ad seems to be having negative connotations in a way it is being positioned.
It seems to be casting shadows on the people who might be contributing in significant ways
through other avenues for the same cause, however, the ad campaign, as mention in the case,
construe them as bad guys as they did not offer socially conscious products and who did not
chose to purchase RED products.
Secondly, the whole propaganda appears to be situational rather than foundational. If not
selling (RED) products makes you bad guy then why wasnt all the GAP merchandise sold
under RED line of products. It is like offering less popular products on discounts to improve
sales and replenish inventory except in this case instead of discount GAP associated a cause
based marketing for these products and labelled it as doing the right thing
If I think of how GAP could have executed the campaign better the first step would be to
keep the Tagline form the first campaign and not introduce Do the RED thing. In addition,
they could introduce RED products with slightly lesser price so that sales could increase. I
think it would be more beneficial if we have 3 slightly less priced products sold with 50%
donated to Global fund than selling one really priced product.
think?
Answer 5
GAP ads raise a doubt about the genuineness of the intent of the campaign. Are the ads really
meant to help the societal improvement or are they meant to portray a positive picture just to
gain advantage in the long run.
The concept of aid generated from the campaign portray Africa in submissive role. This may
see in a negative light by some people. Marketised philosophy is an especially insidious case
because it creates the appearance of giving back, disguising the fact it is already based on
taking away.
28
The ethical reputation reports offered by covalence suggested GAP had endured public
scrutiny and the campaign were inspected in depth by public
think?
Answer 6
Multiple advertisements Run for red campaign carried a hidden message that by imitating the
behaviour of famous individuals they can act like socially responsible human beings. This
inherently also emphasised that people and organisations not associated with the cause were
wrong. The competitive retailers or the consumers who choose a product apart from red are
not socially conscious. Besides the major taglines used in the campaign itself was situational
as the limited product line reduce the consumers choice of doing good. moreover they
themselves contradicted there stance as if the right thing to do was to purchase GAP
merchandise then the entire product line should have been aligned to the cause. As per my
29
belief goal of every organisation is to earn profit. To be socially responsive is their choice so
if the company has decided to stand up for this cause I find it fully acceptable. Celebrities
have been long used in advertisements as they are easily recognisable and relatable to
consumers. Hence they are a good medium to disperse the information and awareness to
larger sections of society no organisation should be blamed for promoting a good cause and
one must not always to the negative lens. Other organisations choosing not to align or support
this cause should not be seen as a criticality for organisation. Everything is just a matter of
perception, we should look at the bigger picture and the awareness any campaign is creating.
The money raised from this campaign will principally be used for treatment of patients
infected with AIDS. If the use of celebrity segregation, or a specific product line or use of a
campaign slogan which is not causing any physical harm but in turn helps the people should
be appreciated. Tt is not justifiable to have expectations from a company to have a complete
product range dedicated for charity it is famously said that teaching a man to fish will help in
satisfying his hunger for the rest of his life. GAP in my opinion did something familiar apart
from just providing monetary assistance they also help in nurturing the cloth industry so that
they can stand on their own. The advertisements created were catchy are not necessarily
conveying the actual effects of AIDS in Africa but they were definitely successful in reaching
the objective. It was decided to achieve the suspicions raised over the actual intentions of the
campaign on the disbursements of funds and their usage for the infected people can be
handled by setting institutions that can analyse the status of the current funds these
institutions can make company is more accountable and stop misuse of funds.
think?
Answer 7
The author argues that GAP (RED) ads are problematic. He provided a few problems with the
campaign. While the first ad campaign (July 2007) resounded that each generation has a
part to play in improving the world, the latter one (Nov 2007) asked the customers to do the
right thing, i.e buy GAP products. The major problem here was the use of celebrity
endorsements which hinted the consumers ti model the behaviour of their idols by buying the
RED product. And the people who didnt do so, were doing the wrong thing. An extension to
this was implicit suggestions that their competitors and non-customers were bad.
30
Secondly, the ad campaign was situational & non pervasive. For instance, moving past t-
shirts, the RED product choices were limited & so were the choices to do the right thing.
Even worse was the justification of when. GAP argued that choice isnt a problem because
customers should exercise RED whenever it is available. This brought to light GAPs ethics
system is more situational than foundational.
The last & worst part was that the celebrity endorsement, according to Mojo, perpetuated the
dependency relationship using negative stereotyping because it didnt show Africa as one
who wants democratic independence and financial independent paths of trade & FDIs. While
GAPs stress on ethical trade helped it overcome Mojos claims, this is still questionable.
