Lisa Reinisch

Primark, Asda and Tesco’s broken promises exposed - but will anybody care?

False promises made by Primark, Asda and Tesco about their use of Bangladeshi sweatshops will be exposed in a new report by anti-poverty charity War on Want (WoW) next week.

But, despite its explosive content, the new campaign could fail to draw public support - unlike the charity’s last report about supermarkets and sweatshops, which triggered a powerful backlash.

“In a recession, harsher domestic concerns apply,“ said Paul Collins, spokesperson for WoW. “The interest in global poverty has slumped as British poverty has increased.”

Next week’s report will reveal that supermarkets continue to profit from the sale of cheap goods produced in the very same Bangladeshi factories they claimed to have stopped using following the charity’s last report two years ago. The report should be a matter of national interest, leading to a public outcry and consequences for repeat offenders.

But with redundancies and repossessions on the increase across Britain, even the most effective media campaign could struggle to make people care about problems facing workers at the other end of the globe. Especially, when these workers happen to be making the low-cost supermarket products, which growing numbers of cash-stripped consumers in Britain rely on.

“Charity fatigue” is a widely known symptom of economic crises, leaving small charities such as WoW especially vulnerable.

“Lower profiles and fundraising budgets, reluctance to take risks plus lack of economies of scale, leave smaller charities struggling – not least in a downturn,” says Jonathan Baker of nfpSynergy, a consultancy for non-profit organisations.

Charities, large and small, have to be particularly resourceful in times of economic uncertainty. But how do you make consumers care about the questionable business practices of budget retailers when they themselves are dependent on the availability of cheap goods?

Charities used to be able to rely on celebrities to help them through rough patches. But even celebrity endorsement is not what it used to be, according to Collins:

“Fewer celebrities have endorsed campaigns since Make Poverty History’s anti-climax.”

Without a celebrity angle, charities struggle more than ever to place stories in popular media, which hold the key to public opinion and consumer behaviour. Without the support of a major tabloid, campaigns have little hope of achieving real change.

“Politicians often say ‘We want to do this, but we aren’t feeling the heat’. They are only interested if votes are on the line because of media pressure. So we continue to put out new reports,” said Collins.

Charity PR - costly and risky

But original research, photography and publicity – essential to getting media exposure - are expensive. Lower funds automatically mean fewer ways to engage editors, which has become even harder since journalists themselves are feeling the pinch and have been faced with a series of job cuts over recent months.

Knowing how journalists work and what they look for in a story has never been more important. According to Collins, the key to success is producing a hard-hitting, well-told story and boiling it down to two sentences for flagship outlets such as the BBC’s Today programme. Good pictures, solid research, forward-planning and repetition of key messages are also critical factors.

But even the tightest story can fail if the timing is not right. “It’s a gamble,” said Collins. “If something like Mumbai happens on the day you release your story, it will be buried.”