Seeing through smoke and mirrors: A critical analysis of marketing CSR

This study adopts a critical management studies perspective to appraise the phenomenon of marketing corporate social responsibility (CSR). Views emerging from critical management studies are particularly beneficial for a project of this scope due to their ability to render visible the hidden ideologies that are the corollary of corporate marketing of CSR initiatives. Slavoj Zizek's concept of false consciousness of ideology elucidates the dynamics of this enactment. This paper concludes with a discussion of the contributions a critical management studies perspective can impart on to discourses regarding corporate marketing and CSR, and provides some consideration of the implications these arguments pose for practice.