Honest, Authentic & Distinct: Ethical Not-For-Profit Branding

Abstract

<p>Focusing on the ethics of not for profit (NPO) branding, a field which has received limited scholarship, this paper seeks to distinguish the for-profit and not-for-profit fields of brand marketing. Arguing that NPO branding ought to be a distinct field of study due to differing cause-based ends mitigating donor support, rather than consumer returns, which, likewise, necessitates a distinctly situated ethical model. Grounding the ethical analysis, the paper seeks to question the ethicality and efficacy of popular branding techniques attempting persuasive truth claims such as <em>suppressio veri, </em>associative advertising and puffery, as strategic means of generating consumer trust and projecting constructed auras of authenticity. The case study on the increasingly corporatized branding tactics of Canadian charity Free the Children and Me to We further distinguishes the necessity for a distinction between for and not for profit brand strategy and encourages a non-consumer centric model of charitable brand marketing.</p>