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A View Into the use of Corporate Social Responsibility by Proctor & Gamble
MKT 654| Summer Session I
Executive Summary
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as voluntary actions, that is actions not
required by law, taken by a company “to further some social good, counter some social ill, or
address the externalities of their operating world.” Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is a company that
has shown its commitment to CSR throughout its history. Since its inception in 1837, P&G has
valued CSR as part of its business philosophy and launched numerous campaigns supporting
various topics of social good. P&G is an American multi-national consumer goods corporation
that primarily specializes in cleaning agents, personal care products, and hygienics products.
Although the P&G brand isn’t what is being promoted through most of its CSR campaigns, many
of its products or sub-brands have become synonymous with some social good.
The P&G CSR campaigns that this paper focuses on are Dawn Helps Save Wildlife
campaign, the Secret Stress Test: Raise campaign, and the P&G Shiksha campaign. The Dawn
campaign focused on P&G’s role in reversing harm being done to the environment. The Secret
campaign was meant to counter a social ill by addressing the wage gap between men and women
in the corporate world. Finally, P&G Shiksha is a campaign that focuses primarily on the access
to education for children in India. There are many other CSR campaigns that P&G has launched,
however, through these three major campaigns, P&G’s CSR success and criticism can be
highlighted. Most importantly, through these three campaigns, it can be highlighted how P&G’s
CSR actions has become a model that companies can follow.
Description of the Context
In 1837 candle maker, William Procter, and soap maker, James Gamble, joined forces
through the suggestion of their shared father-in-law Alexander Norris, to establish a joint soap
and candle business. While the two men originally led separate shops, Norris noted that they
were competing for the same necessary raw materials, and thus the Procter & Gamble company
was officially agreed upon on October 31.
Procter and Gamble realized the need for marketing and advertising and launched their
first advertisement in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette less than a year after their company’s
inception. The advertisement was for machine and lamp oil. This type of thinking and innovation
put the company’s worth at over one million by 1859, which is quite a success considering at the
time of P&G’s formation, there were six other candle and soap businesses in Cincinnati alone.
In 1879 they introduced the first product that continues to remain on the market today,
Ivory soap. This product was the catalyst for a true investment in mass-marketing. Ivory was also
P&G’s first step into corporate social responsibility, something that was not even relevant to the
current time. Ivory soap was marketed as a product that was fashioned upon purity, it was a
product that was not only reliable, but it was safe for the customer to use. "When you cannot
make pure goods and full weight, go to something else that is honest, even if it is breaking
stone,” said James Gamble. The company gained a reputation for their great business ethics,
stamping, “highest grade, honest weight,” on all P&G crates.
Beyond their product P&G recognized the need to do right by the city that supported
them. Their philanthropy led to the foundation of the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. When James
N. Gamble, son of James Gamble, wanted to assist the poor, he called upon noted teacher and
nurse, Isabella Thoburn, to come to the city with her team. They realized that there was need for
more medical attention, which led to the building of the Christ Hospital, quickly growing and
moving to Mt. Auburn in 1904, where it remained led by the Christ Hospital Association. As the
president of the Christ Hospital Association, James N. Gamble donated $1.5 million. Today it
remains one of the top 50 hospitals in the entire United States of America.
In 1915 James N. Gamble and William C. Procter desired to continue their philanthropic
actions and helped to form the first campaign for charities, coined the “community chest,”
raising $250,000. Today, employees of P&G honor their founders by being a large driving
support behind the United Way and were awarded The Spirit of America award as a company in
2012.
Throughout its history P&G continued to contribute to charities, champion gender and
racial equality in both hiring and advertising, and position their products as safe for the
consumer, and eventually, for the environment as well.
“Corporate social responsibility refers to voluntary actions-that is, actions not required by
law-that attempt to further some social good, counter some social ill, or address the externalities
of their operating world (Steenkamp, 2017, p.209).” P&G evidently one of the few companies
that have been committed to corporate social responsibility from the beginning, before the term
had even been coined. While at the time Proctor and Gamble found it necessary to simply help
the community and issues at hand. In today’s marketing environment, it is arguable that without
implementing some type of social corporate responsibility, market share will plummet.
In a study done by Cone Communications in 2017, it was found that 87 percent of
consumers were willing to buy a product from a company that supported a cause the consumer
believed in, and 76 percent of consumers would refuse to buy product from a company that
supports a belief the consumer is against. P&G’s advertising is especially effective at reflecting
their beliefs, and specifically the Dawn, Secret, and Shiksha campaigns all highlight different
needs through the world.
Approach Taken by the Company
Dawn
“Dawn cleans more than dishes.” Perhaps the most well-known P&G campaign is the
Dawn Helps Save Wildlife initiative. Unlike the start to most campaigns, P&G was approached
with the opportunity to donate cases of Dawn, rather than P&G conceiving the idea. The
Chevron company granted Alice Berkner of the International Bird Rescue Research Center a
loan which allowed the center to test multiple dish soaps, and when Dawn was found to be the
best at eliminating grease while remaining gentle enough for use on the animals, negotiations
were set in place that eventually resulted in P&G donating cases of Dawn to help save wildlife.
After the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 is when the brand became prominently
showcased in its part in saving the environment. P&G took the opportunity to formally spawn the
