Walk the walk you talk (and design)

Determining exactly how socially responsible a company is can be tricky. Do they really have a soul or do they just throw a few million towards a couple charities every year to distract consumers from how much product they import from poor countries or the low wages they pay their non-unionized work force? I’m guessing that in most cases, particularly if it’s a global company, corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies fall into the latter category.

However, there are a handful of organizations that don’t treat CSR as an afterthought or a safety net. I found a lot of great examples of innovative companies that built socially responsible principles and policies into their primary business plan. A lot of the time this tactic pays off and makes a company a success because a) talented people want to work for a company with sound ethics, and b) consumers want to feel good about what they buy and are willing to pay a bit more to support a company that isn’t evil. For designers or anyone remotely involved with corporate communications, reason a really rings true. Everyone knows the phrase that goes something like, “If you want to walk the walk, you better talk the talk”. Well, it’s a lot easier to design convincing and beautiful ‘talk’ when the subject has the ‘walk’ to back it up.

Here are two examples of businesses I would love to work for one day simply based on their CSR policies and ethics:

The Body Shop:

Founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick, The Body Shop is a pioneer in socially responsible practices. It was one of the first beauty product manufacturers to speak out against animal testing and continues to do so today along with employing environmentally sustainable packaging processes and supporting community or fair trade production practices.

In addition, they head non-beauty-product-related social awareness campaigns every year that range in topics from child trafficking, domestic violence and HIV prevention. They also founded the Body Shop Foundation which to date has distributed £12.5 million in grants to fund global projects for social and environmental change.

Toms:

Founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, the mission of Toms Shoes is simple: with every pair purchased by us, they give a new pair to a child in need. They have incorporated giving into the foundation of their company and have started what they call a One for One Movement.

Since September 2010, Toms has given away 1 million pairs to children in 23 countries. Though the products available on their website come in all styles and colors, the shoes given to children are specially designed to be worn in that region’s environment. Each kid receives a new pair every six months to make sure they don’t grow out of them. The shoes are produced in Argentina, Ethiopia and China in third-party audited factories that pay fair wages and don’t use child labor.



Resources:
http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/_en/_gb/index.aspx
http://www.tomsshoes.co.uk/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/12/8-revolutionary-socially_n_679832.html#s123215&title=Seventh_Generation