Consumers More Critical of
Corporate Conduct Since 9/11

Consumers Look at Corporate Conduct
<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/11/business/11BDIG.html>

November 11, 2001
by Reed Abelson

In the wake of the terrorist attacks, consumers are paying much closer
attention to whether they think a company is socially responsible, a new
poll suggests.

About three-quarters of 1,000 people surveyed last month agreed that
companies have a responsibility to support worthy causes, a significant
increase from the two-thirds who felt that way in a similar poll taken
in March. And 85 percent of them said the events of Sept. 11 made it
"more important than ever" for companies to support their communities.
"Expectations of corporations have dramatically shifted," said Carol
Cone, chief executive of Cone Inc., a marketing company in Boston.

The telephone poll was conducted for Cone by RoperASW, which had
also done the earlier survey that polled 2,000 consumers. A much larger
number of Americans also said that a company's commitment to
social issues affected the way they shopped. Slightly more than
three-quarters said that commitment was important in deciding what to
buy, compared with about half of those asked in March. More than
three-quarters of those polled also said they would be likely to switch
brands, assuming the price and quality were the same, to help support
a cause, compared with about half in March.