AMY O ’CONNOR and ALICIA E . PHILLIPS

NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITYUSA

CSR in COMMUNICATION CONFERENCEAMSTERDAM, 2011

A consumption conundrum: Millennials perceptions of pink

ribbons

• A macro - leve l exp lanat ion o f NGO -corporate a l l i ances .

• NGO -corporate a l l i ances as be ing cons t i tuted and made meaningfu l through communicat ion

• Through communicat ion cer ta in a l l i ance partnerships are g iven pr imacy

Symbiotic Sustainability Model

(Shumate & O’Connor,2010, Journal of Communication)

Propos i t ion 1 : The ex i s tence , character, and va luat ion o f NGO -corporate a l l i ances

i s communicat i ve ly co -constructed by a l l i ance partners and s takeho lders

Propos i t ion 4 : As the number o f c ross -sec tor a l l i ance partners increases , the

communicat ion o f such a l l i ances resul ts in a d iminish ing re turn f rom s takeho lders ;

converse ly the communicat ion o f a l imi ted number o f a l l i ances increases percept ions

o f va lue .

Propositions 1 & 4

Background

RQ1: How do Mi l l ennia l s perce ive the number o f a l l i ance partners communicated by SGK?

RQ2: How do Mi l lennia l s ass ign meaning to the ex i s tence , character, and va luat ion o f the a l l i ance

partnerships communicated by SGK?

Research Questions

1 . P ink fat igue conundrum

“That ’ s the prob lem wi th market ing soc ia l causes l ike commodi t ies ; we s tar t t reat ing

them l ike products ins tead o f people ’s l i ves” (L i l y )

and

“ I l i ke see ing the p ink r ibbon products because I th ink i t does he lp…but I don ’ t agree how SGK has cornered the breast

cancer market” (E l i zabeth)

FINDINGS:Number of partners

2. Success and dominat ion

“SGK i s turning into the Wal -mart o f nonprofits . They ’ re everywhere” (Dexter)

3 . A few, good partners

“Having hundreds o f par tners means you can reach more people . .but they may not

be o f the same qual i ty ” (Fred)

Number of Partners

1. A des i re for c lear and complete financia l d i sc losure

“ I f I can ’ t find how much money i s be ing donated I fee l l ike they ( the

corporat ion) i s t ry ing to h ide something” (Wi l l i am)

FINDINGS: Alliance character & value

2 . Commitment & Congruency

“ I had a prob lem wi th Kentucky f r ied ch icken partner ing wi th SGK. L ike when i s i t okay to undermine card iovascular hea l th

in order to promote breast cancer awareness?”

1. AS THE NUMBER OF ALLIANCE PARNTERS COMMUNICATED INCREASES PERCEPTIONS OF ALLIANCE VALUE AND

CHARACTER DECLINES

2. SGK’S PLACE OF CENTRALITY WITHIN ITS SOCIAL ISSUE INDUSTRY HAS

RESULTED IN CONFUSION OVER ITS EFFORTS

3. THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE VALUE AND CHARACTER OF THE ALLIANCE

RESTS WITH THE NGO

Summary