The Detrimental Effect of Cause-Related Marketing Parodies

Abstract

Cause-related marketing (CrM), defined as a firm's communication activities designed to promote a consumer good or service by including an offer to contribute a specified amount to a designated nonprofit cause, has become a preponderant practice. In tandem with the development of CrM activities, criticism of CrM has increased; critics note that some CrM claims mislead consumers regarding their purchases' donative impact. Critics such as consumers and nonprofit advocates are using ad parodies, noncommercial messages that mimic an actual advertisement. In this context, the study investigates how these ad parodies can result in a detrimental impact on consumers' perceptual and behavioral evaluations of the sponsoring brand. By implementing a tightly controlled experiment comparing actual CrM campaigns and CrM parodies, the author shows that the detrimental effects of CrM parodies on brand attitude and word-of-mouth valence can be explained by greater skepticism toward the firm's sincere and altruistic motivations. In addition, the author shows that a robust asymmetry emerges in which CrM ad parodies damage perceptual and behavioral evaluations of brands more than actual CrM campaigns improve them. The authors replicate the results for two kinds of critics and two types of brands. The results provide useful implications for theory and practice, documenting the backfire effect of poorly designed CrM, which may urge brands to move toward more self-regulation of CrM practices.

Attribution and Effectiveness of Cause-Related Marketing: The Interplay between Cause–Brand Fit and Corporate Reputation

“…In this way, value-driven motives are known to be more conducive to positive consumer evaluations and purchase behavior, finally leading to success of the CRM efforts [35]. Similarly, previous studies also identified a high cause-brand fit as a precursor to positive motive attribution [30,47]. On the other hand, this result indicated that consumers had simpler attributions for the CRM programs with high cause-brand fit.…”

“…Previous research has discussed the role of inferred motives in affecting consumer evaluation of the company and intention to participate in the CRM campaign [15]. However, the majority of this research into how individuals attribute firm motives has primarily focused on two opposing constructs-namely, benefit to those external to the firm (i.e., altruistic, or other-centered) versus benefit to the firm itself (i.e., egoistic, or self-centered) [29,30,44]. Hemingway and Maclagan (2004) [77] added complexity by classifying a third attributable motive where firms meet societal expectations and stakeholder expectations (i.e., stakeholder-driven).…”

The impact of the macro-environment on consumer scepticism towards cause-related marketing

“…Specifically, according to Gupta and Pirsch (2006), the level of scepticism about company’s CRM motives among studied population did not significantly influence the effect of consumers’ attitude towards brand-cause fit on consumer’s purchase intention. Similarly, Sabri (2018) demonstrated that scepticism mediates the relationship between CRM ad parodies and brand attitude and word of mouth but not purchase intention. This finding of the influence of scepticism still shows a positive link of scepticism and consumer behavioural responses.…”

Zero Waste Management and Circular Economy

“…The effectiveness of management, in addition to substantive competences, i.e., professional knowledge and experience, also depends on the implementation of "soft" areas, i.e., having communication skills, emotional intelligence or openness (Czarnecka, Albrychiewicz-Słocińska 2018, pp. [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. Only such a manager is convincing in the role of a mentor who gives work meaning to others.…”