Amongst all the three problems, I feel the problem of RED choices being limited is the major
one because it exposes GAP double standard on the face of it.
The best possible solution to it would be extension of its RED products to other product lines
across all categories, giving its customers ample choice to do the right thing. For other
problems, GAP could stop idolising RED products users and promote it as the bare
minimum that should be done on humanitarian grounds.
think?
Answer 8
According to the claims of the author, there is a huge distinction between the consumption
philanthropy and the marketized philanthropy. The GAP (red) ads relied more on the latter
as there is little financial proof to substantiate the actual value added by these ads.
For the first ad where the campaign focusses on celebrity endorsement the aim was to entice
the consumers to believe that every kid can contribute towards changing the world. I believe
that it is very difficult to be critical on this ad as endorsing influencers for the GOOD is one
of the norms of philanthropy.
31
The second ads had photographs and videos showing the African victims of AIDS. This ad
played on the emotion Doing the red (right) thing where the victim as shown to portray his
side of the story. It aimed to make one reflect that by buying GAP (RED) goods they were
doing the right thing while condemning the actions of other retailers as the wrong doers.
This message of dong the right thing is highly debatable. More so because if GAP was one
of the heroes of this story who were being socially conscious, then why was this campaign
restricted to only Limited goods of GAP and was not absorbed in their entire business
model. Moreover, what actually was the Right thing? How did GAP contribute to the
Right thing? Though GAP has the ethical reputation of it being a corporate which is
socially responsible but sadly there are very few quantifiable records that GAP has credited
itself to gain that reputation.
Lets take the example of the US giant Coca-Cola. Coca Cola has attached itself with lots of
claims on how it supports education in several countries. Its advertisements boasts of
spreading happiness all throughout the world. But why does coca cola never comment on the
enormous volumes of ground water that it illegally extracts from villages and leaves farmers
without any water to drink, let alone use for irrigation?
Thus, in my opinion, though Gap essentially might be inclined towards making a difference
to the future and practicing ethical trade, its credibility with regards to the intentions behind
GAP (RED) ads are highly questionable. In order for GAP to demolish such ambiguities, it
must be more transparent and specific with its intentions, approach and results. Generalising
and good vs bad philosophies are not enough for the growing digitally aware consumers.
Moreover, I believe its the right of every donor/customer to be able to access exactly what
proportion of his contribution is going towards the cause and how. Just like ITC for classmate
in India, GAP should incorporate appropriate measures to not only be perceived but truly be
one of the most socially active brands in world.
think?
Answer 9
The author argues that GAP (RED) ads are problematic because of the following reasons:
1 The ads implicitly created three groups- one who purchase GAP (RED) products, one
who doesnt and the competitors who are not a part of the RED project. The ad
showcased the first group as being the right group, automatically implying second and
third group as wrong, without any fault of theirs. Just because gap did something good
for society, while others didnt, it doesnt qualify them to be wrong.
2 It limits the choice for the consumers who are guiled into buying Red products or wait
for it to be launched as RED product, just so that they can contribute to the society.
32
3 It creates conflict between the ideas GAP tries to portray itself. Why sell just few
items of clothing as RED products> why not all? By making such an advertisement, it
itself lands in two of the three groups the ad implicitly creates which is not
sustainable. An entity cannot be right or wrong at the same time!
I think that the author has hit the nail on its head while putting forth the argument.
The ad places a forced restraint on the consumers whilst vitrifying the competitors for
not doing something which GAP thinks is right. For all we know, they might be
contributing to some other cause in their own capacity and in their own way and not
conforming to singular mind-set of righteousness defined by an advert does not make
them wrong.
However, we need to look at the arguments from the other side too. Just because the
as creates social compulsion, should the consumers care in? If a car company
proclaims that its engine is the best, does it make other engines worse off? One can
also argue that it is up to a consumer to decide what is right and what is not? Author
has used sound logic to base his argument on, however, has become too critical of the
advert, which still is trying to advocate a good cause. So should we say that the author
is wrong just because he argues against an advert with a good cause? No!
It all boils down to the consumers who is consuming the ad as well as the product. He
should be aware of his choices, his purchases and his ability to view the world with
open perspective. Once that is achieved, the world would be a much better place,
peaceful and would be able to appreciate such ads without worrying about its hidden
implicit meaning.
33
think?
