Red, white and pink: Linking public good contributions to private good sales

This paper explores a common form of Corporate Social Responsibility practiced by firms, where firms link the sales of private goods to charitable contributions. We build a model to explore the profitability of a market for such “linked” goods when the purchase of the private good allows the consumer to exhibit her altruism while direct contributions towards the public good do not. We also study the effect of linked goods on total contributions towards the public good and explore the role of advertising and publicity in this market.