From Amazon to Zappos, companies around the world are increasingly engaging in brand activism and advocacy as a way to enhance their brand image, recruit and retain employees, and enact change. In this course, students will ask and answer four questions about brand activism and advocacy as a form of strategic communication: What are the different ways that corporations use brand activism/advocacy messages to influence the public sphere? What are the various outcomes, for companies and society, that may occur as a result of brand activism/advocacy messaging? Why do companies engage in brand activism/advocacy communication? What are the ethical concerns that may be raised by brand activism/advocacy? This course is taught by Amy O'Connor, an Associate Professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Amy O'Connor's research focuses broadly on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication and specifically on how CSR develops and maintains relationships between corporations, employees, and communities. Before becoming a researcher and professor, she held numerous communication and PR positions in the private and nonprofit sectors. This professional experience gave her a front row seat to the ways corporations uphold (or not) their social licenses to operate.
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