Many organizations use Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) standards or engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs to support sustainable business practices and mitigate third-party risk. But what about on the home-front? ‘Tis the season of celebration, but the glittery decorations and twinkling lights disguise a growing mountain of waste. Holiday treats and popular gifts bring the risk of forced labor or child labor in the extended supply chain. Let’s take a closer look. 

Wrapped up in waste

Throughout the winter holiday season, Americans send greeting cards, exchange beautifully wrapped presents and indulge in festive buffets. While we don’t want to put a damper on the joy that comes from reveling family and friends, we don’t think better awareness into the sustainability of our celebrations is a bad thing. After all, during the rest of the year, we blog about risk awareness and the benefits of ESG and CSR for corporations. Why not consider those principles for us—as consumers—as well? 

The statistics are stunning. According to research by the Peninsula Sanitary Service, inc (PSSI) and the Stanford Recycling Center, which are partnering with Stanford University toward a goal of zero waste, the holiday season is replete with waste. The period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day sees 25 percent more trash created than any other time of year—equating to one million extra tons of waste per week. How can we make a dent in the trash pile? 

• Reusing just two feet of holiday ribbon per family could save 38,000 miles of ribbon.
• Wrapping just three presents per household in recycled materials could save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
• And if everyone sent one less greeting card a season, it would save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.

But let’s look a little deeper at the issue. 

We all know people who are committed recyclers of wrapping paper and gift bags. Grandparents who lived through the Great Depression and learned the art of reduce/reuse/recycle long before it was trendy. Moms who gather up all the gift bags for use next year—often to the same people so no new tag is needed either. Siblings who painstakingly unwrap gifts and gloat because they still have gifts to unwrap after everyone else is done. (Or is that just my family?)  But such practices can make a big difference. So can using reusable decorative tins or baskets, buying holiday cards and wrapping paper made with recycled content. 

And what about the gifts underneath the wrapping paper? Like the Island of Misfit Toys in one holiday classic, landfills see more than their fair share of broken toys and faded fads—not to mention the leftover snacks that got into the bin after a holiday party. What’s more, a wide range of popular gifts come with the risk of forced labor or child labor in the supply chain—from the chocolate delights that you hand to a party host to the holiday-themed PJs many where throughout the season.  

Gift-giving can be more environmentally and socially responsible. For example, give gifts that support year-round eco-consciousness like refillable water bottles, canvas shopping totes, or battery rechargers. Looks for solar-powered products or ones that have long life cycles and few power requirements like Legos. And, of course, homemade gifts are a great alternative. Not sure what to make?  In the age of Pinterest, you have plenty of inspiration to choose from and even a Pinterest ‘fail’ will be good for a laugh during your holiday get-togethers.  

And to keep forced labor out of your gift bag, look for brands that have strong commitments to CSR and ESG standards and fair-trade sources for unique gifts that come from sustainable supply chains. By supporting companies that are committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, holiday consumers can provide even more incentive for organizations to embrace best practices for mitigating the risk of forced labor in supply chains and developing products and services that do good not only for customers, but for communities around the world.

Isn’t that the ‘good will’ that is at the heart of the holidays anyhow? 

Coordinating a global PR strategy can sometimes seem like a Sisyphean struggle. When cornerstone ideas of your company's (or client's) brand don't cross international borders, there's a temptation to either limit your reach or cook up completely different strategies for each territory. However, there is recent precedent for commercial ideas circling the globe, bringing rich new PR opportunities with them—for evidence, simply look at the Retailers Mentioned in conjunction Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday started as a simple concept, namely that it is the day after Thanksgiving and the first shopping day of the winter holiday season. Brands would naturally want such a buying frenzy to go global in an age of cross-border commerce, but there's a hitch—Thanksgiving is an American holiday. What to do? Companies have remained tenacious and, as the examples below show, the shopping holiday has found its feet in markets that don't celebrate Thanksgiving.

Black Friday Crosses the Pacific

The words "Black Friday" have become divorced from Thanksgiving, and are now being used to sell goods around the world. Last year, Kotaku culture reporter Brian Ashcraft highlighted the expansion of a three-day Black Friday sales period running through the post-Thanksgiving weekend in Japan. While the unofficial holiday doesn't yet prompt the kind of hysteria it promises in America, the Black Friday name is omnipresent.

