How not to get stung for ‘poverty porn’
Last week a certain bank hit the headlines, accused of ‘poverty porn’. The story made a lot of people squirm. This organisation learned the hard way that if you send staff to help with a food bank, and you take and share pictures of them doing so, and you happen to earn a profit in the billions and your CEO takes home a salary in the millions, you probably should think about making a financial contribution to that organisation or risk being publicly shamed.
Doing good for the community and the environment is important, and it’s great to talk about it, but it must pass the sniff test ie. not be glaringly self-serving. Otherwise the very thing you are hoping will enhance your reputation, may bury it.
Here are our hot takes on nailing CSR comms in 2026 and beyond.
Do the actual doing
We’re all highly attuned to greenwashing these days, and now we have ‘poverty porn’ added to the lexicon of public shaming. So, let’s start with the fact you actually have to do stuff in a meaningful, selfless way before you can boast about it. You don’t just need to know your values, you need to walk them. You must join up your ‘doing good’ initiative so they’re not random and tokenistic. This applies in lots of different contexts. For instance, where you stand on diversity and inclusion needs to be reflected in how you recruit, how you treat your staff day-to-day, how you promote them and how you ensure they have a voice at the top table. Otherwise, it’s just words.
Keep it real
Remember those pie-in-the-sky targets you fashioned into fancy infographics a few years ago for your annual sustainability report? Yeah, things have progressed a bit since then. We’re loathe to use the word ‘authentic’, but people want to know about the journey you’re on in a way that feels real and relatable. If you hero a single initiative or person without context, it can easily fail the sniff test.
Be brave and if you don’t meet your targets, fess up and talk about why it was hard. Break free of the lingo. If equity is scary, go with fairness. If inclusion feels too woke for your folk, talk about belonging. Also remember that being too shiny, too safe and too samey with sustainability comms simply doesn’t wash in 2025.
Bust out of the silo
You might have a dedicated sustainability team in your business, but if it looks like you’re wheeling out your sustainability initiatives in a shiny, deliberate way, stop. Now. People want to know your whole business is on the bus and heading in the same direction. We’re increasingly distrustful when we see sustainability talked about like it’s an agenda item, a report or a consultant engaged to wheel out a few solar panels.
Sustainability in 2026 needs to look like ‘the way we do things round here’ and not ‘that one time we went the extra mile and hired a professional to make a video about it’. And remember, the people who judge you the most harshly are probably the ones in earshot – your staff. They know exactly what happens in the office every day, so ‘talk’ must equal ‘action.’
Call it whatever you want
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Triple Bottom Line (TBL) or Sustainability - nobody really cares what you call it anymore, but some words feel inherently more political than others. We’re fans of ‘Responsible Business’ and ‘People, Planet and Profit’ as a simple starting point. We’ve seen an awful lot of businesses run with the tagline ‘Don’t be a Dick’ lately. While we think the bar could be fraction higher, we get the sentiment. Corporate jargon is out. Being real is in.
Take small, meaningful steps
We get it, businesses have had a rough few years and chances are you’re only just getting out of the red - transitioning to green feels way too ambitious right now. However, it’s important not to be completely paralysed by such a short-term survival strategy.
Ironically, sustainability might feel unsustainable right now, but we encourage you to think of it in a broader, brand sense. For inspiration, check out how companies like Zespri, Halter, Icebreaker and Kiwibank live and breathe sustainability. It's built into their brand DNA and the narrative is reinforced at every turn. It’s not an after-thought or an add-on.
Who do you need in your corner - Marketing or Comms?
I’m afraid this one of those big deal things that requires all cooks in the kitchen. Gone are the days where a rogue creative can flex in an eco-friendly direction for an ad campaign if your business is not walking the talk in all other ways. Sustainability is a team effort, and your communications and marketing experts must work together from the outset.
If you need a hand or a strategic steer, we’re here to help! Purpose driven PR is what we do best here at HMC.
