Corporate Social Responsibility- A farce

Awwwww…it’s so touching, a leading oil company is SHELLing out $150 million a year for the betterment of an African tribe. Here’s the fine print, they make over $3 billion from that region in oil reserves. Also, the only reason they are carrying out this so-called act of social- responsibility (pun, totally intended) is because they are getting a spanking from Green Peace.

The above example is one of the myriad of the latest debacle known as Corporate Social Responsibility. Its ubiquitously known that corporate exist for profit & business, any & every act is some way or the other related to improving their image. One won’t go too far by saying that it’s all for appearance sake. Today, leading conglomerates want to ensure that they uphold a pristine image in all the aspects of human development. They are already leaders or well on the way of becoming one in their respective businesses, but in addition they also cast a sideway glance for the betterment of the less- fortunate fellow man.

Scope this.

A leading IT firm’s CSR club wants to plant a few trees as part of their green initiative, so what do they do? They hire a couple of SUVs (air- conditioned nonetheless) & go & plant some saplings & enjoy a hearty lunch with their colleagues. Talk about reducing your carbon footprint? The same club wants to visit an old age home & show that they care for the older generations. So they do that- On a Sunday afternoon, when they poor old folks want to rest after a hearty lunch. Instead of helping them out, the point of the entire trip was a photo- shoot! Bravo, I wonder what these guys plan to do next? On the pretext of a CSR initiative, rent a private jet to attend the next Kyoto convention?

A new facet has come up amongst the younger generation for contributing to similar drama, increasing the scope of their repertoire in their CV. They can boast that by participating in such endeavors, they can impress prospective college committees on their “social-responsibility-quotient”. Trust me, I had the audacity of mentioning this point because I saw this first hand done by a chick.

So this is the future we are shaping for our children, one constructed with elaborate lies & ploys. We are not claiming that don’t carry out such activities. It’s nice to help the less fortunate, but at least don’t make a mockery out of it.

If on one side, we got such miscreants; on the other we have descent leading organizations that have launched global green initiatives & spend a pretty penny implementing them. True social responsibility starts with an individual, it’s not imposed by the brand they work for. There are countless ‘guardian angels’ out there that have made the world a better place to live & work for. An organization’s CSR initiatives are made up of people who truly believe in returning to society for what they received.

Else, they just become a subject of ‘controversial debate’ by third- persons.