The purpose of this study was to explore consumers\u27 attitudes toward a somewhat socially controversial cause in the context of a CRM campaign, specifically the cause of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) homeless youth. It investigated the effects of positive and negative message framing and the use of guilt appeals on consumer attitudes. Self-schema theory and elaboration likelihood model informed the objectives of this study. Experimental design was used alongwith regression and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The analysis indicated that attitudes toward the brand, and attitudes toward the cause, positively predicted consumers\u27 purchase intentions. Findings provide support for the idea that consumer-cause fit is an important factor in determining consumer response to a CRM campaign. Consumers evaluate the brand more positively in a cause-brand alliance when they feel the cause is relevant to their self-schema
