In its 2012 publication, New Urban Tribes of South Africa, Flux Trends tracked the rise of the techno hippie: the new age activist who galvanizes change from the comfort of his/her laptop (like the thousands who assisted Molly Katchpole in her fight against The Bank of America on change.org). However, in 2013, philanthropic feistiness starts to fade into a fatigue. Clicking for a cause, whether for a campaign page, vote, or petition, is no longer a novelty, but is beginning to feel like a chore.
This means that charitable crowd sourcing initiatives, like Pepsi Refresh, which tries to bring a moral, socially aware element into a brand, are becoming passé. More importantly, the idea of the armchair advocate also heightens suspicion for consumers about the extent to which a company’s do-gooding is ‘pseudo-gooding’. Increasingly, brands will be under even greater pressure to convince its ever-cynical customers of its empathy levels. For companies it means their CSI talk must be reflected in the entire company’s DNA – from the CEO to the cleaning staff. For petitioned weary consumers it could spark a dangerous disengagement with fixing the growing problems of the world.
Dion Chang in conversation with BizRadio’s Grant Jansen
PODCAST | Click HERE to listen
@madammichelle thank you. Hope you enjoy all my upcoming columns for @advantagemag as much
— dion chang (@dionchang) February 6, 2013
Join Grant Jansen (@Kapetonian) every weekday morning from 10 to noon for the Daily Biz on Biz Radio. Stay in touch with Grant at @Biz_Radio on twitter, Biz_radio on Skype and [email protected] to mail him.
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