The corporate social responsibility in lidl’s communication campaigns in Croatia and the UK

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to investigate whether Lidl uses CSR communication in their Advertising and Communication Campaigns in two different business contexts, and if so, how. The paper built upon existing analyses of CSR Communication by analysing Lidl’s websites in both countries, and went step forward and analysed TV adverts of the company in both countries as well. The analysis discovered importance of the social context in using CSR to promote business, as well as a different communication management strategy where Lidl does not communicate with UK public as extensively as with the Croatian public due to different views on the CSR communication. An in-depth analysis of TV adverts of Lidl in Croatia and the UK using their YouTube channel with all promoted TV adverts, as well as official websites of Lidl in both countries was conducted. The findings were analysed using the qualitative method of thematic, contextual analysis. The findings reveal that CSR is used as an argument to foster sales and consumer trust in Croatia but not in the UK. The communication management strategy is different in two countries due to different views of the public about CSR Communication, and Lidl's Communication strategy is designed accordingly.