Sources used in this document:

I agree with you that organizations must be like REI to really win consumer trust when they try to leverage their CSR as part of their brand image and marketing. From the very beginning, long before it was fashionable, REI made encouraging people to get out of doors and embrace and feel genuine responsibility for the environment a critical part of its vision and mission. REI does not use CSR to be fashionable or to have a section on its website devoted to environmentalism, or to generate goodwill via its social media. Its sustainable products and actions show that it is willing to make a financial investment in improving the world. Encouraging environmental protection and fighting climate change is, of course, good for the company in the very long term, since without a sustainable environment where people wish to go for their recreational hours, there will be no need for its products. But it is to its credit that REI engages in such long-term thinking, rather than simply on generating short-term profits by cutting costs or simply focusing on selling more products. The Black Friday closure you note cited by Collins (2020) also shows a radical willingness to embrace an anti-consumer ethic when it helps the environment as well as the mental health of its employees.

ReferenceCollins, M. (2020). Resisting Black Friday: REI and Patagonia’s stances on consumerism. ElonJournal, 27(11), 2.