Is harm reduction profitable? An analytical framework for corporate social responsibility based on an epidemic model of addictive consumption

► Companies selling addictive goods claim to be socially responsible while marketing harmful products. ► Determining whether harm reduction practices are costly or profitable can help assess the sincerity of their discourse. ► A deterrent effect of heavy use on initiation can generate a financial incentive for harm reduction practices. ► A quantity/reputation trade-off is at stake and the temporal horizon of the companies' managers is crucial. ► Since most harm reduction practices contribute to increase the social cost, the producers' myopia might be desirable.