Last year, A&W announced its ‘Better Beef’ initiative, which informed the public that the restaurant chain would serve beef that is completely hormone and steroid free and grown on sustainable farms. But other farmers in the country took issue with the advertisements that came with it, claiming that “different” cattle-raising practices doesn’t necessarily mean “better.” They also feared that consumers would start to believe that the beef at other restaurants was not safe, and pointed fingers at A&W for importing beef from other countries to meet demand. It appears that, like Patagonia, A&W has faced criticism for widely publicizing a sustainable intitiative launched by the company. It’s tricky to understand the motives behind campaigns such as this. Obviously, this is a big undertaking by A&W, so I don’t think they would do it unless they truly believed it would bring benefits to customers. And when the project is so big, it makes sense to want consumers to be aware of the work being done through commercials and other marketing communications. But then there will always be people who point out that, ultimately, these are companies that want to make money and increase sales through advertising. You can’t have a rose without the thorns.

I can understand the dilemma faced by company’s like Patagonia when trying to raise consumer awareness about social causes, as they did with their ‘Don’t Buy this Jacket’ campaign. On the one hand, they want to get the conversation going among the public, and so I support their decision to advertise its campaign in large venues like Times Square. On the other hand, I assume they would realize that such a unique and intriguing billboard that immediately catches consumers’ attention with its strange message would raise their sales significantly. But my view is that this increase comes largely from improved brand awareness. Many people might not know a great deal about Patagonia and what it offers, and so seeing this ad pushes them to investigate further. When they realize the good work Patagonia does for the planet, they probably decide to do more shopping there and less shopping at other similar stores. Proper market research involving consumer surveys would likely give us some answers, but I don’t think we should criticize the brand too harshly for creating an ad that actually brings in customers and provokes deeper-thinking among those who see it. That is simply good marketing.