While businesses are increasingly active in raising voices for social and political issues, known as corporate social advocacy (CSA), the strategies, impacts, and ethics of controversial businesses’ CSA are largely unknown. This study draws on the visual framing theory and CSA literature to explore how visual framings are constructed in cannabis companies’ CSA and their effects on public engagement (i.e., likes and comments) on Instagram. Findings from content analysis of 502 Instagram posts by 42 cannabis companies reveal that cannabis companies construct the meaning of CSA via various visual strategies. However, they may still have a long way to go before initiating authentic image-based CSA. Regression analyses found that gender, color, and issue category are among influential visual characteristics that can foster or impede public engagement, raising critical consideration of cannabis companies’ positionality in corporate activism. This study advances the theory-driven, nuanced, and contextualized understanding of corporate communication in today’s polarized public opinion environment and increasingly visual-focused media landscape.

虽然企业越来越积极地为社会和政治问题发出声音，即所谓的企业社会倡导 (CSA)，但有争议的企业 CSA 的策略、影响和道德在很大程度上还是未知的。本研究利用视觉框架理论和 CSA 文献来探讨大麻公司 CSA 中视觉框架的构建方式及其对 Instagram 上公众参与（即点赞和评论）的影响。对 42 家大麻公司的 502 条 Instagram 帖子进行内容分析的结果表明，大麻公司通过各种视觉策略构建 CSA 的含义。然而，在启动真正的基于图像的 CSA 之前，他们可能还有很长的路要走。回归分析发现，性别、肤色和问题类别是有影响力的视觉特征，可以促进或阻碍公众参与，从而引发对大麻公司在企业行动中的地位的批判性考虑。这项研究推进了在当今两极分化的舆论环境和日益注重视觉的媒体环境中对企业传播的理论驱动、细致入微和情境化的理解。