Environmental Leader

Consumer perception of corporate responsibility does not necessarily correlate with rankings like the CRO 100, according to a recent survey.

When asked to rate which companies they see as the best corporate citizens, survey respondents put Microsoft and General Mills at the top of the list, a ranking that doesn’t match the CRO 100, which ranks Microsoft in the upper realms – but nowhere near the top – and General Mills as, well, run of the mill.

Procter & Gamble followed closely behind, according to data from the Corporate Citizenship Study, which was prepared by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Burson/Marsteller and Landor.

The citizenship report urges companies to associate their CSR efforts with their brands in order to maximize the investment in CSR reporting and compliance.

As more and more companies try to distinguish themselves by marketing their environmental stewardship and energy efficiency efforts, branding increasingly is coming down to how a company conveys its corporate social responsibility standards, according to Diana Verde Nieto, Chief Executive Officer of London-based Clownfish.

Still, nearly one in four U.S. consumers say they have “no way of knowing” if a product is green or actually does what it claims, according to a study from BBMG.