Answer 10
Certain GAP (RED) ads apparently, divide the people into two groups by making a
judgement in their morality. To give an example, if we are to focus on this particular tagline
of GAP November advertisement, which is do the red thing which is a word play for do the
right thing. This suggests that the corollary should be those who dont buy GAP (RED)
products are not in the same moral plain as compared to people who buy GAP (RED)
The same ARGUEMNET CAN be applied to other GAP products as well i.e. what about
customers who buy non RED products. The aforementioned logic can also be questioned
when a customer has to buy something which the GAP (RED) segment doesnt offer. A fierce
critic can easily question the intent of GAP when he choose to ask why GAP is not following
the GAP (RED) business model for all products.
Now, to suggest a solution, the factors have to be taken into account. First, is the companys
purity of intention and second is how people perceive it or rather whether they were
successful in communicating their intention to the people. As far as GAP is not an NGO, any
societal welfare activities they do is good for the society, regardless of their true intentions. If
the people of Africa are being benefitted and if the awareness among customers are
increasing, then purpose is served.
Second is how they communicated to the people. Tagline like do the red thing should have
been avoided. More neutral and appealing taglines should be used as the goodwill of
company depends predominantly on the perception among the people.
34
think?
Answer 11
Gap launched two dedicated marketing campaigns to promote its RED product line. One was
targeted on the Gapkids and BabyGap RED collections. The other was to support GAPs one
year anniversary of the red product line. Both the campaigns included celebrities and
appealing taglines to support the marketing. Though the campaign garnered immense
popularity, it also attracted a lot of criticism, especially on grounds of race and the implicit
messages that was passed.
The author precisely argues on two points. First, the tagline do the red thing. It may be
demeaning to customers who do not purchase a GAP (RED) product, as doing the red thing
essentially meant doing the right thing of buying a GAP product. The second problem was
the limited choice that GAP offered to purchasers. If customers wanted to buy a product,
unavailable in the RED product line, the sensitive customers would feel like a villain unable
to contribute to the social cause.
Having stated the above, the author argues that GAPs ethics system is apparently situational
rather than foundational. This argument seems valid in my opinion given the huge media
attention that GAP received for its CSR.
Although extending GAP Red products across all product lines seems like a right thing to be
done, let us not forget that the RED product line is just an additional initiative that GAP is
taking to help the African AID victims. It may be that all product lines do not give the same
profit margins as the existing RED products offer. Hence, GAP keeps only a few items for its
RED campaign. In my opinion, from a pure business perspective, a limited range is justified
and seems fair for GAP.
Instead, I propose that Gap work on its tagline and the advertisements as they do not send out
a right message to the outside world. Some of the criticisms may be exaggerated, however,
advertising anything that spoils the brand image is definitely not a good idea. In my opinion,
the taglines should be changed or positioned more appropriately in sense that these taglines
and ad campaigns hold only for the GAP RED products.
35
think?
Answer 12
In the CSR based study Just window dressing?, the author has critically analysed the RED
campaign by the retail giant Gap Inc. the campaign majorly focuses on consumption
philanthropy which propels their potential customers to buy GAP (RED) products and
contribute to a noble cause like treatment of AIDs in Africa. The question posed to us is
whether the ads created for this purpose are problematic in any way. Let us begin by
analysing the authors arguments.
Majority of ad campaign of GAP (RED) were powered with famous socially responsible
celebrities. The likes of Jennifer Garner, Penelope Cruz, Anna Hatchway, to name a few, have
endorsed the RED campaign, where they encouraged consumers to buy GAP products with
taglines like do the red thing. The author believes that in a way the ads try to convince that
if you are not buying a Gap (RED) product, then you are not doing the right thing.
Another pattern was observed with respect to the theme of all GAP (RED) ads. In general, the
consumers of RED products were shown as saviours for the victimized Africans who need
their support. So implicitly it meant that the competitors of GAP were villains in this setting
as they were not being socially conscious.
Another argument raised by the author is about the limited availability of RED products
within GAP. This, in a way, conveys that you are doing the wrong thing if you are buying a
GAP product which is not supporting the red cause. This can turn out to be counterproductive
as it may cannibalise its own sales.
The author has very well critiqued the shortfalls in the ad campaign, but I personally dont
see them as shortfalls. To start with, GAP is not a non-profit organisation so beside social
gain financial gain is also a major objective for the company. While the extensive use of
celebrities may castigate the non-buyers implicitly, but it directly encourages the consumers
who may continue their association with GAP for a long time.
Also, I dont see the limited availability of gap red products as counterproductive, because it
is creating a niche segment of clothing which focus on social welfare too. If you proliferate
RED campaign in all product lines, then the campaign gets commoditized and loses its
essence.