Ashcraft noted that the attempt to drive shopping in Japan is in its early stages, which makes Japan an interesting case to watch from a PR perspective. Some retailers, obviously reacting to buyer confusion about what the sales represent, have taken an informative approach to their promotional campaigns.

The question now facing Japanese retailers is whether they can establish Black Friday in the country's lineup of important retail dates. Ashcraft explained that the New Year is currently the king of sales in the country, with its own unique traditions. Retailers have ample incentive to continue pushing Black Friday via informational campaigns, hype and whatever other means they can come up with—it would make a great addition to their fall financial statements.

UK Shoppers Join the Black Friday Throngs

Fortune's 2016 overview of Black Friday in the United Kingdom revealed a country that has internalized the retail holiday so deeply that it is already evolving dramatically. Retailers are shifting from in-person sales to enabling online and mobile shopping. The source explained that 2014 represented a breaking point. Bad weather and fights between shoppers painted Black Friday as an unpleasant experience. But it didn't disappear, it went online.

Now, Fortune reported that companies were preparing for a wave of purchases made from smartphones. The concept of time-sensitive discounts remains, but the manner of sales has increased. There is a PR lesson in this change, too: Companies shouldn't be afraid to let the nature of an event change, provided they still stand to benefit from it.

In a few short years, Black Friday has gone from an imported retail scrum to a chance for companies to boost their online sales revenues before the winter holidays. This is an especially impressive pivot considering the original impetus for Black Friday—Thanksgiving—is absent from the UK calendar.

This trend is spreading to other countries as well. Shoppers in Germany and France have joined the bargain-hunting fray. Our neighbor to the north has embraced Black Friday, in part because Canadian retailers want to keep shoppers from crossing the border for great deals. And NPR’s Weekend Edition showcased on-the-ground reporting  at Black Friday events in Bogota, Colombia. Retailers in Australia, Brazil and Denmark have also begun offering Black Friday discounts.

Data Visualizations Highlight Coverage & Reach of Black Friday

Okay, yes, Black Friday started in the U.S., but where does it stand today? What about the rise of Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday? Looking at the media coverage over time, Black Friday still garners most of the media attention, but Cyber Monday has its own day to shine. Compared to last year, Coverage Over Time increased for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Small Business Saturday coverage fared the worst, earning less coverage than another recent addition—Giving Tuesday.

Cyber Monday grabbed 19% of the share of voice with more than 276,000 articles, and the two newbies—Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday—captured over 3.1% and 2.4% share of voice respectively.

While Giving Tuesday and Small Business Saturday coverage may be small, the media article count for these two purchasing holidays has grown by over 10,000 articles since our tracking in 2015. Here in the U.S., businesses may get lost in the shuffle with a Black Friday campaign, so adept PR professionals may look to the lesser known shopping days to get some brand coverage. Giving Tuesday may be just the opportunity to connect the fun and excitement of Black Friday with corporate social responsibility campaigns. Will Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday and Small Business Saturday become the next global exports? Well, Giving Tuesday has already made it to 68 countries across the globe. Where will it go next?

Keep Your Eyes Open for PR Opportunities

As a PR professional, your job is to always stay aware of potential opportunities, no matter where those chances appear. Whether you're leading the charge into a new territory or taking advantage of changing conditions, media monitoring with a global reach is an essential element of your expansion. If the global Black Friday spread proves one thing, it's that you should never assume that a promotional tactic won't work in a specific territory. Where there's a will, there's a way.

3 Ways to Apply This Information Now

Issues like budgets and funding for education are staples of every legislative session in every state. In our second installment of our annual three-part legislative preview, we continue our look at other issues we think will keep lawmakers occupied in the coming year.

HEALTH CARE: Although the hue and cry heading into November’s mid-term elections was often centered on other issues, voters were most concerned with health care. As reporter Annie Lowrey wrote in The Atlantic a few days before the election, “Health care has become the single most important policy topic in the midterm elections — everywhere and nowhere, a strange kind of omnipresent sleeper issue. It’s not grabbing many national headlines, compared with the migrant caravan or the Supreme Court fight or violence directed against minority groups or the trade war, but it’s motivating voters in race after race after race.”

