• by Erik Sass , July 5, 2006

College students rank social responsibility higher than celebrity endorsement as factors in their choice of consumer brands, with a focus on contributions to social and environmental causes, according to the results of a study by Alloy Media + Marketing and Harris Interactive released today. The two firms conducted an online survey of 1,793 adults ages 18-30 and currently enrolled in college in an attempt to dissect some of their consumer choices. Altogether, the cohort of over 17 million wields total buying power of $182 billion.

Fully 33 percent of respondents said they prefer brands known for involvement with not-for-profit causes, community activism, or environment-friendly practices. The number endorsing this criterion was more than double the next most-cited, "great image"--which was embraced by 16 percent of respondents. Meanwhile, celebrity endorsements are considered by only 2 percent of respondents in their purchase decisions. Overall, 24 percent of respondents said they had purchased a product in the last year because it was "socially conscious."

Among specific brands mentioned by college students, Ben & Jerry's was admired for its "Lick Global Warming" campaign, while Newman's Own earned praise for donating all profits to charity. Burt's Bees, Yoplait, and the Body Shop also fared well.

These findings seem to confirm other recent surveys that show that 45 percent of college students are engaged in volunteer work, with 49 percent of this cohort saying that volunteer work "makes them feel good about themselves." According to Samantha Skey, senior vice president of strategic marketing for Alloy: "We are seeing that today's young people expect corporations to be socially responsible and that students prefer to associate with brands that they perceive to be positive contributors to the community."

The results of the Harris-Alloy study are especially interesting when juxtaposed with another recent survey of the population at large by the National Consumers League and Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, which found that fully 76 percent of respondents ranked a company's employee welfare ahead of all other considerations--including environmental stewardship and corporate philanthropy. Although these disparate results suggest some divergence between college students and the population at large, another finding from the second survey--namely, that 47 percent of respondents cited their own Internet research as their source of information--may well cut across both groups.