Cause-Related Marketing and Trust: Empirical Evidence on Pinkwashing

Over the past several years, cause-related marketing (CRM) has become an important tool that many companies use to differentiate themselves from competitors. However, this type of marketing has also received criticism. Consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical about the authenticity of these initiatives because some companies attempt to improve their image by hiding information that may be perceived as negative. Marketing literature has paid more attention to environmental CRM than to initiatives associated with other issues such as health and those related to women’s health. However, in recent years, a growing number of companies have implemented actions to support these concerns. This paper aims to contribute to this field by focusing on CRM initiatives to fund breast-cancer research and on their misrepresentations. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods via a semi-structured questionnaire, this study confirms the influence of pinkwashing on consumer trust, consumer-perceived risk, and consumer confusion.