Ethical consumers
Consumers claim they think ethically. Evidence suggests that this intent does not drive purchasing decisions in practice. Why is this and what must be done to turn thought into action?
So what is your view on this?
8 Comments
Leave a commentLeave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading ...
‘Thinking ethically is easy.’
Very different is to act ethically, and especially if the ethical action in question collides with personal interests. Besides, a flow of advertising is inducing consumers to non-ethical purchases. The issue of ethical responsible consuming for a massified society is closer to being an utopia than a reality. In my opinion there is no way to, at a large scale, turn thought into action. However, there can be other ways to induce responsible actions, for instance tax regulation on the products and also on the companies, depending on their activities. This is, tuning the interests of consumers and companies to match ethical actions. Andres, Spain’For many people price remains decision’s factor number one.’
Buying ethical costs a lot: just check the prices of the hybrid cars, the bio food or the Oxfam clothes, the ethic funds, you’ll see that ethics is a luxury good. So we will lobby for corporates; to lower prices of special ethical products and to have a longer term policy including ethics by according fiscal helps, creating european norms, widespreading reports of NGO’s, stenghtening the part of ethics in business schools.
‘It is really hard to discover the reasons that make consumers not to think in favor of their own self.’
One possible explanation may be the fact that they don’t like spending a lot of time before they purchase a service or an item and as result they enter in a shop without caring about the price or without even knowing that another shop 20 meters further sells the same item a lot cheaper. It is amazing how much money we can save if we make a sort of a market research. There is also luck of information because it is not easy to know all the time the discounts or better prices that have some stores in a certain period of time. These prices are also sometimes not even advertised. I don’t think there is a lot to be done on this area. We must change the way we are thinking. This depends on education , family habits etc. Everyone must learn while being a child to become a orthologic consumer because as I said before it is very difficult to change somebody’s way of thinking.
‘What can we do to buy ethically?’
I think most people are touched by the situation of workers in Third-World countries, especially children, and are also (at least in Europe) interested in the ecological problems. However, two problems seem to keep them from actually buying what they think is right:
First, I think we are conditioned by adverts as much as educated to think ethically. I guess many people( including myself) find it difficult to
ask themselves the right questions (where was this made? how? by whom?) when they really want to buy something. If things were different, why would Nike
still be selling anything? Why would we still buy plastic toys when we know who makes them?
Secondly, I find it difficult to know exactly the conditions in which things are made. We have made problems for agriculture in the EU, and most of us would agree not to use US products which are often full of chemicals and don’t say it. However, can anyone find any indications of where and how dolls are made on their boxes? And it is also very difficult to find, for instance clothes, that haven’t been made in countries where we know working conditions are very bad. Most of the time, products made in proper conditions are very expensive, and I know many students (who are usually broke) trying to be careful with what they buy and not being able to, because ‘ethical’ products are way more expensive than the rest, and therefore so expensive.
So what can we do to buy ethically? Apart from a general boycott of ‘unethical’ products, or helping ethical producers more to make their products cheaper, I don’t know…
‘Consumers have a very short memory’
When asking a person whether they consider honesty an important quality you usually get a quick “yes” as an answer. Even if you catch the same person telling lies minutes later. That situation is actually very similar to ethical consumption, actually.
Most of the people value the idea of ethical consumption because it suits with the other moral values of the society. But don’t necessarily know what the phrase stands for. When ethical consumption arises as a general issue, people don’t really react. Unless the products they buy are associated with great media scandals, they continue shopping as they are used to. And ethical consumption for them could mean buying candy bars from charity organisations.
But every now and then critical products are discovered. There are scandals, accusations and, for a while, those products and producers are ignored. But consumers, you see, have a very short memory.
Getting information on the background of products is extremely complicated and we can’t expect the average consumer to spend his resources on researching. But what can be done is raising awareness. People should be reminded every now and then that there are products that are not really fair. Consumers’ attitude towards products should be developed to be more critical. This is not only the job for NGOs or state. Ethical companies would find their competitive advantage in stating their views in public.
‘I think that there is usually difference between what you think and how you are obliged to apply what you think in reality.’
I know that most of the people wish from the heart to consume products manufactured under ethical techniques but firstly searching for it takes too much time and secondly the price is a strong factor to purchase something or not.
In our daily life we consume many various products. Checking all of them if they are manufactured with environmental methods and under social responsibility is something that one may spend a lot of time. It is even harder for industrial chains like automative sector, where the various pieces come from different companies.
Beside, we all have a budget to think about so we should consider the prices of the products that we consume. In less developed countries people simply can not afford friendly products and even in some developed countries. For example, I would really wish to eat bio-meat in Switzerland because I do not agree with the methods in Europe, which they put animals into small places where they can not move, feed them with unnatural food and kill them in early ages just to eat softer meat. But the price of bio-meat was 3-4 times more expensive than the normal one. So, I had to make a consumer choice contrary to my opinion.
