Don't take their word for it...

There are many cases where companies say they are giving back to the places they do business, when in fact, they do so just to enhance their corporate reputations, or to cover up unfavorable practices. This is also known as window dressing, stated in Mainwaring on page 106.

Out of high school, I worked as a barista at Starbucks for about a year. During OJT, I was informed on the many things the Starbucks did to give back to the farmers who grow their coffee. I thought, "This is great. I really like the company that I am working for because they are involved in making a difference."

I like to think I have come a long way from my barista days. Opening my eyes, I realized that everything is not always as it seems. Finding out the truth of a company’s practices requires further research.

In a Magazine and Online Writing course I took last semester, I read a peer's paper on the trend of companies buying land in other countries and shipping food back home, while the people living where the food was grown are dying of starvation.

Starbucks was one of those companies, practicing unethical business in Ethiopia. This article tells of the efforts Starbucks went through to prevent their fellow coffee growers from trademarking their own crops.

If this interests you, I encourage you to dig a little deeper. A quick Google search can reveal so much more than a company may be willing to tell you. When it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility, we cannot simply take their word for it.