Making Your Ethical Message Genuine : A guide to communicating ethical values and views

In this Master thesis we address the concept of investing in ethical values and views, i.e. companies communicating what they are doing for society, what they stand for, what they think, etc. Our work is based on two research studies and therefore the paper is divided into 2 sections. Part I is a case study and Part II, a consumer study. We investigate Benetton, a company that has proactively engaged in ethical communication. We focus on their communication channels (website, ads, PR events, and stores) to observe and determine to what extent their ethical values and views are present in each one. We shall propose a communication gap caused by Benetton's inconsistency and incoherence in projecting their ethical traits. Consequently we conclude that this gap contributes to a lack of genuineness associated with thier ethical message. One contribution of the thesis consists in a multi-faceted analysis and evaluation of the opportunities and dangers associated with having ethical values and views. Our recommendations - found in G&M's 7 steps to communicating ethical values and views - concentrate on strategies for companies that desire to communicate ethical values, generating added value for consumers and, in turn, becoming profitable for companies.