The only point where I agree with the author is the portrayal of Africans as marginalised and
the consumers as heroes. I believe instead they can showcase the progress made towards
helping the African society because of this campaign which will have a more positive
connotation to it.
Question: What might be a better ad campaign?
36
Answer 1
Analyzing the present campaign in a sociological and business view point would allow us to
understand the shortcomings of the campaign and build more acceptable one.
Not only did the present campaign hired expensive celebrities pumping in lots of money
which can rather be used in an effective way for the social cause, but also they did not treat
the RED product equivalent to their existing products. Classifying Africans as the unworthy
victims, creating a distinction with right things are few issues that one has to ponder upon.
Since GAP is an organization that is actually making an impact on the Sub Saharan
economies through influencing its suppliers labor policies, there is not a necessity to window
dress any of it facts. True that the company did not disclose the financial impact that it
created through this campaign, but it certainly has created some impact which was not
present otherwise. An important observation made by African leaders that rather than
donations, the developed countries should help them self-sufficient which GAP is trying to
do, but not advertising. One negative aspect of the campaign is to distinguish between right
and wrong, good and bad people, creating an unwanted trichotomy which is determined for
Africa in the long run.
A good advertising/ marketing campaign would be the one in which GAP shows the impact
of the changes in the labour policy in the lives of labourers of Sub Saharan region on a
positive side. The impact GAP as a whole is making with the motivation of RED campaign.
This makes more business sense because this enables GAP to be the undisputed choice of a
concerned consumer not only in the RED product segment, but in all segments Gap is
present.
37
Answer 2
The RED Campaign was launched in January 2006, which was positioned as When you buy
(RED), you save lives. The business model was to team up with well-known brands to
produce RED brand and a share of the profits from those products would be donated.
GAP (RED) also joined the movement in 2009. It dedicated certain inventory for RED brand,
but not all. The aim was to break the capitalism net around and create something which can
help the downtrodden society. The money raised was to support the AIDS victims in Africa.
There were several criticism associated with GAPs RED mission. The GAPs (RED) website
was not prominent on its retail website, which lead to among perception about GAP. Since it
was one of the early contributors to RED campaign, they should have dedicated a whole
website to the product GAP (RED). Which should have showcased the benefits of buying the
GAP (RED) branded clothing.
The advertising campaign Do the (RED) thing, a play on the phrase of Do the right thing,
portrayed that if a person is not buying a RED product, then one was doing the wrong thing.
The negative narrative coming out from a CSR campaign wont strike a chord with the
customers. The GAP itself does not have all of its clothing line under RED Do the RED
thing would have cannibalized its sales and created a bipolar image of the brand.
Alternatively, the ad campaign should have focused only on the positive narratives of the
product, how buying the product could change the lives of millions of people. The alternative
tag line could be, You have the power to make someone smile, or Reduce the Gap. These
phrases give a positive attitude to the campaign unlike the current ones.
The first campaign to be launched in July 2007, should be built upon the above mentioned tag
lines, and further the second ad should include the effectiveness of the campaign. It must
show how the Gap (RED) is changing the lives of people substantiated by the data from past
year and the potential the campaign have to transform the society.
38
Answer 3
GAP (RED) marketing campaign successful that it may be in the terms of creating socially
responsible brand image it does raise few questions. If the GAP (RED) merchandise was
socially done in a right way, the why not use it for all its merchandise. And the propaganda
techniques employed were ethical, where they turn competitive retailers and non-buyers into
bad guys. Also serious questions are raised with respect to transparency, they did not
specifically reveal the exact profit margins and came out with abstract number of people
benefiting from their donations.
But there is one issue which stands out and questions the intentions behind this so called
corporate social responsibility. This Red campaign which exploits the socially responsible
public image of celebrities was based on consumption philanthropy. A product or a service is
purchase because of its association with charity. The fact that is less obvious is the market
oriented philanthropy cleverly disguises the notion of consumption with charity and doing
their part in the society.
Lets not assumethat every corporate is painted with the same color. There are examples like
that of McDonalds where they support Ribald McDonalds house charities and effective
approach to helping families of sick children. 3Ms healthy community program creates
opportunities for employees to participate in hands on school program and community
events.
Yes Gap does fairly well in comparison to the other companies but their growth has so far
been questionable. The brand should engage directly with Aids victim leveraging the
connection existing in Red and other NGOs
Gap can socially and economically empower AIDS victims by giving them job opportunities
and skill training. Also this should not be limited to GAP (RED) line but across all Gap
merchandise. This will align the vison of being socially responsible with their actions. Also,
they should make their CSR activities more transparent. This will enable GAP give short
message to its customers.
