After World War II, indices were developed to show how advanced an economy was. The use of plastics was one indicator—and India scored poorly on that front. It didn’t use the level of fossil fuels that “advanced” economies did.
   India, these days, is having the last laugh. It has a growing middle class, it is nation-branding, and right now, its advertising industry has reformed enough to adopt corporate social responsibility as part of the messages it’s using for even some large multinationals.
   The cynics among us can ask how real CSR is, or if all this is merely lip service, but the fact remains that the Indian consumer is receptive to the concepts. In addition, India seems to have “mainstreamed” CSR, unlike the west, which still touches upon it.
   In India, Surf is the best known adopter of a CSR message in its marketing communications, encouraging the saving of water, rather than telling people that it washes whiter. In The Economic Times, Grey COO Ashutosh Khanna said, ‘Marketers … agree that communication to social environment by corporates has evolved as an effective advertising tool, more than a mere obligation.’
   It is a position I have maintained all along, whether in Beyond Branding or any of my other works, including Lucire. And if India is shown to be sincere—after all, its Infosys did win a Medinge Brand with a Conscience award—then I have to say advertising is another area where the nation is leaving the west well behind.

Del.icio.us tags: CSR | Branding | India | Social responsibility | Environment

Posted by Jack Yan, 08:47  permalink

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