Americans Reward Companies That Do Good, Study Finds

2004 Cone Corporate Citizenship Study: Building Brand Trust, says that a growing number of Americans take into account a company’s support of social issues in deciding whether to invest in it or buy its products. Produced by Cone, a Boston marketing firm, the report suggests that 8 in 10 Americans would be inclined to trust companies that help causes not directly tied to their bottom lines, a 21-percent increase since 1997. Meanwhile, according to the report, more than 90 percent of Americans would consider buying another business’s products or services to punish a company for acting unethically, while 80 percent would refuse to invest in the company and 75 percent would turn down employment there, the report says. A vast majority of Americans (86 percent) want companies to convey more about their philanthropic efforts, although most people put more faith in information gleaned from third-party sources such as friends and family (59 percent) and news organizations (37 percent), compared with advertising or other communications efforts by the company itself.

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