The responsibilization of “development consumers” through cause-related marketing campaigns

Cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns that combine consumption in the Global North with international development causes in the Global South are an increasingly popular phenomenon, which link consumption by individuals to broader social issues. In this paper, we explore the use of development-focused CRM campaigns by social enterprises. We highlight the ways in which CRM represents a form of neoliberal consumerism and how the various strategies of social enterprises using CRM produce responsibilized consumers. We assert that individuals are transformed into responsible “development consumers” through the processes of personalization, authorization and capabilization. Throughout this paper, we focus on how these processes occur through the specific case of CRM. Ultimately, we examine the potential implications of the production of a “development consumer” by arguing that the responsibilization processes used in CRM campaigns are inherently problematic because of the types of development practices they support.