39
Answer 4
Is it RED enough?
Corporate social responsibility seems more of an oxymoron than a noble initiative, It raises
certain questions which are not only difficult to answer but also difficult to raise
The RED campaign of which GAP is a long term and a much advertised member is one such
CSR initiative.
Leaving aside the irony of addressing social caused by promoting consumerism, the key issue
with such ad campaigns lies in the blatant ignorance of the efficacy of their initiative.
Transparency of these campaigns also hides more than it reveals, Limited exposure to their
businesses to these campaigns also raises questions on the organizations commitment to the
cause.
Aligning their businesses to truly live the words of their ads may be too much to ask from
organizations who are struggling for survival in the capitalist battlefield. The ethical trade
concept is one of the first and very important steps towards creating a better campaign
foundation. Communicating the impact of ones consumerist choice and providing consumer
sample avenues to make a socially responsible choice is what organizations need to do.
An ideal campaign would be where GAP communicates the impact of the RED camping and
not only attracts the consumers to do the RED thing just because a celebrity is doing so.
40
Answer 5
Gap advertised its CSR activity by helping the African population affected by AIDS by series
of commercial advertisement like targeting children and making use of virtuous/ villainous
role player. But the main problem I could see is the advisements was the webpage which was
suppose I be notifying people about the CSR activities. Second problem was there was no
enough data to back the claim of CSR activities. Third issue was the language used in the
report provided plus the lack of claim of an amount donated, and lastly, there was no
parameters stated to major the success of the program.
The problems can be tackled by having separate page which clearly defined the CSR activity
and the success criteria set by the company. Second solution could be rather than just giving
out data about the inventory, company provide total revenue gained than provide the
information about how much amount actually was sent to Africa. Third is making concise
report stating who was benefitted rather than who could be benefitted in numbers which
could enhance the companys credibility.
Among recommended, I suggest 1st and 3rd are more feasible solutions.
By improving the visibility of the CSR activity in the website, GAP will announce its passion
towards the cause as well as it will bring the attention of the new consumer towardsthe cause.
The report provided to public should clearly state the before and after data yearly basic
milestones achieved.
This milestones of success criteria should be well thought in advance to put it on website for
people so that consumer will believe in the credibility of the initiative.
41
Answer 6
The term coined for corporates to have social conscience and be responsible to the society is
called CSR. This does not mean that corporate can act responsible on media and be totally
irresponsible behind the success.
First I will discuss the shortfalls of the campaign, there seemed to be a hidden purpose of
selling old stock for RED labelled merchandise or product which already have high margins.
The advertisement showcased celebrities which can attract a lot of audience but you to tell
customers that buying GAP products is doing the red (Right) thing is unethical. Businesses
influence people to make a positive change in their lives and not direct their buying choices
by saying whats right or wrong. The direct link to sale for a business to social ad campaign
fails in the eyes in the criticsthymus GAP needed a much more subtle ad campaign.
Better Ad campaign
It would have been better if they presented their afterword to the media with believable facts
and figures. Also instead of contribution only through sale of GAP products. GAP should
have facilitated fund raising for Global Funs on its website and opened opportunities for
doctors on the country to contribute to the cause in Africa. The act of sensitization is more
important than portraying Africa as a nation in supplicants role.
42
Answer 7
The case under review exemplifies celebritys role in creating social conscious image of a
brand. Case further throws some light on the consequences when aid celebrities with branded
product sand cause. The resulting combination which is commonly referred as Brand Aid
helps boosts the sale and build ethical profile of the brand, but the brand creation is efficient
from a commercial point of view rather than philanthropy. Case of GAP (product) Red, a
branding initiative launched in 2007 where GAP donated a portion of its margin from the sale
of RED products to the Global funds in order to finance HIV Aids treatement in Africa. Gap
appointed various celebrioties to popularize the campaign. But in essence celebrities were
moving attention away from conciosu consumption and towards compassionate
consumption which is very problematic a this was different from helping African by buying
products actually manufactured in Africa or by choosing products that claim to have been
made under better social labor environment conditions. A morephilanthropic approach would
be designing a camping which will empower Africans rather than leaving Africans on the
mercy of foreign funds.
