Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing What is Right or a Public Facade?

 by Sunaida Islam

Before the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts set foot in the corporate world, many large clothing brands have been successful in attracting wide media-coverage for championing ethical business practices, undertaking philanthropic activities in developing nations, and striving to establish a positive social blueprint in the communities they operate within. However, much of the credibility of their words versus actions have become subject to public scrutiny since the onset of the outbreak. This is the story of how a virus is unmasking the true colours of some of the big players who, over the years, have dissimulated their self-driven corporate motives in the name of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The virus-fuelled worldwide recession has led to dwindling demands in almost all industries, and the garment sector has been no exception. As a response of having to adjust to the ‘new normal’, some of the major well-known apparel chains (e.g. GAP, Primark) decided to dishonour their supplier-contracts in Bangladesh worth $3-billion, leaving the factory-owners and 2.27million garment-workers in dire straits. A survey conducted by PennState University’s Centre for Global Workers’ Rights found that 98.1% of the buyers refused to pay partial wages of furloughed factory-staff, set by the law. Although some brands such as H&M and Walmart did agree to pay-up, they have made it contingent to strict delivery dates which have necessitated factories to reopen at a time when coronavirus cases in the country have been skyrocketing.

These self-proclaimed “socially conscious” businesses have contradicted themselves and created a dichotomy between their past and present actions as these new challenges have emerged with the pandemic. As Frankental (2001) concluded, until the paradoxes inherent in CSR-model (e.g. procedures of corporate governance, lack of proper definition, market-rewards, etc.) are addressed, CSR is/will be commonly used by businesses to fine-tune their shareholder-value, and can label as a ‘PR-invention’.