When you wander through the grocery store, there are lots of
products that tie themselves to social causes.
The product will have a picture of the charity logo on the package, and
the company often states that a portion of the purchase price goes to support
the charity.
The idea here is that everybody wins. The company gets the benefit of showing that
it is socially responsible. The
purchaser gets to feel good about supporting a charity without having to pay
anything extra. The charity gets more
money to support its work.
An interesting paper in the July, 2011 issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology by
Ariadhna Krishna suggests that things might not be so rosy for the charity.
In a preliminary study, experimenters set up a booth on a
college campus. On some days, people
walking across campus were givent he chance to donate to the American Cancer
Society. On other days, participants
were given the chance to purchase a can of Red Bull for $2.50, and they were
told that $0.50 would be given to the charity.
They were also allowed to donate additional money. When only a donation was requested, about 80%
of the participants gave money, but when there was a chance to purchase a
drink, only about 20% of people gave money.
Even when including the amount of money that would be raised from the
sales of the Red Bull, the charity got more money overall when there was no
product for sale.
To explore this issue more carefully, the paper reports two
other studies. In these experiments, people
were given a budget of $100. They could
purchase a basket of products and could also choose to donate some of their
budget to a charity. To keep people
focused on the choice, one person received the products they purchased.
In one condition, the products were not associated with any
charities. In a second condition, the
products were associated with the same charity that participants could give
money to. In a third condition, the
products were associated with one charity, but participants could donate to a
different one. One possible reason why
people give less money when they purchase a product associated with a charity
is that the purchase might make them feel like they have already given money.
In this study, people were willing to give more to the
charity if none of the products were associated with charities than if all of
the products were associated with charities (even if the donation was going to
go to a different charity than the one associated with the products). As with the pilot study, the charities got
less money overall when products were associated with the charities than when
people were just free to donate whatever they want.
What is going on here?
After the study, people were asked the reasons for their
choices. When the products were
associated with charities, people were more likely to mention buying products
they needed than when they products were not associated with charities.
Why does this matter?
Research by Ann Tenbrunsel and David Messick in 1999
suggests that people make decisions based on the goal that is active at the
time. That goal can shift from
highlighting a moral dimension to highlighting a financial transaction. When people start thinking about money, they
become less concerned about the moral dimensions of choices.
In this case, when people are trading off between buying
things for themselves and making a purchase that is not associated with a
charity, then the moral part of the decision becomes important. People have to decide whether they want to do
that morally correct thing.
When the products all give some money to charity, though,
then both buying products and giving money are seen as equal on the moral
dimension. In this case, people focus
primarily on getting the best value for their money. And so, they purchase products, but do not
give extra money to the charity.
What can you do to make sure you give enough money to the
causes you care about?
Remember that these effects are strongest when you are in
the context of making purchases. That
means that it may not be the best time to think about giving donations when you
have just been at the store making purchases.
Instead, try to be a bit more systematic about your
giving. Think about how much money you
make and how much you would like to give to charities ideally. Then, keep track of your donations throughout
the year. If you find yourself falling
short of your goal, then give a donation at the end of the year to the
charities of your choice to help you reach your goal for giving.
