This weekend I bought a copy of Ben Goldhirsh's new mag GOOD, which is one of the smartest new books out there, and has launched at a time where "good" or big corporations doing good has exploded. It blatantly says that "it embraces this generation's merger of capitalism and idealism." Even Rampage, the low-cost teen clothing line had an ad in the mag promoting the Rampage Relief Fund (disaster relief).

What's notable about the magazine is its high-end design. There has definitely been a convergence of good design with doing good -- I think it started with MTV, who always brings slick design to everything it does including social marketing campaigns. Then we had Target (who just pushed the notion of high end design with low end prices). More recently this can be seen in Treehugger, the slick environmental blog that promotes both environmentalism and environmentally conscious stuff that is well-designed.

Between the very high profile ONE campaign and the Red campaign, P&G's Hero initiative and MySpace's Darfur efforts (there are lots of other examples), I think this trend of companies pushing whatever "good" they are doing is here to stay. The big question, and one that is actually asked in the magazine, is "do companies really give a damn?" Or even if they promote the good they are doing, what about the not so good? Does one erase the other in the minds of young people (their target customers)? And where can this generation of young people who are obviously into politics through purchasing power go to find out how "good" these companies actually are? Can they buy one product line to benefit AIDs in Africa while also pressuring the same company to reform its overseas labor practices? How do they reconcile the contradicitions of doing "good" and doing good business? American Apparel may be generous to its homegrown textile workers, but that generosity ends when it comes to them forming a union...

I'm just putting all these questions out there as we watch this trend grow. The latest entrant is Wal-Mart who, in conjunction with MTV, announced "Everyday Green," "a unique joint initiative designed to promote sustainability and demonstrate to consumers how to work environmentally-friendly products into their lives....MTV's New York City store, located in the heart of Times Square on the corner of Broadway and 44th Street, has been transformed into an eco-friendly exhibit using environmentally-conscious products."

If there is a non-partisan site that honestly evaluates these corporations' records on labor practices and the environment as well as shows what causes or organizations they support or fund, will someone please post this in the comments or email me?

Update: Ypulse reader DK from Mediasnackers and I were emailing about how a site where young people could easily see a company's corporate social responsiblity record would be a great project for someone...maybe the folks at GOOD mag will do it! Something like the sites where you can review every politicians voting record on all of the different issues.

Also Ypulse reader Michael wrote in to say: "I've been doing a lot of research on social responsibility and corporate citizenship as of late and while I haven't found a website per say, I did find a book on sustainability that you might find interesting. It's called "The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success - And How You Can Too." The book argues that being environmentally conscious and socially responsible is not only good for a company's image but also profitable. It's loaded with examples: Pepsi, McDonald's, Nike, etc. At least worth looking at the introduction.

Posted by anastasia