Consumer awareness is growing
Consumer awareness is becoming sharper among Greeks as each year passes, according to the CSR 2009 quantitative survey on Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsible Consumption, held for the fifth successive year by the Institute of Communication. The data from the survey by the independent nonprofit organization in association with Panteion University, presented this week, shows that one in two Greeks «rewarded» at least one socially responsible company during 2008. The rate of 52.2 percent of Greek consumers who either bought or thought of buying a product due to a company’s social profile or expressed themselves in a positive way about the company is significantly higher than the same rate in 2007, when it had stood at just 39.1 percent. This act of consumer responsibility rewarding a company with a good social profile lifted Greece to the fourth highest place among the 32 countries where a similar survey has been conducted. In similar fashion about 48.4 percent of Greeks last year «punished» at least one company that did not appear to be socially responsible, while another 17.8 percent responded they have thought of doing so. The rate of the more active citizens, who have both punished one company and rewarded another one, came to 26.4 percent for 2008, up from 16.2 percent in 2007. Most Greeks (91.8 percent) also responded that the media, as corporations, have the responsibility of promoting environmental issues and applying pressure for the adherence to environmental legislation.
