Ken dumps Barbie over her aid in deforestation

Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is the consumer expectation for companies to think about people and the planet when conducting business. Companies meet this expectation through cause marketing, aligning with a cause to generate business and social benefits, or offering environmentally-friendly products. Some companies make false claims about their environmentally-friendly products. This is called greenwashing.


TerraChoice, an environmental marketing and consulting firm, defines greenwashing as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

Mattel’s Claims

Mattel, a self-proclaimed leading innovator in the toy industry, claimed in 2011 that the packaging for its Barbie products was 100% recyclable. Mattel also claimed that it was working with Amazon to “eliminate unnecessary additional packaging” in its products. Mattel requires that all third party manufacturers it works with have environmental programs in place to minimize the impact they have on the environment. Mattel also requires third party manufacturers to certify that their paper products (like for packaging) meet standards by excluding or limiting hazardous chemicals.

These claims help Mattel meet its corporate social responsibility expectation, but it has committed one of TerraChoice’s seven sins. The Sin of the Hidden Trade Off is “suggesting that a product is ‘green’ based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to other environmental issues.” None of Mattel’s packaging requirements state the brand must avoid trade with companies involved in deforestation.

FarmVille: anything but worth your virtual currency

Virtual Goods
Since my last blog post explaining virtual goods and my prior judgments on them, I held a trial run to experience them for myself. I chose to redeem my Zynga game card with FarmVille because it seems to be the most popular online game among my Facebook friends. After my trial run, I am now confident about all of my prior judgments on virtual currency and online gaming. I now associate the words confusing, slow, commercial, wasteful and frustrating with FarmVille.

Judging virtual goods by their cover

Virtual Goods

What are they? Why would you want a “virtual” good? Wouldn’t you want a tangible good? These were the questions popping up in my head as my social media professor announced we’d have to write a blog post about virtual goods.

Definition

Virtual goods enhance consumers’ online gaming experience. For example: Virtual goods may be used to purchase a tractor on FarmVille. Zynga, a leading social network game development company, owns many popular online games like FarmVille and CityVille. All Zynga games must be played through a social networking service (SNS) like Facebook. Redeemed for gaming currency on an SNS, gift cards may be purchased in various stores including Walmart. In addition to gift cards, Facebook and some of its games accept direct payments online.

Brands fear the social media revolution

Social Media Revolution

The increasing popularity and usage of social media is changing the ways brands and consumers are connecting. Whether it’s a direct message on Twitter or a comment of Facebook, relationships between brands and consumers are being created, maintained and strengthened because of social media.

According to the following “Social Media Revolution” video, 93 percent of marketers use social media for business. What about the other seven percent? Despite the positives of utilizing social media, one of the main reasons some brands are avoiding it is because of its power.

“Social Media Revolution” video showcases the power of social media.

Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics and the video’s creator, said brands don’t have a choice to use social media. “We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it,” he said.