This was a genius branding move for AT&T, which garnered attention and customer goodwill simply by making a commercial about a do-gooding business. I’d even wager that AT&T acquired new customers by painting an aspirational picture of AT&T users as entrepreneurial and altruistic. For no more than the cost of a commercial, AT&T netted public acclaim, engaged customers and forked a bite of the corporate social responsibility-flavored pie.

So is this good or bad? Did AT&T pull off a cause marketing coup by setting a precedent for companies to claim credit for social or environmental stewardship without lightening their pockets or putting nail to hammer? Or did AT&T provide an indirect route to shoeing more children by introducing TOMS Shoes to a national, prime time audience?

From a business perspective, the impact is exceedinly positive for both AT&T, TOMS Shoes and TOMS’ beneficiaries, which is a key criterion on which cause marketing is judged. Could AT&T have done more? Always. Did the company put together a commercial that was handily self-serving. Yes, which is a principle role of business. I argue that in addition to profit, another role of business is social impact. To gauge just what impact the commercial had, I contacted TOMS.  Mycoskie shared that since the initial airing of the spot, TOMS has seen more awareness of its buy-one-give-one business model from an “incredibly diverse and extensive group of people.” There’s been increased consumer demand for the shoes which has encouraged stores “across the country to carry a larger variety of TOMS, helping to solidify TOMS ability to give 300,000 pairs of new shoes to children in need around the world.”

What’s not measured in the number of shoes bought (and therefore donated) since the commercial’s launch is the ripple effect of more companies adopting a buy-one-give-one model and an increased awareness among consumers that they can make a social impact by virtue of their product choices. Since its launch in 2006, TOMS Shoes has inspired other social enterprising businesses like LJ Urban, WeDrink Water Bottles and SunNight Solar. Buy-one-give-one is an appealing model to consumers and is gaining traction as a viable business model.

I did a quick Twitter search to glean real time reaction to the commercial. Overwhelmingly, the tweets were positive. I’ve included some below. What’s your take on AT&T’s commercial profiling of Blake Mycoskie and his One for One shoe business?

July 13-19 tweets

• TOMS are awesome. They come with AT&T service.
• If I were an impoverished youth, I’d prefer a shoe with support rather than those cheaply constructed trend-driven toms, at&t endorsed or not.
• I like AT&T more and more every time I see their #TOMS commercial with @BlakeMycoskie.
• TOMS at&t commercial! Ha. My first time ever seeing it. I want new toms =[
• i just saw a toms slash at&t commerical ..it made me think of you @xxxx// thanks! I own a billion pairs.