That isn’t likely to abate in the coming year, even though Democrats reclaiming the House likely will prevent Congressional Republicans and President Trump from completely overturning the Affordable Care Act. But any number of federal rules around issues like insurer subsidies and approving state-level plans definitely remain in play, including for those that violate tenets of the ACA. 

The end of the federal mandate for individuals to have health coverage or pay a penalty will also be part of the discussion. With several states already reporting a decline in ACA enrollment, there is growing concern among health advocates that the uninsured will again be flooding into emergency rooms, long the most expensive and least efficient medical care available. With virtually no chance that Congress will reinstate the mandate, some states will at least consider copying New Jersey by imposing their own mandate.

MEDICAID: Of the seven governorships that are moving from GOP to Dem control, all seven Democrats ran on a platform of expanding Medicaid or retaining expansion already undertaken in their states. Voters also endorsed ballot measures to authorize expansion in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah, bringing to 36 the number of states agreeing to broaden Medicaid eligibility to include those earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Attention will focus primarily on Kansas and Wisconsin, two of the states with incoming Democratic governors that support expansion but which face GOP-controlled legislatures where support for it ranges from uncertain to unlikely.

DRUG PRICES: States have made a number of efforts in recent years to control rising prescription drug prices, including bills to address pharmaceutical price gouging, removing so-called “gag orders” on pharmacy benefit managers and requiring greater transparency from drug companies seeking price hikes. With federal action on drug pricing bogged down, expect states to continue looking at numerous angles for controlling price increases.

NET NEUTRALITY: Net neutrality – barring telecoms and ISP providers from blocking or slowing down access to websites or other Internet services and content to coerce consumers into paying for their services instead – became a highly contentious issue in a majority of statehouses in 2018. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 30 states introduced a total of 72 bills this year addressing net neutrality, with three adopting net neutrality requirements. A fourth, California’s SB 822,  would enact even tougher net neutrality requirements than those the FCC dropped earlier this year.

The wild card is pending litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C., which is expected to rule in the spring on a lawsuit brought forth by 22 state attorneys general, consumer groups and even some tech companies seeking to overturn the FCC action. There are also two pending lawsuits seeking to overturn the California law, one by a collection of telecoms and the other by the Trump administration. California reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to hold off on implementing its law until the court rules.

If the court ultimately restores net neutrality, state laws would essentially become moot. If not, or if the case continues on to a possible Supreme Court challenge, another wave of state-level legislation, particularly in states that turned blue on Election Day, could be forthcoming.

GERRYMANDERING: With centennial redistricting drawing near and partisanship at a fever pitch, the interest in who will draw state and congressional district lines is intense. As reported in the SNCJ last month, at least 19 states this year considered bills to have those lines drawn by independent commissions rather than by lawmakers, while voters in four states approved measures in November to adopt commissions. Meanwhile, legal battles continue over how the lines in Maryland, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas and Virginia are drawn. Another is likely to be filed in New Jersey if majority Democrats there go forth with a plan to change the Garden State constitution to entrench their hold on Trenton. Meanwhile, eyes will be on Missouri, where voters approved a measure that creates a first-in-the-nation system using a mathematical formula to ensure fairness in how its lines are drawn.

SPORTS BETTING: In the months since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting, a half dozen states have gone all in on the opportunity to score big off the nation’s passion for wagering on sports. If the fiscal windfall in states like New Jersey is any indication of the money to be made, it shouldn’t be surprising that a whole lot more are looking to join them in 2019 (See Budget & Taxes in this issue). But doing so requires answering some potentially thorny questions, such as how much each state will tax sports wagers, both in person and online, and what kind of licensing fees states will charge to sportsbook operators. There is also the growing push from professional sports leagues to get their cut in the form of so-called “integrity fees” they say will cover their increased cost of ensuring the games stay above board.

