When Profit Equals Price: Consumer Confusion about Donation Amounts in Cause-Related Marketing

Olsen, G. Douglas; Pracejus, John W.; Brown, Norman

doi:10.1509/jppm.22.2.170.17641

Cited by 137 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The mismatch between the donation offered by the firm and the consumers' perception of the amount actually donated is well supported by several empirical investigations (Olsen et al, 2003; and anecdotal or case studies evidence (Horne, 2013;Dadush, 2010;Stole, 2008). Using a web search, Olsen et al (2003) found that on 3414 websites with a cause-related campaign, about 70% of the formats was completely abstract in nature, 25.6% of the formats was estimable, and only 4.5% was calculable.…”

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confidence: 92%

“…Using a web search, Olsen et al (2003) found that on 3414 websites with a cause-related campaign, about 70% of the formats was completely abstract in nature, 25.6% of the formats was estimable, and only 4.5% was calculable. A cap on donations also contributes to the vagueness of the donation as stressed in several contributions.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In fact, Olsen et al (2003) According to , when the claim states "a portion of the proceeds will be donated…" consumers' estimates of donation varied between $0 and $25 for a hypothetical $49.98 product and between $0 and $300 for a hypothetical $499.98 product (see also Horne, 2013 (Harvey and Strahilevitz, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Cause-related marketing of products with a negative externality

Grolleau

Ibanez

Lavoie

2016

Journal of Business Research

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Firms increasingly develop partnerships with non-profit organizations (NPO) to support a cause and improve their corporate image. This type of Corporate Social Responsibility, called Cause-Related Marketing, commits firms to fund associations that encourage environmental protection, international development, and other causes by donating part of their profits. In this article, we argue that when cause-related marketing is applied to products with a negative externality, these a priori win-win arrangements can generate adverse and unexpected effects. We consider a vertical differentiation model integrating two assumptions. First, consumers may perceive the firm's contribution to be higher than the actual donation. Second, consumers who value highly socially responsible behavior may prefer not to consume rather than consuming products that aren't socially responsible. In this set-up we identify several possible counter-productive effects such as the likelihood of increase of the externality and the crowding out of direct contributions. We also draw policy and managerial implications.

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confidence: 92%

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confidence: 99%

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Cause-related marketing of products with a negative externality

Grolleau

Ibanez

Lavoie

2016

Journal of Business Research

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“…In addition to the elements mentioned by Webb and Mohr (1998) structural campaign elements include the non-profit partner (and strategic fit between the partners) (Hamlin and Wilson, 2004), the time-frame of the campaign, the strategic or tactical orientation of the campaign, the geographic parameters of the campaign, and the manner in which the donation amount is communicated (Varadarajan and Menon, 1988). Aspects such as price-donation relations, computational bias and estimation error are also relevant (Subrahmanyan, 2004;Olsen, Pracejus and Brown, 2003). Grau and Folse (2007) acknowledged that some research was emerging in the area of cause-related marketing structural elements and emphasized the importance of further studies.…”

Section: Cause-related Marketing Communication Framing and Structurmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cause-Related Marketing in South Africa: The Influence of Structural Campaign Elements

Human¹,

Terblanché²

2014

Proceedings of the 2009 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference

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Consumer insights about cause-related marketing in South Africa and the influence of structural campaign elements on consumer decision-making is investigated by means of qualitative research. The study confirms consumer preference for cause-related marketing campaigns and provides findings about structural campaign elements, trust, guilt, charitable giving, demographics and other important factors.

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“…The typical delivery pattern for CRM can be divided into two forms: conventional and social alliance (see Table I for summaries and examples). The conventional delivery pattern refers to a company directly addressing the social issue Olsen et al (2003), Strahilevitz and Myers (1998) Samu and Wymer (2009), Drumwright (1996) Lafferty and Browning (1993), Peterson (2004a, b) Example (conventional delivery pattern) a…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%