Reklambyråer & Samhällsansvar
en studie av reklambyråers förutsättningar för ett socialt ansvarstagande
Business and economicsCorporate social responsibilityAdvertising agencyEthicsCommunicationPeter Gustavsson.Ekonomi
Background: Research results show that the potential of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increased. That means there is a growing pressure on Swedish companies to act with responsibility: general public has a positive attitude towards companies that communicate their CSR. Advertising agencies have been criticized by their way to manage the question of social responsibility. One of the characteristics of an advertising agency is their anonymity; even though their products are extremely visible, it is rarely clear who gave rise to an advertising production. If this is put in relation to CSR in general, we find ourselves in a contradictory situation when CSR in many cases is about exposure of the responsible corporation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain whether CSR can be applied to advertising agencies, by describing in which way their conditions limit respectively make possible to run business in terms of CSR. Research Method: The thesis has a qualitative approach, and the empirical data is in large parts based on personal interviews, where the interviewees represent Swedish advertising agencies. Result: We have identified a number of limitations and possibilities related to advertising agencies concerning CSR. Principally limits are that the advertising industry by tradition does not sanction responsibility in this matter, that professionals belittle the social effect by their own business but recognize the impact of advertising productions taken all together. Finally, efficient advertising and customer satisfaction are top priority concerns: ethics may have to step aside due to these matters. On the other hand, there are several aspects to suggest that CSR is to be applied on agencies: the surrounding world is an important matter to agency activities. Our results show that the attention given an agency in factual can be used in characteristics of CSR: the professionals have the opportunity to choose how and what to produce.