The advertising of corporate social responsibility in a Brazilian bank

Purpose – Organizations achieve brand awareness through marketing efforts. Studies show that advertising plays a central role in garnering results. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertised by a retail bank in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was adopted, with the three steps proposed by Fairclough: textual analysis, processing analysis, and social analysis. This approach allows in‐depth analysis of the CSR discourse present in communications of organizations with their target. Findings – Literature indicates that consumers prefer to obtain personal advantages rather than benefits to the environment in which they live. This could influence organizations’ preference towards communication campaigns that demonstrate CSR actions, and that additionally communicate benefits which individuals receive. However, one of the largest banks using advertising limited to CSR‐specific aspects achieves impressive brand awareness results. Originality/value – This study presents evidence that CSR advertising can stimulate brand awareness without using commercial aspects in its content.