43
Answer 8
The concept of the RED campaign aimed to marketing and selling the products that were
desirable in their own right to generate revenue for a pro-social idea. That said one of the key
issues of the as was that it focused heavily on consumerism and corporate partnership to
deliver social value. Some termed it as Market philanthropy because it created the
appearance of giving back, disguising the fact that it is already based in taking away. Not
only this, they were questions raised on one of the three pillars, i.e. The goal of ethical
trade. This was primarily because there were no good metrics and objective data that could
increase it effectively.
In order to cater this or address these problems better, it would have been better if the
company had publically established a financial goal. In fact, an absolute measure like how
much money was donated from the sale of T-shirt would have brought a lot more
transparency in the campaign. Further, the company should have also publicized the benefits
achieved from the campaign every quarter or an annual basis. The benefits could have been
stated in financial terms to let the public know of the assistance that the program/campaign
has provided so far.
Going forward it would make sense for the company to display the financial goals it has
established on its website. Further, the company should also release a report or mention the
contribution towards social cause through RED campaign in its annual report. It would also
make sense for the company to periodically publish or advertise the results of third party
reports like Covalence that validate its claims regarding the Ethical trade pillar. All of
these measures would help firm bring in lot more transparency and reduce the negative
claims that the campaign had been generating. So in nutshell, it is important for the campaign
(GAP) to communicate its message to the audience that the campaign is beyond window
dressing and surface level benefit of capitalistic enterprise, and is in fact linked to a higher
motive of propagating ethical trade which ultimately offers African beneficiaries a path to
financial independence.
44
Answer 9
In order to look for a health ad campaign than the currently considered Gap (RED) campaign,
we should first consider the shortcomings of the current one and try and address those while
designing a new one.
The objective of the campaign was to help eliminate AIDS in Africa as also to distinguish
themselves from their competitors in the fashion retail segment. The endeavor will be to
figure out whether any of the objectives is being overshadowed by the other one per the
performance measurement of the impacts of both.
Any Ad campaign when designed and positioned with a socially sustainable and change
inducing message, it works miracles with the consumers as is suggested by the 2015
Covalence Global CSR study which discovered that 81 percent of the consumers say they
will personal sacrifices to address social, environmental issues. With such data RED
campaign comes under direct scrutiny with respect to their genuineness of purpose in
addressing the objective of helping eliminate AIDs in Africa primarily because of their lack
of transparency in publishing the precise financial records regarding their contribution to the
said social cause.
Whereas it is evident that the genuineness of purpose and even exposure to detailed financial
impact is not sufficient to address the issue, Gaps RED campaign did preserve and stick to the
cause and also did its part in raising awareness about this particular critical global issue
infecting the world. But then again with not pre and post campaign measures been released,
the performance metric of the campaign has not been fixed. The campaign involved many
stakeholders, NGOs, labor unions, other brands and retailers, to prove the sincerity of their
goals of ethical trade, their efforts were to have made seemingly little progress on the
commitments in the previous 12 months. With these being some of the primary concerns,
addressing them would be to act on them but how far is the feasibility is not known. Also the
coverage of the corporation in such a scenario in spite of knowing the amount of scrutiny
such a campaign would instigate, is therefore highly commendable.
One approach can be to expose the financial status, the records and the impact on the people
of Africa in terms of exhaustive performance metrics-like how many AIDs patients are
actually getting benefitted, what is their average expenditure on medicine and facilities
according to various stages and what percentage of that is contributed by the campaign
currently. The critics basically want and objective analysis of the performance rather than
showering the corporations with judgments based on qualitative and subjective assessments.
Thus the ideal campaign should be able to address these concerns and have definite and
exhaustive performance metrics to assess the impact of the campaign. The genuineness of the
corporation can only be affirmed if definite and untampered results are presented to the
relevant stakeholders and thus keeping that in mind the ideal campaign should be designed.
45
Answer 10
The article by Michele Amazeen is primarily centered around the broad question that the
social marketing used by the various Partners to benefit Aids victims in Africa is veracious
or a mere cover up of hidden insidious agendas.
The RED campaign of GAP was marketed in two phases Firstly, a celebrity as campaign
focused on the launch of a new baby clothing products, with the headline Can one kid
change the world. Secondly, a campaign with the tagline, do the RED thing, a play on the
phrase do the right thing.
The goal of the advertising was three pronged: firstly, to provide a reliable stream of revenue;
secondly, increase consumer awareness; thirdly, establishing ethical trade. The campaign
was successful to raise awareness about ethical trade. However, on the other two goals it
lacked.
