England's Promotion of CSR in Sport

Arsenal F.C

On February 14, Arsenal Football Club announced the launch of its new charitable program, The Arsenal Foundation. Arsenal is currently in its 125^th season and is launching this foundation to celebrate the club’s success over the years. The launch of the foundation highlights Arsenal’s dedication to corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes that can improve its local community. I found the lack of publicity for this launch, however, surprising.

            The Arsenal Foundation will be launched on May 3^rd at the annual Arsenal Charity Ball. This is an event where the manager and first team come together with special guests to celebrate and raise funds for Arsenal’s charitable work. The Arsenal Foundation will replace its existing grant-making body, the Arsenal Charitable Trust. The foundation will distribute its funds to worthy causes, with a focus on helping disadvantaged young people.

I was surprised, however, with the lack of promotion this story had. Arsenal only posted the news of the launch on their website but there has been no more information since the original post on any of their social media sites or more traditional media platforms. Perhaps the story will receive more coverage following the launch on May 3^rd but there has not been much news in the build up.

            Sport PR is still a developing practice, originally only used on a transactional basis. However, these days, football clubs are aware of their roles within society. The majority of recognized clubs have established charitable programs that allow them to engage with their respective communities. The use of CSR in business dates back to the 1950’s where companies wanted to show good will in hope of gaining public favour. CSR wasn’t implemented in football until the 1990’s. During a time of urban decay, government asked football teams to develop sport programs to encourage younger citizens to get involved. It has progressed tremendously since then but the landscapes of CSR in football and in business are quite different.

            Although there are now many CSR schemes in English football, improvements can still be made to these programs. The main issues with CSR in English football are that the means of evaluation are limited and, in my opinion, their methods of promoting these programs are very basic.  

            English football should seek to improve their promotion of CSR programs. A good model to use would be the Americans’ promotion of CSR in their different sports. In the National Football League (NFL) there are frequent public service announcements (PSA) that promote the United Way, a charitable program. The partnership between the United Way and NFL can be traced back to 1973 and the PSA’s promoting the program are now embedded within the sport. The PSA’s highlight the services of the United Way in addition to showcasing the NFL players who are involved. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has a similar promotional scheme of its charity called NBA Cares. PSA’s showing players’ involvement in the community are screened during most timeouts and game breaks.

            English football should take note of the American example of CSR promotion. If more people were made aware of this new Arsenal program, perhaps their opinion of Arsenal might change in a positive manner. What is the downside to showing the world the efforts you’re making to engage with your local community? I am assuming there will be much more coverage on the Arsenal Foundation after its launch but am still surprised how low-key Arsenal have been about it to this point. What are your thoughts of the promotion of CSR activities in England?

Racism in Football

           With football clubs investing so much money in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), how detrimental have the actions of players, such as John Terry and Luis Suarez, been to football’s efforts to stamp out racism? Nowadays, football clubs have a huge role to play in society that goes beyond winning or losing games. They are ambassadors for the community they represent. In the English Premier League (EPL) and other top leagues, clubs allocate a percentage of their annual revenue to fund CSR programs. Large parts of these programs are geared towards eradicating racism within the modern game.

            The EPL is the most diverse football league in the world. Statistics show that only roughly 38% of the league’s players are English, and the majority of those play for lower ranked clubs. With around 68% of the league’s players coming from all over the world, racism is a big problem that the EPL faces. The majority of EPL teams have set up Cultural Integration Programs (CIP) that promote diversity, equality and positivity in their respective communities, regardless of race. These programs aim to create a sense of togetherness in  communities where everyone has at least one thing in common: adoration for their local football club.

