The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to influence consumers and differentiate product offerings has become quite common. This research builds on the growing body of marketing literature through two investigations that manipulate consumers' perceptions of fit, motivation, and timing of corporate social initiatives embedded within promotions. We find that low-fit initiatives negatively impact consumer beliefs, attitudes, and intentions no matter what the firm's motivation, and that high-fit initiatives that are profit-motivated have the same impact. Further, consumers consider the timing (proactive versus reactive) of the social initiative as an informational cue, and only the high-fit, proactive initiatives led to an improvement in consumer beliefs, attitudes, and intentions.2

The corporate social responsibility literature has focused on creating broad associations, such as simply being "socially responsible," and on the simple transfer of positive affect from sponsored causes to sponsoring firms. Both views fail to recognize the power of social initiatives as a means for differentiating among socially responsible firms and, in particular, for reinforcing the brand's positioning. The authors adopt a more traditional branding perspective and show that the fit between a firm's specific associations and a sponsored cause can reinforce or blur the firm's positioning, influence liking for the sponsorship, and bolster or undermine the firm's equity. They also show that communications decisions can mitigate the negative effects of low fit. Finally, they show that sponsorship effects can persist for as long as a year despite day-to-day exposure to other brand communications.

This study examines the impact of marketing-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications on perceptions of the firm and its brands among consumers in two diverse cultures, economies, and political landscapes. The authors’ main hypotheses are based on global brand positioning theory, which posits that consumer perceptions are enhanced if the brand is viewed as global. In general, the results support the notion that multinational firms emphasizing global CSR efforts engender more positive perceptions across multiple dimensions. Yet regarding tactical issues, the results also show the importance of some specific needs according to local tastes and experiences. The authors provide implications for marketing theory and practice as well as future research directions.

This study examines differential effects of sponsorship levels (anchor, mid-tier, low-tier) and individual exposure levels on sponsorship recall accuracy in a field study, providing validity for lab studies indicating that individuals rely on prominence and relatedness heuristics when identifying sponsors of an event. Further, we examine differences in sponsorship recall accuracy dependent upon whether the response is subject to free recall vs. cued recall. The results indicate that free (or direct) recall is generally more accurate than cued recall that rely upon reconstructive processes, but that this effect differs based on the type of sponsor in terms of the sponsor's prominence and relatedness.

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