A few problems identified by the author and by my own personal analysis is firstly, they do
the RED thing campaign seems to be situational rather than foundational. If doing the right
thing was purchasing a GAP [RED] product, why wasnt all merchandise following the same
path. Secondly, a lack of personalization of message. Personalization can be used to directly
convey how the consumer is directly benefiting the kids (name provided) of a certain tribe in
SSA. Billboards can be used to explain the story of the [RED] campaign and how it is
improving the lives of people across Africa. There should also be a similar marketing
communication on various other channels like PR, social media, etc. Another problem that
consumers face is the veracity in the transfer of their money to real people rather than being
eaten up by middlemen. Hence the conduct if aid should be clearly communication.
Answer 11
46
An efficient Ad campaign is the one which is able to connect to the customers. Make the
target audience understand the need and requirement for that product. This is a very crucial
part as what gets communicated to the target audience has to be very precise and clear. Any
ambiguity in understanding of the message that needs to be communicated could be very
harmful for a particular brand/organization.
Organizational communication is very important. It not only communicates the value of the
brand to its internal customers which are the employees but it also communicated the value of
the brand to the external customers which is the general public at large. I feel the major
problem this campaign faced was that it was unable to embark a distinct perception of the
brand in the minds of the customer. Associating your brand and product with a social cause is
not a sustainable way as the life of the products and the style keep changing. It can never be
thought as a continuous soured of promotion. People buy things that are related to social
cause out of empathy. Empathy cant be expected always out of a customer. Through
advertisements and promotions awareness can be generated about the cause but then again it
will have a diminishing effect. Soon your partners would start expecting you to pay up for the
decreasing funds. It will end up becoming an obligation for the brand. On the other hand, I
also feel that the original message of the brand also fades away if this business model is
extensively promoted. The idea has always been to leverage on the customers emotions and
makes sales.
Creating a sense of awareness and making people more self dependent and sustainable should
be the way forward. We need to understand that we have to make these people self sufficient.
Through the current method, it is becoming more of an obligation for the organization to take
care of the people. The habit of being self sufficient has to be inculcated.
Answer 12
47
The communication in the campaign lacked transparency due to its heavy association with
celebrities countering the Gaps own belief that celebrities can drive sales. Also, the portrayal
of Africa as an under developed continent and thus socially stereotyping it, it has led to
debatable problems as presented by Dr. Dambisa Moyo. Lastly, the moral high ground, which
has been self-proclaimed in the campaign is questioned by the situational ethical business
conduct adopted by Gap.
To address all the broad problems stated, the Gap can modify its campaign to stress more on
the development activities being undertaken by using the funds in the African continent as
well as focusing more on the society which benefiting rather than the celebrities who are the
donors. The Gap would also need to introspect and come to a decision whether they can come
to a high moral ground by employing the [RED] business model across its product range or
they find it economically unviable and would want to step back and communicate otherwise.
The campaign can help the Gap redefine corporate social responsibility benchmarks by
employing the [RED] business model centrally. A planned execution can help the Gap scale
new heights of social responsibility.
48
Question: How can companies like the gap strive to achieve socially responsible ideals
without putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage? Is there a way to follow a
moral universalist approach (Maynard, 2001) without falling victim to moral
relativism necessitated in a competitive marketplace?
Answer 1
The problem at hand is very straight forward and simple- being socially responsible without
being competitively disadvantaged to peers. There seems to be an inherent conflict between
the two approaches- moral universalist versus moral relativism.
The problems identified from the given case study reveals that GAP had a multi-fold problem
in its campaign. The first one relates to the marketized philanthropy, since it creates an
appearance of giving back and disguising the fact that it is already based in taking away
(Nickel &Eickenberry, 2009, p975). The second point being that GAP marketed the campaign
as a business model, thereby promoting its RED clothing line to the forefront and acting as an
internal cannibal for the other lines and products. The third point impinging on the fact that
there was a serious dirth of the financial goal achievement reporting or budgeting for the
cause. Along with this, the lack of proper roadmap and structural planning was missing from
the entire plan. The final point being that there is significant room for improvement in the
sphere of development and establishment of ethical trade in GAP (US)- Lesotho (Africa)
context, accompanied by long term sustainability of the trade relations and business conduct
in terms of the supply chain and production capabilities.
In my opinion, GAP should establish the culture internally and applicable to all the product
lines with each line catering to specific causes. This will bring in diversification and
economies of scope and scale which would offset the loss in margins and make the business
and campaign sustainable, self-sufficient and thereby allowing them to coexist. It would also
put the brand in much better light and expand the customer base to new potential markets in a
rapid fashion, thus making the brand as trending. There is a clear case of first mover
advantage in this respect, since it is more about market capture by sentiment, branding and
character projection of the company. Different causes would be emanating from different
geographies, thereby allowing GAP to establish trade relations and production- distribution
facilities all across, which can be leveraged to create unlimited potential profits and economic
allocation of the same to the end cause. Finally, a committee for reporting, monitoring,
tracking and resolving issues regarding the entire campaign and its course should be
formalized to take accountability and promote it in better light for everyone else to see and
measure in simple metrics and objectives.