OPIOIDS: In recent years states have undertaken a wide range of efforts to curb opioid abuse, including weighing in on at least 480 opioid-related bills across 45 states in 2018. But in spite of many states providing greater access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, limiting how doctors may prescribe opioid pain medications and significantly enhanced monitoring of drug prescriptions, opioid-related deaths continue to rise. With no end in sight, there will undoubtedly continue to be a staggering number of bills introduced in this area. One interesting possibility to keep an eye on is the use of cannabis for pain relief instead of opioid medications. Although the supporting data is limited, states like Illinois and Georgia are now openly promoting marijuana as an alternative to opioids.

PAID SICK LEAVE: Less than a dozen states currently have laws requiring employers to offer workers specific amounts of paid sick leave, something that has driven the issue more to the local level than to statewide applications. That could well change with Democrats taking control of all branches of government in several states next year. But opponents of such laws are also gearing up for a fight. In Michigan, the GOP-controlled legislature this month made sweeping changes to paid sick leave and minimum wage laws adopted last September as a means for keeping them off the ballot. And in Texas, a recent appeals court ruling invalidated a paid sick leave ordinance adopted in Austin last February. The ruling was specific to that city, but observers expect it will spark a challenge to a similar ordinance in San Antonio, and legislation has already been filed in the statehouse to bar local jurisdictions from adopting their own paid sick leave laws.

DISASTER LIABILITY: A battle is shaping up in fire-ravaged California over not only how to better protect against massive wildfires but also the liability of public utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric for its role in how many of those fires started. Similar debates could strike up all over the western U.S., as assuredly will those revolving around efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change.

For more analysis of 2019 hot issues, please join us on Tuesday, December 11th for State Net's complimentary 2019 Legislative Preview Webinar.  Register HERE

Voters in three states approved measures on Election Night to expand Medicaid, bringing to 36 [plus the District of Columbia] that have agreed to broaden eligibility to include those earning 138 percent of the federal poverty rate. One of those, Maine, approved expansion in 2017 but the process has been repeatedly blocked by Gov. Paul LePage (R). That is expected to change in January when Gov.-elect Janet Mills (D) takes office. Conversely, Montana voters in November rejected a ballot measure that would have extended the Treasure State’s expansion beyond June 30, 2019. That plan will sunset on that date unless lawmakers act to extend it. 

Missouri is among a handful of states that will consider becoming the next to legalize betting on sports, with legislation filed this past week considered among those with strong odds for success.

Bills to legalize sports bets have also already been pre-filed in Virginia, Kentucky, and in Tennessee, where it was filed early enough to get the bill number HB 1. 

Tennessee may be the long shot of the latest interested states, though. There aren’t any casinos or racetracks in the Volunteer State, so who might apply for a license is unclear. And Gov.-elect Bill Lee (R) said during the campaign he opposes legalizing sports betting.

New York will also be closely watched. Legislation to legalize betting failed in Albany last year, but Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D) recently told Legal Sports Report he will refile sports betting legislation in January.

In Missouri, legislation by Sen. Denny Hoskins (R) authorizes sports betting, and the House sponsor of last year’s failed effort in the Show Me State said he thinks the bill will generate interest.

“I certainly anticipate it being out there for discussion before the House and the Senate,” Rep. Dean Plocher (R) told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Missouri has 13 casinos that are interested in the market, and backers there have pushed for the tax revenue from sports betting to go to education. The Associated Press reported that while Gov. Mike Parson (R) isn’t leading the charge to legalize sports betting, a spokesman said he isn’t opposed to the idea either. Analysts cited by the industry blog Legal Gambling and the Law estimate Missouri’s sports betting market could be worth $60 million.

Hoskins’ bill in Missouri currently calls for a 12 percent tax on gross receipts from wagering, and a $10,000 application fee for licenses to run sports books.

Legislation in Virginia envisions a 15 percent tax rate, and a $250,000 licensing fee for up to five sports books. Kentucky’s measure, by Sen. Julian Carroll (D), would only put a 3 percent tax on the handle, along with a $250,000 licensing fee. Tennessee would impose a 10 percent tax with a $7,500 license fee. (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, ASSOCIATED PRESS, SPORTS HANDLE, CASINO.ORG, LEGAL SPORTS REPORT)