Content

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Eyes of Comedian, Bo Burnham

If you have spent any time on social media over the past week, chances are you have seen a lot of content surrounding Bo Burnham’s latest special Inside.  Bo is back and better than ever! After a 5-year mental health hiatus, Bo came back with his best work yet.  Inside is a deranged masterpiece that revolves around the struggles we may have faced during our time in lockdown.  Unlike his previous work, Inside is not just a comedy, it touches on true, raw emotion.  While every skit of his was great in it’s own way, there was one in particular that stood out to me, the one where Bo takes on the persona of a social brand consultant.  During this skit, Bo uses his satire comedy style to describe the ugliness that could be corporate social responsibility.

Burnham's skit, although a satirical play on corporate social responsibility, speaks volume to what is really going on behind the shadows. He does this by poking fun at the idea that companies use corporate social responsibility for  their own brand awareness, resulting in increased revenue. While this may not always be the case, there have been instances of this happening (for example Volkswagen’s carbon emission scandal of 2015).  

Besides touching on the subject of how increased brand awareness leads to more brand awareness, he also talks about jokes about brands who do too much.  This is shown by his line about Wheat Thins “The question is no longer, do you want to buy Wheat Thins? for example. The question is now, Will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?” Obviously, Wheat Thins is not fighting Lyme disease, but the point that Bo is trying to make here is that not every brand needs to fight for change, sometimes it’s okay to stay in your lane. Occasionally too much CSR can be a bad thing, take TOMS shoes for example.  The value proposition that TOMS offers is to match every pair of shoes they sell and donate them to countries in need.  What started off as a great philanthropic business model, has since destroyed entire industries in developing countries. By donating so many shoes to countries in need, TOMS took over the shoe market in parts of Africa.  Local business was threatened by a new major player in the shoe game, although, they were not fortunate enough to be able to give shoes away for free like TOMS, and as a result they suffered.  Many in the world of philanthropy were criticizing TOMS, “the charitable act of donating a free pair of shoes serves as little more than a short-term fix in a system in need of long-term, multi-faceted economic development, health, sanitation, and education solutions.” The truth of the matter is that the company we all thought was in it to make the world a better place, ended up becoming a very successful trendy shoe brand that saw exponential growth.

All this to say that, corporate social responsibility definitely has a place in this world, but when it is taken too far, it can cause more harm than good. As consumers, we need to look at CSR through critical lense so that we don't take advantage of good intentions.

If you would like to see more from this comedy special (trust me, you want to) you can stream it on Netflix, happy watching 😁