49
Answer 2
In todays world, if a company does not take up at least one CSR (Corporate Social
Responsibility) initiative, it put itself at a competitive disadvantage. It can also further malign
the image of the company/brand. The ways it can take up social responsible ideals without
putting itself at a competitive disadvantage is by being honest in its endeavour and be
prepared for any scrutiny. If in the scrutiny, any fake dealings are exposed it would tarnish the
brand image. Second, it needs to maintain the quality of its products. If GAP, is very
proactive in sourcing production from underdependent areas lke Lesotho, a Sub-Saharan
African Kingdom, to be able to make them independent, it must ensure that the quality of
products is maintained, otherwise it can lead to huge drops in sales and consumers shifting to
other brands.
The moral universalist approach without falling victim to moral relativism is by doing
exactly what GAP had done. It associated itself with a global name (RED) products supported
by Global Fund Programs. The renowned NGO also hence becomes equally responsible in
the CSR initiative of GAP. Also if the initiative of RED products are questioned, all partners
(44 in total) will have to answer if together reducing the burden on just one brand.
50
Answer 3
Any social campaign, if implemented at the right time and in a right way can never go wrong.
Measuring disadvantage can be difficult. For instance, a company may lose a chunk of their
profit but gain a lifelong reputation. The intent of your CSR initiative matters the most. It
cant be just strategic, for the initiative to succeed but must be genuine.
Moral universalism is difficult to achieve as there universal rule for what is right or wrong.
For example, slavery is considered in different countries yet accepted worldwide. Morality
depends on standards and personal authorities. Another example is that of Chinese electronics
industry which has multiple jobs but in being regarded as one of the most brutal and unethical
industry when it comes to labour conditions. Disadvantage can also be related to the moral
approach might have different reactions in different parts of the world. As globalization
comes into picture for many companies, a product which is highly accepted or preferred in
one country may be prohibited in another due to moral irregularities.
Corporate social responsibility is measurable yet can have an intangible impact. Universal
moral are possible and can be used to have a beneficial impact globally. For example,
fighting against frauds which is universally unaccepted whereas anything based on sexual
orientation can be very different.
51
Answer 4
Like the tip of the iceberg, intentions behind most of the CSR activities by corporations are
barely visible to the outside world. It is often an active attempt to increase corporate
domination by promoting their agendas. Lot of companies have committed themselves to
socially responsible ideals without focusing on proper execution making the CSR projects
unsustainable. When a company does not align the stated objectives of CSR with its vision
and mission, its highly probable that the stakeholders would not appreciate the quantum of
resources that went into it. Stakeholders become skeptic about the CSR under the impression
that efforts are one off. CSR need to be built in such a way that it is self-sustaining and
create social benefits over an extended period of time. To take an example, GAP involves
itself in ethical trade, but need to ensure that this process will not end up as a loss in the
balance sheet at the end of the year. It can look at changing its value proposition as such by
making the world realize about the opportunities it is creating for the disadvantaged through
initiatives like training and employment of local people.
There is no proper way to follow a moral universalist approach, since it is not objective and
it is always susceptible to criticisms. The best one can do is to refrain itself from directly /
indirectly damaging its competitors drawing attention to itself unlike what GAP has done in
its ad campaign. Also it is always better for the company as such to have a specific moral
outlook which is uniform across all functions and products of the company. Here, only the
RED products of the company delivered the CSR initiative while the others did not. Media
often pickup loopholes like this and make the entire CSR efforts futile. So the mantra should
be to keep the message of the company simple, transparent and clear while having a 360
degree view of the impacts
52
Question: Can you think of other examples of cause marketing? Which were successful
and which were not? Why? How is success defined?
53

WAC Assignment - GAP-RED Case Study

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Read this document in other languages

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

WAC Assignment - GAP-RED Case Study

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Question: Why would some argue that the Gap exemplifies an ethical organization?

Why would others disagree?

Question: What might be a better ad campaign?

Question: What might be a better ad campaign?

Question: What might be a better ad campaign?

Question: What might be a better ad campaign?

Question: What might be a better ad campaign?

You might also like