In a recent AdvertisingAge article called: For Unilever, P&G, No Good Deed Is Going Unpunished Jack Neff quotes Howard Rubenstein as saying:
[the] confluence of marketing and politics that shows no signs of abating, with marketers tracking online buzz and other measures of public opinion as doggedly as politicians track polls He goes on to say…high-profile marketers are in the political arena to stay, whether they want to or not.
Indeed, the rise in social responsibility + the rise in social media (& the ability to track it) does seem to = a challenging new world order type mix for companies. As for those working in Brand Management (e.g. people like me who lead R&D, PR, sales, finance, and creative agencies etc.) it becomes more and more critical to surround yourself with fantastic, forward thinking PR/marketing to help navigate these new waters. Certainly, there is little room for error in this brave new world. And even great ideas that drive wonderful causes can easily go wrong as public opinion can now shift on a dime. It is one thing to be able to track the conversation, but an entirely new thing to react quickly once it starts going into an entirely unintended direction. Side Note: I do hope the current raging greenwashing debates do not discourage companies from leveraging “Good” going forward.
So who volunteers for the job of brand pollster? There might be some positions opening up soon… 
Check out this good post from What Do you Stand For? commenting on the AdAge article:
Ryan Jones is interested in marketing and good causes. He currently works in Global Brand Management at Procter & Gamble and resides in Geneva, Switzerland.