Unilever - Bad CSR

This article talks about Unilever, the company with "good" CSR I reported about last week. In this article, Unilever was discovered to have been smuggling goods into China. Quite a few other large companies were involved in the smuggling activities including Bronson & Jacobs and Fuji Xerox. These companies used different names in order to evade taxes when importing goods. The taxes they evaded ended up amounting to nearly $480,000.

When I saw "Bad CSR" attached to Unilever I was somewhat set back. Seeing the very company that I talked about last week in a positive mind, being found out for smuggling goods in order to evade taxes. I find it interesting that a company that flaunts its "Great CSR" is not really being socially responsible. I asked myself if the positives that one does can out way the negatives, and I feel that one can not do enough positive things to out weigh the negatives. These companies should work to make sure that they are not doing illegal acts before they boast their environmental friendliness. In order to entirely grasp the idea of CSR, one must make sure that they are not committing any illegal or morally unacceptable acts first! Following, they may go above and beyond to help the environment or the community. I am very disappointed to see Unilever being found out for these illegal, immoral acts.