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Graham and Pence-Brown courageously presented
themselves as content to counteract a tangible social
issue; one that negatively affects young girls and
woman on a day-to-day basis. Tiegs, on the other
hand, defended the received “thin as ideal” point-of-
view while perpetuating the body ideal debate; one
that she was an active participant in during her time
as a model.
Social media has given a real voice to the efforts of
Graham and Pence-Brown. As of May 2016, Graham
has more than 1.7 million followers on Instagram alone
– a single social channel; no doubt boosted by all the
support from Sports Illustrated and corresponding
coverage she received following her Swimsuit Issue
debut. Compared to Graham, Pence-Brown’s
Instagram audience is significantly smaller at only
2,647 followers. However, her video was viewed on
Vimeo over 920,000 times and subsequently covered
in national print publications such as People Magazine.
1.7 million followers 2,647 followers
These two examples serve as a bold reminder and
shed light on the power and influence media has on
us on a daily basis. Here, the topic is body ideals,
specifically as to how it relates to women– and
women positing distinct and disparate opinions with
what our culture portends to be the “ideal” body type
– using the image of a Barbie doll as the ideal – as
well as the point-of-view for those who are not “ideal”
or plus-sized. However, my intent is not to establish
a point of view on beauty, body type ideals or female
empowerment topics. But rather, my intent is to take
a close look at several case studies to establish a
perspective of how marketers view and can embrace
their social responsibility as they endeavor to achieve
their fiduciary responsibility to their employers/clients;
while using the topics beauty, body ideals and female
empowerment as a social platform to do so.
Within every social issue exists the opportunity for a
person or entity to make a positive impact by focusing
on social good. For marketers, the opportunities
represent a new frontier for increasing connections
with the communities they serve: their consumers.
There seems to be varying levels of understanding
and commitment to the cultural and social roles,
responsibilities and impacts relative to their marketing
and positioning of their brand, product or service.
The goal of the paper is to illuminate the potential for
social good and its potential for value creation, and,
in the case of this paper to challenge decades-old,
beauty-related marketing practice that contributed
to the social issue. In the case studies to follow are
examples of how marketers have taken a social
issue with devastating outcomes to a community
largely unaware of the challenges levied on them at
a young age. However, as they get older, and as their
awareness levels of the issue(s) increase, often times
important values such as self-esteem, confidence and
empowerment are stripped away.
This is a unique approach to marketing. These
companies and their respective brands have made
a conscious choice to connect their vital-to-business
marketing strategy and approach – shifting them
from a traditional marketing focus – to a strategy
that includes cultural marketing. Cultural marketing
addresses social issues at the core of the communities
the marketers serve. And, because these marketers
have shifted their focus, they have been able to
develop campaigns targeting community members
who are willing to engage, participate with and,
ultimately, further the brand’s messaging because of
the cultural insights they have chosen to affect.
In doing so, cultural marketers are positioning their
brands well within normative social and cultural
boundaries. But they are doing so in a way – based on
consumer behavior and cultural insights – that creates
a highly affective point of impact in the minds of the
audiences targeted, and even extends messaging
into actual social programming.
At the other extreme, brands that are pushing
messaging beyond widely-accepted, normative cultural
boundaries are influencing young girls and women
into a place where low-esteem is commonplace,
where the non-perfect body diminishes their value as
a human, and where doing something “like a girl” –
their gender, the very way you were born – is wrong,
is not good. Although this may be a good example of
unintended consequences in this space, there is no
explanation of how these culture-marginalizing brands
are making a positive impact on their community.
The purpose of this paper is to explore how successful
brands, social constructs of sorts, have strategically
integrated their messaging into the marketing and
media-based communication channels to participate
in consumer culture while also affecting social
issues, principles and responsibilities. In an effort to
demonstrate this integration, I will introduce and review
several brand cases that have explicitly challenged
the marketing strategy of creating, introducing and
encouraging culture shifting trends beyond accepted
boundaries; specifically brands that are targeting
women of any age, and especially younger women,
and their perceptions of beauty, body ideals, self-
acceptance, empowerment and position in society.
Based on this review, I will present several best
practices in which marketers can engage to ensure
that their brands are positioned in a way to sustain
and promote socially responsible principles while
also staying true to their brand’s business objectives,
allowing them to build deeper, long-term relationships
– in marketing lingo known as brand loyalty – with
their consumers. In doing so, marketing will continue
to serve its valuable role in the consumer culture while
fulfilling a vested responsibility to the communities
and consumer audiences it serves. So, through a
combined lens of marketing, cultural sustainability
and social responsibility, these best practices will
be presented as a guide for companies that seek to
promote their brands in a socially responsible manner,
thus making a positive impact on the communities
and cultures they serve.
Connecting Strategic Marketing and
Social Responsibility
Graham Pence-Brown
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