Apple's lack of social responsibility

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the responsibility that each organization has with the environment in which it operates and with the society of which it is a part. It is a active and voluntary contribution to social improvementeconomic and environmental by the companies, with the objective of improve its public image and its added value.

In other words, it is to go beyond looking only for direct cash revenues, in order to betting on the improvement of societywhich will subsequently be passed on to the company (if I help improve my clients' lives, they will have more cash to spend on me later).

Although many companies boast of having active CSR policies, in the majority of cases they are nothing more than a dead letter with a advertising objectiveThe company's annual report to the shareholders' meeting, or to be displayed on the Web.

As Apple has just demonstrated.

Apple has decided to squeeze the market further offering to its customers the deferral of short-term purchases, o "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL). It has been demonstrated that this type of immediate credit is a system of financing very pernicious for a huge user base, especially the younger ones. and less experienced in personal finance.

How does a company that "lends" money to a user to buy a good or service and pay it back in 4 installments make money? interest-free?

Hoping that cannot meet the payment of the installments and therefore charge you a penalty. This statistically probable penalty is the viable business model on which the system is based.

For some time now, new companies fintech have emerged to offer instant consumer loans and have caused that a huge number of young people are unable to meet their debts.

The real estate debt crisis of 2008 left us the expression "aspire to live beyond your means"and those who lived that way were blamed for the situation. The reality was far from that. The real cause was the indiscriminate delivery of capital without a prior risk analysis by the lending institutions. The important thing was to deliver credits, rather than worrying about their repayment, plus interest. We already know how that ended. But, let's not forget, many became richer.

We are now at a lower level than those real estate credits, but the approach remains the same, deliver loans without feasibility analysis return. In fact, what is expected is that the loan conditions cannot be complied with. If this activity may already seem pernicious for the user, which it is, it is, in encourage a purchase that you cannot afford to pay forIf it is the manufacturer of a range of products so attractive to young people, such as Apple's, who does it directly, imagine the added problem.

A young man obsessed with the "social prestige" that comes from a elitist brandyou won't think twice when you see the sign ".finance in four interest-free payments" next to the latest iPhone.

That will cause many people to make the wrong purchasing decisions, which will put them in future trouble, as it will affect their credit history. And if we are talking about inexperienced young people in organizing their personal finances... we are helping to create an unnecessary level of stress in society.

As he says Enrique Dans, the normalization of payment schemes in four interest-free installments incentivizes irresponsible consumptionand is a problem for society, now and tomorrow.

Apple, the world's most valuable brand and valued at $1 trillionDo you really need to enter a socially irresponsible market?

Cover image by Tim Gouw at Unsplash