RT Article
T1 On the Role of Social Media in the ‘Responsible’ Food Business: Blogger Buzz on Health and Obesity Issues
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 118
IS 4
SP 695
OP 707
A1 Lee, Hsin-Hsuan Meg
A1 Dolen, Willemijn M. van
A1 Kolk, Ans
A2 Dolen, Willemijn M. van
A2 Kolk, Ans
LA English
YR 2013
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785649728
AB To contribute to the debate on the role of social media in responsible business, this article explores blogger buzz in reaction to food companies’ press releases on health and obesity issues, considering the content and the level of fit between the CSR initiatives and the company. Findings show that companies issued more product-related initiatives than promotion-related ones. Among these, less than half generated a substantial number of responses from bloggers, which could not be identified as a specific group. While new product introductions led to positive buzz, modifications of current products resulted in more negative responses, even if there was a high fit with core business. While promotion-related press releases were received negatively in general, particularly periphery promotion (compared to core promotion) generated most reactions. Our exploratory study suggests that companies can increase the likelihood of a positive reaction if they carefully consider the fit between initiatives and their core business, while taking the notion of ‘controversial fit’, relating to the unhealthy nature of original products, into account. Further research avenues and implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.
K1 Social Media
K1 Press releases
K1 Obesity
K1 Health
K1 Food companies
K1 Corporate Responsibility
K1 Blogging
DO 10.1007/s10551-013-1955-0