Samsung Thinks it Provides the Sun: Corporate Social Responsibility and its Harmful Implications for the ‘Global South’ in the Media

Image by Samsung Newsroom.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increasingly moved beyond serving as a theme that businesses apply to their Earth Day marketing campaigns every April, to becoming a core part of their missions and brands. Incorporating social and environmental concerns in a company’s business operations has become a near mandatory expectation of corporations, large and small, especially when concerning the ‘developing’ world (Prieto-Carrón, et al., 2006, p. 978). The notion of codifying values and ethics into the business framework has been on an upward trend since the mid-1990s, most notably since 1994 after the publication of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, “which stressed the articulation of and commitment to core values...” (Held, 2021). Some of the biggest names in the corporate game have dedicated extensive amounts of dollars and time to creating elaborate CSR advertisements and media content that illuminate their social and environmental efforts to their audiences. This piece considers the harmful implications of CSR campaigns by presenting a content analysis of a CSR advertisement produced by Samsung. I do not take a stance on the work being done by Samsung on the ground, as that would require more extensive insight. I do, however, argue that Samsung’s messaging around CSR does not come without potential consequences for its perpetuations of the ‘Global South’.

The current global CSR vision of Samsung is ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’, a mission it reports to “empower future innovators to achieve full potential and become the next generation of leaders to pioneer positive social change and build a better world for all” (Samsung, 2020). With programs like Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Samsung’s Commitment to Veterans, Samsung Employee Giving Programs, and the Samsung Gives Charity Gala, the multinational corporation has dedicated itself to giving back and promoting CSR as a core tenant of its business model (Samsung, 2020). In the years 2012 and 2013, Samsung produced a series of CSR advertisements showcasing its efforts around the world. From South Africa to Ethiopia, Brazil to Turkey, the advertisements follow ‘underdeveloped’ or ‘less-developed’ communities benefitting from the company’s initiatives to improve lives through technology. While these advertisements are compelling and well-produced, they are not without flaws.

To explore the nature of Samsung’s CSR messaging, it is helpful to take a closer look at one of the advertisements specifically. In 2013, Samsung showcased its work in Ethiopia with an advertisement titled “Bringing Light to Ethiopia Improves Life for Youth”. It is a three-minute and thirty-four-second video that tells the story of Aster Kebede from Jila Keresa in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Speaking in her native language, Aster tells the audience about how solar lanterns provided by Samsung have benefitted her community by cutting down production time of traditional dishes and increasing her income, which she will use to buy a house and start a microcredit institution. The video ends with an acknowledgement of Samsung’s partner, the Korean International Volunteer Organization, who helped the company “deliver solar-powered lanterns to areas where electricity is scarce” (SamsungCSR 2013). Overall, the advertisement is informative, personal, and effective at sharing the impact of Samsung’s CSR efforts in Ethiopia. The positive attributes of the advertisement, however, do not resolve it of the harmful perpetuations and undertones it possesses regarding how the ‘developing’ world is portrayed in the media.

The video begins by posing the question, “What is it like to live without light?” (SamsungCSR 2013). By positing a question that many in the ‘developed’ Western world have not had to ponder, the video is immediately framed by an ‘us’ and ‘them’ lens. For added effect, by utilizing traditional ethnic music in the background and providing close-up shots of thatch roof huts, young children, and villagers walking with sticks on their backs, the audience is positioned to consume a ‘developing world’ media piece from the onset. The purpose of the video is to highlight the technological advances given to the community with Samsung’s support. “Aster is on her way to an exciting future. And we’re very happy that we could shed a little extra light”, reads the text on the screen at the end of the video (SamsungCSR 2013). With a critical eye, however, the advertisement begs the question – who really benefits from CSR policies, the beneficiaries or the corporations implementing them?

Corporations have come under stark scrutiny for their adoption of CSR policies. It is argued that because corporations are inherently money-makers, their implementation of CSR is purely self-interested (Evans, 2007, p. 319). “Corporations, Milton Friedman famously argued, exist solely to make a profit for shareholders; their social purpose is wealth creation” (Evans, 2007, p. 319). The fact of the matter is that, yes, while the purpose of corporations is to contribute to the private sector and turn a profit, it is also true that business is a crucial part of society, and vice versa, and therefore it cannot thrive without the nod of approval from society (Evans, 2007, p. 320). Businesses and corporations need to appeal to their consumers, who are their audiences, not only to promote their products and services, but also to gain societal credibility and legitimacy.

The flip side of this coin is that corporations, like Samsung, also have the power and capacity to do a lot of good in the world, whether they choose to or not. “Development requires private sector involvement; corporations need to better understand and manage their social environments both at home and abroad” (Evans, 2007, p. 321). With this in mind, it is critical that corporations take careful consideration of the messaging they present in their CSR campaigns and advertisements. Perpetuating harmful stigmas and stereotypes, especially regarding the ‘Global South’, as Samsung did in this specific piece, can be detrimental to both the corporation and, more importantly, the communities they are claiming to serve. Samsung, and multinational corporations like it, should be revered for their efforts to contribute to a more socially just world. They should not, however, be celebrated for advertising their CSR policies in ways that do more harm than good.