The New Age of Corporate Social Advocacy

In last week’s video, we posed the question: is the word “democracy” now a polarizing term?

Just a few years ago, an executive saying or a company posting on their social account something like, “It’s great to live in the U.S., a democracy with free and fair elections,” would elicit a ho-hum response — if any acknowledgment at all.

But nowadays, we communicators have to think extra carefully about who such a message would come from, what the context is, and whether it’s even appropriate at all.

This brings us to this week’s topic: reintroducing a concept we’ve mentioned previously, corporate social advocacy, or CSA.

At a recent presentation, Dr. Luke Capizzo, who’s an assistant professor at Michigan State University’s Advertising and PR department, shared this definition of CSA:

“The act of an organization taking a stance on a controversial socio-political issue. CSA efforts are distinct from CSR programs in that they…

• (1) often focus on areas and issues not directly relevant to a company’s business and
• (2) are known to be polarizing or contentious for at least some organizational stakeholders.”

So, with that in mind, is talking about government and election fundamentals now considered leaning into CSA?

There’s certainly a sound argument for that, yes.

So, as we head into the final days before the presidential election here in the U.S., it’s a good time to dust off your company’s or clients’ CSA infrastructure.

There are several models out there, including a great one from Pfizer’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Sally Susman, published in her “Breaking Through” book.

There are a few core concepts that all of these frameworks have in common:

Whether the issue or news at hand that you’re considering saying something about ties back to your corporate values.

Whether it’s important to or impacts your key stakeholders, including employees.

And whether you have a realistic opportunity to make an impact of some kind.

So, our recommendation?

As part of your scenario planning for this election season and any potential aftermath, establish a CSA framework if you don’t have one already, and educate your decision makers about what it is.

Then, consider VERY deliberately which stances or statements maybe once were not but now MAY be a form of corporate social advocacy.