B. Unsuccessful Campaign | KFC: Buckets for the Cure

In 2010, the fast-food company, KFC, partnered with the United States-based non-profit organisation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, (or the Komen Foundation) on the “Buckets for the Cure” campaign. The aim was to transact a portion of sales toward breast cancer research and advocacy (CNN, 2010). To do so, KFC contributed $50c per bucket sold to the Komen Foundation. However, the response was poor. Health concerns toward KFC and the company’s controversial strategies led to criticism from the general public and the ultimate dismissal of the campaign. “Buckets for the Cure” was considered a “PR disaster” (Karen McVeigh, 2012) for KFC, as the company was accused of Pink-washing: claiming to care about breast cancer by “putting a pink, cancer-awareness ribbon on products that are bad for health” (CNN, 2010). The general public denounced the assumed association between fast food and breast cancer: “They talk about a cure, but this partnership will create more breast cancer” (CNN, 2010). Parallelly, KFC is said to locate its restaurants in “the poorest communities where people have limited access to healthy food”, while the Komen Foundation “claims to care about low-income women” (Breast Cancer Action, 2013). Activists denounce this partnership for going against those values, as KFC “severely aggravate[s] the condition of women’s health in these communities” rather than improves it (Breast Cancer Action, 2023).

Overall, the campaign can be considered unsuccessful given its failure to resonate with its intended audience.

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B.1 Impact on Consumers

Two touch points predicting consumer response correlate with this outcome: Congruence and Ad appeal.

Fit/congruence

According to Pracejus and Olsen (2004), a high fit between a cause and a brand can have a “tremendous impact on the success of CRM campaigns” and “significantly amplifies” the impact of CRM on choice behaviour. However, the unhealthy nature of KFC, which according to the general public, links to cancer, justifies a weak fit between the brand and the foundation. Moreover, KFC has been guilty of pink-washing. This low reputation paired with low congruence leads consumers to doubt the credibility of the brand (Trimble and Rifon, 2006).

Involvement

A functional product leads to involvement to enhance brand preferences when the product is functional rather than hedonic (Chowdhury and Khare, 2011). KFC being a fast food, the products sold can be considered as hedonic food. Therefore, there is a low preference towards the partnership between KFC and Komen for consumers involved with breast cancer.

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C. Successful Campaign | Tony’s: Sweet Solution

Founded in 2005, the Dutch-based confectionery company, Tony’s, has been working tirelessly to shine a light on the unfair practices in the cocoa industry. According to the Guardian, roughly 1.56 million children work in cocoa plantations in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, making the chocolate industry highly stigmatised (Balch, 2020). Tony’s is fighting against this and their mission is to make the chocolate trade completely slave-free (Tony's, 2023 a). The “Sweet Solution” campaign, started in 2021, consists of new Tony’s chocolate bars that look like famous chocolate brands (Tony's, 2023 b). The motive of this campaign is to draw the attention of the masses to modern slavery in the cocoa supply chain. At Tony’s all bars are made using 5 principles; use of traceable cocoa, higher payment to farmers, investment in farmers, nurturing long-term relationships and commitment to quality and growth (Tony's, 2023 a). Tony’s bars are wrapped in an alarming red colour that signals danger, making shoppers stop and think. Moreover, the campaign has a petition link that allows people to sign up and hold governments responsible for modern slavery. Not only are they leading by example but also inspiring other companies to take action. As part of the campaign, Tony's made a “Sweet Solutions Kit” PR kit that contained Tony’s bars, an information leaflet on modern slavery, and a postcard with a QR code to the petition's web address (Fiske, 2021). Overall, Tony’s is the perfect example of positive activism that leads to actionable change.

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C.1 Impact on Consumers

Fit/congruence

Strong associations between the cause and the brand lead to favourable outcomes (Pracejus and Olsen, 2004 a). In the case of Tony’s, they are leading the movement against modern slavery and they aim to make“100% slave free” the norm (Tony's, 2023 a). Their mission is to highlight all the unfair practices within the cocoa industry and hold the culprits accountable. Therefore, Tony’s is the ideal example of how a high degree of cause-brand fit leads to a positive impact.

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Donation size and farming

Consumers prefer if the donations are expressed in the £ or % of the “product price rather than the % of the profit” (Pracejus and Olsen, 2004 a). Tony’s makes donations in kind by giving away 1% of the annual turnover to the Chocolonely Foundation. The foundation contributes towards the livelihoods of communities that are growing cocoa. (Tony's, 2023 a). Additionally, Tony’s pays their farmers higher compared to any other companies (Tony's, 2023 a)

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Ad appeal

The Sweet Solution campaign delivers strong emotional appeal talking about modern-day slavery, not only to children but labourers below the poverty line in Africa. The ad speaks about 100% slave-free chocolate. The Harkin Angel Protocol was signed off 20 years ago where the chocolate industry pledged to end all illegal labour in the cocoa industry but expressed that it is different from the reality and continues to do so. The campaign advert mentions the issues in the supply chain with the use of negative keywords to maximise impact and capture the audience’s attention. Additionally, this is the 3rd year of the campaign, demonstrating a long-term commitment to the cause (Tony’s Chocoloney, 2021) (Cui et al., 2003; Thomas et al., 2019). Tony’s doesn’t influence the purchase intention of consumers but just focuses on raising awareness. The brand is cause-centric and tries to shine a light on the slave trade and only visions influence the consumers and producers with the same.

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Product Type

Although chocolate bars are considered hedonic products, Tony’s is unique as it has made a product that aligns with its cause. The bar is divided into unequal pieces. This represents the inequality in the chocolate industry. The unfair distribution of wealth is also highlighted by the unique Tony’s chocolate bar. The bars will remain unequal as long as there is slavery in the cocoa industry. Image 1 explains the significance of Tony’s chocolate bar. The Equator is represented at the bottom of the bars. The Gulf of Guinea is the chunks above. From left to right you have Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo & Benin, Nigeria and part of Cameroon (Tony's, 2023 a).