Communication strategies for corporate social responsibility of luxury brands : how to create harmony in a paradox

Abstract

The research question of this master thesis is how luxury brands can communicate their corporate social responsibility. The assumption that this thesis relies upon is that communication of CSR in the luxury industry is more challenging compared to other industries, because of the conflicting core values of the two. To situate this current study in a context, the literature review includes a chapter on CSR and on luxury respectively. In order to answer the research question at hand, I identify the CSR communication strategies of two luxury brands, namely Tiffany & Co and Louis Vuitton, and try to recognize what the two brands do in order to bridge the assumed contradictions between CSR and luxury. The main findings involve the importance of brand in luxury CSR communication.