Green has become the new black. Dealing with this idea, the trend nowadays regarding the beauty industry seems to be more and more about sustainability and corporate social responsibility policies. Lately, CSR activities are highly performed in order to create, strength and/or clean the brand image. Cosmetic companies have long received criticism for unethical and non-environmentally friendly business practices like animal testing, waste, pollution, unsustainable sourcing or toxic ingredients. Whether responsibility toward the world and sustainability has been part of the corporate DNA or not, the beauty industry is trying to demonstrate that the focus is not only on the external appearance of the consumer, on the aesthetic, but also on the ethical and moral practices. In order to differentiate themselves from the competition, companies implement CSR initiatives and strategies to create a strong and unique brand image. In this regard, the purpose of the present study was to investigate how the top three beauty companies in Romania communicate their CSR activities externally, on their corporate website, but also what impact this types of strategies have on the Romanian consumer and on their purchase decision, by the use of a qualitative content analysis and a survey. The underlying aim of this research was to investigate the most used and valued external CSR activities, so that other beauty companies can have a guideline of the most successful initiatives, but also to determine if corporate social strategies can influence the buying decision of the consumer in a positive and significant way.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR); beauty industry; external communication; corporate website; customer purchase intention;