In my opinion the solution is highlighting how important the concept of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is and creating a competition among the companies’ images of ethical values. Companies should be convinced that their image is important to earn more money. This competition can be initiated by some big companies and if they can advertise this in a succesful way, in time the others will feel obliged to do the same for being able to compete and survive in the market.
‘Consumers are not rational operators.’
That we’ve known ever since Smith and Ricardo were criticized for a first time. The reasons are plenty and divers. Accordingly, finding an accurate remedy is difficult.
I believe that a key is building and promoting alliances of consumers. Awareness about corporate social responsibility and companies’ ethical scoreboards, for example, makes consumption intelligent. Therefore, we should facilitate the spreading of knowledge in this field. Is this to abstract? Here are three concrete examples!
There should be obligatory courses in consumption given in our schools. From early on, you would be given the basic tools to understand and see through marketing techniques.
An annual conference on consumption should be held at a European level. This would include exhibitions, workshops, an award to the best consumer achievement of the year and a lot of media coverage.
All consumer organizations in the EU should jointly publish a publication with the top 500 companies elected by consumers on the grounds of ethic, environmental and human rights achievements. The publication should be paid by the EU and its Member States and be sent out to every household in the EU. (IKEA does it, so why can’the Union and our governments?) Responsible and intelligent consumption is a pivotal part of democracy today. We cannot afford to deny that any longer.
‘Of course, consumers claim they think ethically.’
It is easy to say and think. In practice, consumers cannot follow their intents, because otherwise they would have to pay more money at checkout. In most of the European countries consumers have to decide between their savings and the ethical consuming, so most of them do not have the chance to follow their intents. If the purchasing power of european comsumers could be raised somehow, they would consume ethically, not just saying it.
‘A few tips’
How do you stay clear of debt?
In order to avoid debts I will first of all try not to spend more than I can afford as not to increase my debts in the first place. I will then seek a means of earning some extra money by either babysitting, giving some courses or by carrying out domestic tasks. In short, I refund my creditors and take a note of the situation as well as the reasons for it in order to avoid it in the future.
What do you do to keep your environment clean?
I believe it’s important to keep the environment clean because the environment we live in is essential for our daily life, our wellbeing, and because it is shared by all of us. Certain concerns, such as this one, need reminding and governments must ensure that everybody acts appropriately on a daily basis: recycling whatever can be recycled (bottles, papers…), reducing the use of aerosols, and not wasting raw materials… On a national level, other initiatives can also be carried out: the ratification of the Kyoto protocol, development of electric vehicles… The Club of Rome had already exposed this problem: we exhaust and destroy the resources of our planet, but this warning has apparently fallen on deaf ears and has failed to really change the situation.
What does common sense mean to you?
In my opinion, the expression ‘common sense’ reflects the values accepted by the whole of society. It can, to some extent, be seen as a reference, a general truth that can apparently not be contradicted. With the passing of years, certain truths may change: for instance, whereas a couple of centuries ago it was generally accepted that the earth was flat, we now “know” that the earth is round. Common sense should therefore not prevent reflection. The evolution of common sense, however, should be accompanied by a common basis for values that bind society together and make community life possible.
What should be done to dissuade young people from starting to smoke?
First of all, I believe a rise in cigarette prices to be a good means to dissuade teenagers from even considering picking up smoking. As they do not earn a living, teenagers are dependent on pocket money given by the parents and are therefore limited in what they can purchase since they must also provide for other needs. Furthermore, I believe that public awareness campaigns on the dangers of tobacco aimed at a very young audience (starting from 10-12 year olds) with animations, visits in hospitals and testimonies of patients, can contribute to the reduction of teenage smokers. Another effective means is the prohibition of smoking in an increasing number of public places (for example in trains). Lastly, I believe this problem to mainly be a consequence of education given by the parents to their children. The parents are the foremost source of reference for children and the family is the first environment for socialization, where children learn the values and norms of life in society. Nevertheless, teenagers often experiment and discard the cautions given by their relatives. This period, however, is temporary. Conscious that they risk putting their life in danger, they then realise that they are the only ones that are responsible for their acts and the consequences.
What do you think causes obesity and what can be done about it?
Obesity prevails more and more in our modern consumer society. Lack of time can be seen as the principal cause of obesity as it creates an appetite for fast food. Other causes are lack of sport, nibbling between meals due to the stress, boredom, too much time spent in front of the television or playing computer games. It is still the parents’ role to give their children healthy food, teach them about lifestyle, enrol them in sports associations, encourage them to eat school meals rather than a snack, etc. Schools could also play an important role by raising awareness on the risks of malnutrition; give educational and entertaining cooking courses (this has already been taken up in some schools in several EU member states) which simultaneously will allow for a pause from everyday class room activities. Finally the food industry should live up to its responsibilities and, thru pressure from the consumers and public authorities adapt its products.