Net Impact invites Sherwin Williams to discuss social responsibility

The vice president of marketing for Sherwin Williams spoke to student members of Net Impact about his experiences in finding a balance between profit and social responsibility.

            "Corporations don't have social responsibility … people do," said Mark Sposito, vice president of marketing for Sherwin Williams who stressed the importance of social responsibility.

            Sposito, who helped Sherwin Williams through its issues with Krylon, the best selling spray paint of the 1980's, spoke of how social responsibility comes from the people within a company recognizing their effect on their customers.

            According to Sposito, Krylon was a product that had a lot of consumer appeal, but it was plagued by the negative stigma of graffiti and gang tags.

            Krylon was banned in some cities in the U.S. and caused community backlash towards Sherwin Williams.

            According to Sposito, after winning legal battles in court to save one of Sherwin Williams' best selling products, there was an up hill battle in regaining sales and a positive public opinion of the product.

            Sposito described the way in which he and his co-workers started with a defensive stance towards the topic of graffiti and gang tags, only to later transition to a move proactive position on the matter.

            Sherwin Williams began to participate with "Keep America Beautiful" in 1995 and later would develop public and private partnerships to educate the youth on the effects of graffiti and tags.

            The company focused on clean-up, neighborhood beautification and mural programs, which helped to provide workers with new skills they could later turn into a job.

            The company also introduced an anti-graffiti protective coating that allows for graffiti to simply be washed off coated surfaces. 

            "I thought it was great to hear about Sherwin Williams' recent strides in being socially responsible while introducing a new profitable product," said junior operations and supply chain management major Mark Carmen.  "Their anti-graffiti paint in conjunction with training and cleanup efforts are a great example of how using socially responsible efforts can still be profitable for a company."

            Freshman undecided business major Brian Easton said "I thought it was interesting to see a company change their reputation from bad guys to good guys by incorporating new products into their line and promoting anti-graffiti campaigns in school."