Snapdeal.comnagar, Promotion or CSR?

Shivnagar a remote village in Uttar Pradesh has been rechristened to snapdeal.com nagar. Snapdeal.com is a year old company allowing consumers to get great deals through group buying. This online venture would develop the overall infrastructure including installing water pumps, developing local schools. It’s a cool CSR initiative. If snapdeal achieves what it has set out for, it will be a land mark in the history of CSR, keep in mind snapdeal is only a year old venture. CSR is not just giving back to the society, it’s a way to instill brand image too. But, after this news flash, many believe it is a promotional activity. I think one cannot just view this as a promotional activity. Sure, this will help snapdeal to greatly improve their public image, will certainly grab a lot of attention. But, why not, when they have ventured into something worthwhile, which even the government has failed to do so, they deserve a pat on the back. The various responses shows otherwise, people just see this as a promotional activity, but fail to see the benefits to the society. The cause of this reaction can be found in the roots of Indian culture, where modesty is held with the utmost esteem. You can do great things for the society, but you should keep it hush hush too, to show that you are modest, the best quality possible. But, if businesses strive for a pressing social issue, why shouldn’t it be acknowledged, and if businesses use it to leverage their own brand image, why not. Another thing I would like to point out, the villagers themselves agreed to change the name to snapdeal.com nagar from shivnagar, to show gratitude. Snapdeal.com didn’t force it on them. I think it’s a great move by this company, which is still in a nascent stage. Like I said before, if they achieve what they had set out for, it would indeed be a remarkable achievement.