Abstract:
Cause related marketing (CRM) can be described as marketing that involves an organization’s
contribution to a specific cause with the aim to affect their consumers' purchase decisions
positively (Pracejus and Olsen, 2004). The purpose of the study is to contribute to the growing
body of knowledge in the area of CRM. This study will investigate whether product type and
perceived fit affect consumer responses to a CRM campaign. This research will focus on the effect
CRM has on consumer behaviour. It will try to determine If CRM is best suited for utilitarian
products (UP) or luxury products (LP), and will also explore whether there should be a link
between the cause of an organization’s CRM and the products to affect consumer attitudes and
purchase behaviour positively. The research will focus on personal hygiene products within the
young female market in Gauteng. The study uses a positivist paradigm, and the research
questions/hypotheses were developed within this paradigm. Electronically distributed structured
questionnaires was used as a collection tool. The analysis of the data was done using descriptive
statistics to “organize and summarise [the] data in a meaningful way” (Maree, 2020). The findings
of the study indicate that CRM always has a positive effect on young females’ attitude and
purchase intent, regardless of product type (distinguishing between utilitarian and luxury
products), regardless of the link of the product to the CRM cause and regardless of the
consumers’ initial attitude towards the cause of the CRM. This indicated that CRM can be
regarded as an effective marketing tool to use in the young female market in Gauteng, South
Africa. However, the results also indicate that a CRM campaign will be more effective when
consumers’ attitude towards the cause of the campaign is more positive and when the campaign
has a stronger link to the product. It is therefore also important to consider the choice of CRM
campaign strategically.
