Those consumers who value CSR are willing to pay a higher price for a product with an additional social characteristic than for an identical product without this characteristic. This result is contingent on consumers being aware of the existence of the CSR attribute.
If consumers are not aware of this additional social feature, they will choose the lower-priced product. Thus, advertising plays an important role in determining the optimal level of CSR attributes or outputs provided. Advertising also helps raise awareness regarding firms' use of CSR inputs, which may be of interest to several stakeholder groups.