by Marlene Menck, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.
Imagine you’re standing in the supermarket just before Christmas. A pink box catches your eye, your favourite cake in a limited edition. It’s from a brand you like and trust and you’ve bought before. You step closer and notice a familiar name on the tag: an influencer you’ve followed for years. You turn the label over and read that the collaboration supports a hospital by financing medical equipment for children with bone tumours. Then your gaze falls on the price: €9. You usually pay around €4 for a cake like this. Still, you place the box in your shopping basket. It feels good. You believe that with this purchase, you are helping sick children.
This is how many people in Italy felt in 2022 when the traditional confectionery company Balocco launched the “Pandoro Pink Christmas” campaign with influencer and entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni. The cake was promoted as supporting a donation to the Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital in Turin. Months later, the Italian Competition Authority clarified that the €50,000 donation had already been made before the campaign and was not linked to sales, while Balocco and Ferragni still benefited financially. Legally, the case concerned misleading business practices. But beyond legality, what does this reveal when viewed through the lens of Sustainable and Responsible Management?
Let’s return to that moment in the supermarket. At first, it was just a cake in a pink box. But after reading the label, it became something more: a morally meaningful purchase. You noticed the significantly higher price, yet this only reinforced your belief that part of the money served a good cause. As a customer, you were no longer simply buying dessert but participating in something larger. This is the power of purpose-driven marketing.
Purpose can justify price premiums and strengthen emotional attachment, but it also raises expectations and increases vulnerability. If those expectations do not match reality, how do you feel? Probably disappointed. Perhaps even betrayed. The trust you placed in the brand suddenly feels misplaced.
When companies frame purchasing as support for a social cause, there is more involved than sugar and flour. There is trust. And once trust becomes part of a business strategy, it requires protection.
That is where Sustainable and Responsible Management (SRM) becomes essential. It is no longer sufficient to ask, “Is this legal?” The more important question is, “How will this be interpreted, and what expectations might arise?” Responsible management requires anticipating stakeholder perceptions and ensuring alignment between words and actions.
This is precisely what the SRM module of the International Business Administration and Entrepreneurship programme at Leuphana University prepares managers for: organising responsibility when economic strategies shape moral expectations.
In January 2026, Chiara Ferragni was acquitted and later described the situation as a “miscommunication”. A substantial personal donation followed. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding. Perhaps it was a lesson.
What remains is this: When a cake becomes a cause, expectations arise. And expectations shape trust. Once trust becomes part of the value proposition, managing it responsibly is core management work.
So, next time you see a product like the “pink box”, or consider marketing one yourself, remember that this is not just about selling a product. Expectations are shaped. And expectations carry responsibility.
