Brand Sustainability and Social Responsibility: Impact on Consumer Loyalty in the Local Beauty Sector Amidst Geopolitical Crises

The beauty market in Indonesia has been seeing significant growth annually from 2019 until now. As consumers grow increasingly discriminating, a beauty brand’s dedication to ethical practices, including awareness of environmental, socio-political, and geopolitical issues, may distinguish it from rivals. The importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in shaping consumer perceptions has intensified due to the geopolitical crises occurring in light of the Palestine-Israel conflict. Consumers now anticipate brands to voice their opinions on social and political issues, and the degree to which a brand aligns with their own values influences their purchasing decisions. This paper will be focusing on the local beauty brands in Indonesia who are doing CSR initiatives in relation with the Palestine-Israel boycott issue. There is sufficient previous research on this topic. However, there is still limited research focusing on the CSR initiatives done as a result of boycotting the products to consumer loyalty. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of the CSR initiatives done by local beauty brands who are supporting Palestine as oppose to the phenomena of boycotting as an effect to consumer loyalty as part of brands’ sustainability and social responsibility seen in the evidence of the product user in Indonesia. This is a descriptive conceptual paper that proposes a comprehensive framework for understanding how local beauty brands can effectively leverage CSR strategies to foster consumers loyal in times of social and political turmoil. The proposition shows that CSR initiatives positively influence consumer loyalty through improving brand image, fostering trust, and resonating with consumer values amid the geopolitical conflict where consumer prefer brands showing authentic social responsibility and community support. This study is a conceptual study, hence the limitation of this paper lies in the absence of the empirical data. Future studies should be conducted quantitatively to test further the proposition and hypothesis.