Mustapha Hamid addressing participants at the Golden Tulip Hotel
Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid, has asked corporate entities operating in Ghana to undertake cause-related marketing campaigns geared towards promoting positive national behavioral change.
The Minister made the call on Wednesday in Accra during an evening lecture organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) under the theme, ‘Cause Related Marketing: A Panacea For National Behavioral Change.’
Cause-related marketing is a branch of marketing that involves the cooperative efforts of for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations for mutual benefit, mostly in the interest of the larger society.
According to the minister, undertaking cause-related marketing projects will help to build positive images for businesses and above all lead to national development.
He urged marketers not only pay attention to profits for their respective organizations but positively contribute to the moral fabric of the Ghanaian society.
Undertaking such campaigns, in his view, will signal to the masses that a business entity involved in the campaigns “is a caring organization,” nationalistic and patriotic.
As marketers, if you want to associate with causes, you should look at those that will not only bring you profit but ones that will contribute to improving the morals of the society, Mr. Hamid said.
“I think that there are a lot of things we need to do to educate our people,” he said, noting that the Information Ministry was in the process of starting a behavior change campaign to create awareness among the masses about the need for positive attitudinal changes towards such issues as punctuality, cleanliness and promoting good environmental and sanitation management.
Help Political Parties
Meanwhile, an official of the Noguchi Memorial Institute, Susan Adu-Amankwah, in a remark at the lecture, has urged businesses to consider extending their corporate social responsibility initiatives to political parties to ensure level-playing field for all during general elections.
According to her, companies must fund political parties as a way of giving back to society.
By Melvin Tarlue