Music Television (MTV), part of the global media company Viacom, is making its senior executives more aware of community issues by taking them away from their desks to see ‘real life’ outside the office.
The broadcasting company’s vice president for public affairs Georgia Franklin, said that in MTV’s experience, taking executives on visits to social projects was the best way for CSR practitioners to enlist support.
‘We should grab chief executives by the scruff of the neck and take them out, because they don’t learn anything from behind their desks,’ she told a London conference. ‘Take them to a soup kitchen or something, but whatever you do get them involved, because that way you get their understanding and commitment.’
Franklin said MTV’s support for HIV/Aids awareness programmes has largely depended on mobilizing senior executives with first-hand experiences of how the disease affects developing countries. ‘Now, instead of holding meetings on the subject in London or New York we hold them in Botswana, Vietnam or South Africa so that we can see exactly how HIV impacts on young people in those countries,’ she said. ‘These field trips have instilled an understanding of the issue that has helped drive our strategy and created a commitment among the top executives.’
Franklin added that the visits had, crucially, created ‘a passion for the subject’ in MTV president Bill Roedy. As a consequence, the company has dramatically increased its involvement in work to counter HIV/Aids, identified by research as a key social concern for its young audiences. Public service announcements featuring safe sex messages, TV discussion groups, and concerts have all been run in association with the United Nations and the World Bank.
Franklin said the ‘seeing is believing’ approach – also favoured by the UK industry campaign group Business in the Community – had been adopted partly as a result of MTV’s link with the UN. ‘They insisted that if we were to get involved in Aids initiatives then we had to see it for ourselves,’ she said.