‘’Doing well by doing good’’ How businesses use social issues as marketing tool

Gucci is widely recognized as one of the most influential luxury fashion brands on earth. The brand is progressive and could be classified as social activist. This socially engaged profile appeals to the contemporary consumer, who increasingly values morally sound conduct. Companies like Gucci use cause-related marketing campaigns to moralize themselves, campaigns which heavily appeal to the consumers’ emotion. This thesis examines the relationship which moralization and cause-related marketing have with social issues, like the inclusion of minorities or LGBT+ rights. Previous academic work has questioned the use of cause-related marketing and moralizing values, as they could exploit the emotions of consumers. Additionally, cause-related marketing campaigns often depict the pain and anguish of the Other – another questionable practice, according to scholarship. Gucci makes use of all these aforementioned theories and concepts: it markets itself as morally acceptable, by infusing its communication with values of progression and social justice. Therefore, research question which this paper answers is how does Gucci construct and communicate about ‘achieving change’? This paper unravels Gucci communication and how it is crafted: which messages are sent and how does this relate to scholarship. This is examined by using a qualitative thematic analysis on two of Gucci’s online platforms: CHIME FOR CHANGE and Gucci Equilibrium. In total, 40 webpages are studied, 20 of either platform. In total, 40 texts and 148 images are examined in this paper. The results indicate that Gucci wants to be seen as morally superior to competitors in the industry. Being morally acceptable is part of their marketing plan, which they achieve by taking an activist stance towards social issues. They foster empowerment, advocate for minorities and want a diverse corporate culture – fostering progression and social change seems evident. However, the thesis also reveals serious worries regarding Gucci’s communication, which correlates with literature about marketing and distant suffering. Firstly, evidence emerges which questioned Gucci’s honest intentions about progression. It highlights a commonly heard critique regarding marketing, its manipulative characteristics. ‘Doing good’ might merely be a tool to increase profitability. Secondly, the inclusion of suffering in marketing practices is questionable, as it exploits those witnessing pain, and those in pain. This paper highlights the dangers or causerelated marketing, and how moralisation and the inclusion of social values might damage charities. Currently, there are little to no papers which examine the relationship between marketing and distant suffering, a spectacle which this paper investigated. The thesis shares new insights into marketing’s relationship with pain and other emotions, an affiliation which still needs further investigation – especially after his inquiry.