Purpose

It is an arduous process for corporations to determine if social action advertising is a complementary fit with their respective brands. This study aims to explore opportunities and disadvantages when brands consider cause-related partnerships as part of their overall marketing strategy. There are motivators and detractors related to social actions promoted by brands. It is essential for organizations, institutions and corporations to better understand if, or when, to use advertising that contributes to the social good.

Design/methodology/approach

Phase one of the study was a qualitative analysis conducted through personal interviews. Coded passages from interviews were aggregated into themes, which later defined ten social action advertising measures. The second phase in the study was a quantitative analysis (N = 506) that tested consumer involvement with the social action advertisement “You Love Me.” The spot was designed for the Dr. Dre Beats brand, in response to the George Floyd murder in 2020.

Findings

Brands need to carefully examine their own histories, political associations and concern for all consumer segments, prior to evoking social change. Differentiations arising from political views and gender identity are discussed. Regressions indicate “social ads that use stereotypes” was the key significant predictor of emotional involvement. Consumers feeling “respected and represented in social action ads” was the key significant predictor of fact-based cognitive involvement. “Social action ads distorted through virtue signaling” were 38% more likely to effect brand purchase when consumers viewed the social action ad.

Research limitations/implications

This is a nonfunded research study. Respondents who participated in interviews, and those selected for data collection, were solicited through convenience and judgmental nonprobability sampling. These data are racially and financially biased. Seventy-six percent of respondents in the racial variable were white; 51% stated they were “wealthy and have a lot of assets.” Neither variable is representative of the general population. In the future, researchers should collect a nonbiased stratified probability sample that would more closely reflect the general population and consumer audience.

Originality/value

This paper builds on the recommendations of Farrukh et al. (2021) who call for more published research in the areas of human rights violations and social change. The results of this study represent a cautionary tale. Political dogma within a polarized society has created pressure for chief marketing officers to integrate political values into brand values. The risk of creating adversarial factions has created a risky environment for brand developers and strategists (Mahoney, 2022).

中文翻译：

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社会行动广告：以事业为导向的行为的激励因素和贬低因素

目的

对于企业来说，确定社会行动广告是否与其各自品牌相辅相成是一个艰巨的过程。本研究旨在探索当品牌将与事业相关的合作伙伴关系视为其整体营销策略的一部分时的机遇和劣势。与品牌推动的社会行为相关的激励因素和反对因素。组织、机构和公司必须更好地了解是否或何时使用有助于社会公益的广告。

设计/方法/途径

该研究的第一阶段是通过个人访谈进行的定性分析。来自采访的编码段落被汇总成主题，这些主题后来定义了十项社会行动广告措施。研究的第二阶段是定量分析 ( N = 506)，测试消费者对社会行动广告“你爱我”的参与程度。该广告是为 Dr. Dre Beats 品牌设计的，以回应 2020 年乔治·弗洛伊德 (George Floyd) 谋杀案。

发现

在引发社会变革之前，品牌需要仔细审视自己的历史、政治关联以及对所有消费者群体的关注。讨论了政治观点和性别认同引起的差异。回归表明“使用刻板印象的社交广告”是情绪参与的关键重要预测指标。消费者感觉“在社会行动广告中受到尊重和代表”是基于事实的认知参与的关键重要预测指标。当消费者观看社交行为广告时，“通过美德信号扭曲的社交行为广告”影响品牌购买的可能性高 38%。

研究局限性/影响

这是一项非资助研究。通过方便和判断性非概率抽样征集了参与访谈和被选中进行数据收集的受访者。这些数据存在种族和经济偏见。种族变量中 76% 的受访者是白人；51% 的人表示他们“富有并且拥有大量资产”。这两个变量都不能代表一般人群。将来，研究人员应该收集更能反映一般人群和消费者受众的无偏分层概率样本。

原创性/价值

本文基于 Farrukh等人的建议。(2021) 谁呼吁在侵犯人权和社会变革领域发表更多研究。这项研究的结果代表了一个警示故事。两极分化社会中的政治教条给首席营销官带来了将政治价值观融入品牌价值的压力。形成敌对派系的风险为品牌开发商和战略家创造了一个危险的环境（Mahoney，2022）。