Life is Good: An Exloration of Compassionate Marketing

Consumers spend more on socially responsible products and services than ever before (Laroche, Bergeron, and Barbaro-Forleo 2001). The recent boom in such products and services is fueled by a reciprocal relationship between consumers and corporations: consumers expect, and reward, a greater degree of ethics and socially responsible (CSR) from corporations thus reinforcing firms’ commitment to engaging in these practices (Harrison 2003). Such practices, embodying “corporate compassion,” may serve as strategies designed to garner consumers’ commitment to certain brands of products, and consumers with a high degree of belief in the corporation’s products/ service and compassion-related goals may serve as the corporation’s informal ‘marketers.’