Beware False Profits

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The term corporate social responsibility (CSR) now appears regularly in corporate publications.  Is this because those big nasties have suddenly felt bad about polluting the earth for their own profits?  Have they, like Ebenezer Scrooge, had ghostly visits which showed them the effects of their mean employment practices?  Have they really gone all soft and cuddly overnight?  Sad to say, the answer is ‘no’.  Profit is and always will be the only bottom line for corporations.  A corporation can be richer than whole countries but, under company law, can enjoy many of the rights that we enjoy as individuals.  In fact, in many cases, they enjoy more rights and certainly more tax breaks.

Profit is and always will be the only bottom line for corporations

The reason McDonald’s has launched a huge campaign to tell us that it is a great employer is because of the damage being done to its rapidly-tarnishing reputation by the existence of the term ‘McJob’ in modern language and even some dictionaries.  In-store posters advise us that McD’s is a great place to work.  A place where you can enjoy lots of flexibility, unless, of course, you want to join a union (you can’t) or work there if you’re over forty (highly discouraged as long-term or older employees means expensive benefit payments).  Silly burgers.

BP advertises regularly in the left-leaning New Statesman magazine, eagerly attempting to convince readers of its eco-friendly qualities while making obscene levels of profit at the expense of the natural world and many local communities whose governments are more than willing to take BP’s money while restraining any local protests.  Have a look at Friends of the Earth’s report on BP.

In some companies, people are starting to believe their own spin.  While discussing the TV show The Apprentice over lunch last week, one lady was really upset by my assertion that corporations are all about profit.  She began enthusing about her company’s ethical and environmental policies, thoroughly convinced that it was all done out of the kindness of the corporation’s heart.  Blessed are the naïve, for they shall believe absolutely anything!

CUTE & CUDDLY MEANS HIGHER PROFITS

There are two obvious reasons why companies seem obsessed with CSR and many employ whole departments to sell their cuddly message.  Firstly, they have a legal obligation to do so.  For example, companies listed on the London Stock Exchange have to report on such matters as environmental policies and employment practices.  Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, many members of the public (which includes the same companies’ customers and shareholders) want to soothe their consciences by dealing with companies which they consider to be kind employers and environmentally-friendly.  And if the companies don’t change?  Then sales will tumble and so will profits!

Few people believe that Nestle applied for - and controversially received - the fair trade mark for one of its coffee brands because they think that ‘johnny foreigner’ deserves a bit more pay.  They did it because of consumer demand.  To increase sales.  To increase profits.

Monetarist Milton Friedman, Mrs Thatcher’s financial guru and inspiration for much of her government’s disastrous economic policy, is probably one of the most honest men to have spoken about the purpose of corporations.  He said, “few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible.”

UNCOVERING THEIR DIRTY DEEDS

McDonald’s will not be running a poster campaign about its anti-union policy.  BP’s website will not be publishing pictures of ruined natural habitats or relocated communities.  In their annual reports, supermarkets will not be detailing the number of British farmers going out of business or committing suicide each year.  Why not?  Because it would hurt their profits and because they don’t have to. 

The corporations have huge sums of money at their disposal to sell us the kind face of their businesses and to sue anyone who dares contradict them.  What about the mainstream press?  Well, they live on advertising revenues from the very same companies and none of them are brave enough to bite the dirty hands that feed them.  This is the reason why the Independent will present itself as the defender of the planet while offering cheap flight tickets to its readers.

Those who have the front to take on such lies include websites like Corporate Watch and Schnews, written by skint people with no financial gain to be made from the David v Goliath struggle.  Read them, support them and act on what you learn because ever-increasing corporate profits come with a huge price for people and planet.

ARE THERE ANY ALTERNATIVES?

Co-operatives, like corporations, need to be profitable, but they don’t have to feed the ever-increasing greed of their executives and shareholders.  They’re owned by their members and can choose to benefit their employees and their local communities.  More on co-operatives in a future article but check out your local co-operative and spot the difference.  It shouldn’t be too hard.

This article was prepared to a soundtrack of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the Kings of Leon.  Oh yes, and to the distant sound of trees falling, small shops closing and fat cats washing in the only way they know how.