            With clubs pouring in millions of their revenue to design and maintain these CSR programs, everyone involved with the club should follow suit. Of course, I am talking specifically about the players themselves. Football fans of different countries, ages and gender look up to these players as role models and the players need to realise that everything they do is observed and scrutinised. John Terry’s alleged racism towards Anton Ferdinand is a perfect example of how one player can ruin the efforts made by their club. People look up to Terry and he needs to be setting an example instead of letting them down. Perhaps the clubs should invest more time in teaching their own players to promote equality before preaching to their local communities. It makes the clubs seem like hypocrites, which obviously has a negative impact on their public image. In my opinion, John Terry has already done the damage and needs to work hard with his publicist to restore his image regardless of whether or not he is found guilty. I am proud of the EPL’s efforts to stamp out racism but I think it would be a much more accomplishable goal if the players made a collective effort. 

Social Media vs. Joseph Kony

'Kony 2012' Poster

Invisible Children, a group of US activists, recently launched a campaign to assist in the arrest of Uganda war criminal, Joseph Kony. The campaign has been promoted through an array of social media platforms and appeals to global citizens to do all they can to stop this warlord.

The campaign aims to make Joseph Kony a household name. Not to celebrate his actions but to make people aware of them.  The goal is to charge Kony with crimes against humanity and bring him to justice at the International Criminal Court. To do so, the group encourages every one to show their support.

           Invisible Children released a half-hour video on YouTube that has spread like wild fire in its three days of existence. My friend first sent me the video on Monday night when it had some 15,000 views. The next morning I returned to the video and it had almost 2,000,000 views. Today the video has over 33,000,000 views. This is a testament to the power of today’s social media and how the world can be united through a mutual understanding of the events taking place in Uganda.

Joseph Kony

The campaign has also gained momentum on Twitter. Celebrities such as Diddy, Zooey Deschanel and Rihanna have lent their support to the cause. Millions of people are trending about Kony on Facebook as well, with links to the video, t-shirt designs and a variety of memes being shared.

The 'Kony 2012' campaign is a beautiful example of the power of social media. It has become the norm for organizations and individuals to engage with one another on different media platforms. The power of social media has been increasing rapidly over recent years and this campaign illustrates the extent to which an idea can be spread globally.

Costa Cruises' Crisis Management

Passengers on the Costa Allegra deck

Costa Cruises faced another setback this past week with another one of its cruise ships making headlines for the wrong reasons. Following the Costa Concordia’s crash in January, it was time for the Costa Allegra to make the news. I must say, however, that the organisation’s ability to communicate the danger has improved dramatically this time around and news coverage has not been as negative as the company probably feared.

The luxury cruise ship, Costa Allegra, finally made it to shore yesterday as it docked in the Seychelles’ Port Victoria. The liner lost power and was forced to drift in the ocean before being towed by two other ships to land. The passengers were left without running water or electricity for three days and most stayed on the deck, as it was too hot below with no functioning air conditioning. The ship’s power was lost due to a fire in the electric generators room.

The Costa Allegra is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, which infamously sank off the Italian coast this January, leaving thirty-two people dead. These successive crises have obviously had a negative impact on Costa Cruises’ public image.

After the Costa Concordia sank in January, Costa Cruises was relatively standoffish in informing the public of the events. They did not show transparency, which is essential in crisis communications. The CEO of the company, Micky Arison, was publicly criticized for failing to take responsibility for the disaster.  The company added updates on its website, but these were fairly inconclusive and could have been more helpful. Costa Cruises managed to convey the issue but did not go into details as to how it was being remedied nor did they want to admit responsibility. Their crisis communications lacked authority and sincerity.

Costa Cruises

Just over a month later, there is a stark contrast between Costa Cruises’ management of the Costa Allegra incident and the Costa Concordia disaster. The cruise organisation showed complete transparency and sympathized with those involved. They identified the source of the problem immediately and reached all the passengers’ emergency contacts to keep them informed of the issue. Regular updates have been posted on the company’s website with all relevant information.

Costa Cruises’ crisis communications management has clearly been subject to reconstruction and has been much more successful after the Costa Allegra’s most recent incident. Of course, the situation with the Costa Concordia was far more devastating than that of the Costa Allegra and this is a factor in measuring communications effectiveness. Although it still did further damage to Costa Cruises’ reputation, I believe the manner in which the organisation handled the events of this past week have been very effective and demonstrates lessons learnt from their last crisis.