Ethical consumerism is the intentional purchase of products and services that the customer considers to be made ethically. This may mean with minimal harm to or
exploitationThe term "exploitation" may carry two distinct meanings:# The act of using something for any purpose. In this case, exploit is a synonym for use.# The act of using something in an unjust or cruel manner...
of humans, animals and/or the
natural environmentThe natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof....
. Ethical consumerism is practiced through 'positive buying' in that ethical products are favoured, or 'moral
boycottA boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.-Etymology:...
', that is negative purchasing and company-based purchasing.
The rise in ethical consumerism and
green brandsGreen brands are those brands that consumers associate with environmental conservation and sustainable business practices.Such brands appeal to consumers who are becoming more aware of the need to protect the environment. A green brand can add a unique selling point to a product and can boost...
that identify themselves as ethical, has led to a rise in ethic-based decisions in the mass market, enabled by increased understanding and information about businesses practices. The term ethical consumerism may refer to the wider movement within marketing, which means that large corporations wish to be seen as working ethically and improving the ethical standards of their industry.
Alternative terms are
ethical consumption,
ethical purchasing,
moral purchasing,
ethical sourcing,
ethical shopping or
green consumerism.
Global morality
In "The Global Markets As An Ethical System",
John McMurtryJohn McMurtry, FRSC is a moral philosopher and ethicist who works at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He is a firm anticapitalist and advocate of the anti-globalization movement. He was named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in June 2001...
argues that there is no purchasing decision that does not itself imply some moral choice, and that there is no purchasing that is not ultimately moral in nature. This mirrors older arguments, especially by the Anabaptists, e.g.
MennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s,
AmishThe various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches. They are best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences...
, that one must accept all personal moral and spiritual liability of all harms done at any distance in space or time to anyone by one's own choices. It is often suggested that Judeo-Christian scriptures further direct followers towards practising good stewardship of the Earth, under an obligation to a God who is believed to have created the planet for us to share with other creatures... It should be noted, however, that a very similar argument can be presented from an entirely secular
humanistHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
point of view, and there are many people who believe that it is simply better for human beings to acknowledge that the planet supports
lifeLife is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes from those that do not—either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as "inanimate."In biology, the science of living organisms, "life"...
only because of a delicate balance of many different factors.
Accordingly, sustainability is required and purchasing for vanity or status is abhorred and shunned. This theory is echoed in some modern eco-villages who adopt very similar stances, effectively blocking all goods that do not satisfy their moral criteria at the village gate, and relying on internally produced food and tools as much as possible.
Spending as morality
Certain trust criteria, e.g. creditworthiness or
implied warrantyIn common law jurisdictions, an implied warranty is a contract law term for certain assurances that are presumed to be made in the sale of products or real property, due to the circumstances of the sale. These assurances are characterized as warranties irrespective of whether the seller has...
, are considered to be part of any purchasing or sourcing decision. However, these terms refer to broader systems of guidance that would, ideally, cause any purchasing decision to disqualify offered products or services based on non-price criteria that do not affect the functional, but rather moral, liabilities of the entire production process.
Paul HawkenPaul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and best-selling author. At age 20, he moved to Boston to study macrobiotic philosophy under Michio and Aveline Kushi. He then dedicated his life to changing the relationship between business and the environment, and between human and...
, a proponent of
Natural CapitalismNatural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution is a 1999 book co-authored by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins. It has been translated into a dozen languages and was the subject of a Harvard Business Review summary....
, refers to "comprehensive outcomes" of production services as opposed to the "culminative outcomes" of using the product of such services. Often, moral criteria are part of a much broader shift away from
commodity marketsCommodity markets are markets where raw or primary products are exchanged. These raw commodities are traded on regulated commodities exchanges, in which they are bought and sold in standardized contracts....
towards a deeper
service economyService economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments. One is the increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. Services account for a higher percentage of US GDP than 20 years ago...
where all activities, from growing to harvesting to processing to delivery, are considered part of the
value chainThe value chain, also known as value chain analysis, is a concept from business management that was first described and popularized by Michael Porter in his 1985 best-seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance....
and for which consumers are "responsible".
Some argue that "Shopping is more important than voting", and that the disposition of
moneyMoney is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value, and occasionally, a standard of deferred payment...
is the most basic role we play in any system of
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. Some theorists believe that it is the clearest way that we express our actual moral choices, i.e., if we say we care about something but continue to buy from parties that have a high probability of risk of harm or destruction of that thing, we don't really care about it, we are practicing a form of simple
hypocrisyHypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie. Hypocrisy may come from a desire to hide from others actual motives or feelings....
.
Criticism
Critics argue that the ability to effect structural change is limited in ethical consumerism. Some cite the preponderance of niche markets as the actual effect of ethical consumerism, while others argue that information is limited regarding the outcomes of a given purchase, preventing consumers from making informed ethical choices. Critics have also argued that the uneven distribution of wealth prevents consumerism, ethical or otherwise, from fulfilling its democratic potential.
Growing Diverse use of Term
As large corporations have tried to position themselves as moral, principled or ethical organisations, the definition has become wider and means different things to different groups of people. For example McDonalds started to sell salads, (a more healthy choice) and has a
corporate social responsibilityCorporate social responsibility , also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible business , or corporate social performance, is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
blog.
Ethical Consumerism can be seen as a movement in
marketingMarketing is an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities are informed or persuaded that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others....
, which may or may not reflect actual changes in the practices of businesses. Particular areas of interest for large businesses are
environmental impact and the
treatment of workers at the bottom of the organisational hierarchy. This change reflects an increasing awareness of ethical issues and
corporate identityIn marketing, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
amongst mainstream consumers.
Positive buying
Positive buying means favoring ethical products, be they fair trade, cruelty free, organic, recycled, re-used, or produced locally. This option is arguably the most important since it directly supports progressive companies.
Standards and labels
A number of standards and labels have been introduced to induce positive buying, such as:
- Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange is a for-profit Fairtrade worker-owned, cooperative headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange distributes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Founded in 1986, it is...
- Fairtrade
- Social Accountability 8000
- organic food
Organic foods are made according to certain production standards. For the vast majority of human history, agriculture can be described as organic; only during the 20th century was a large supply of new synthetic chemicals introduced to the food supply...
- Organic Trade Association
The Organic Trade Association is a membership-based association that focuses on the organic business community in North America. Made up of approximately 1,700 members, OTA represents businesses across the organic supply chain, from farmers to retailers, and covers all organic products, including...
- Green America Seal of Approval
- Shade-grown coffee
- kosher (religious standard)
- halaal (religious standard)
- No Pork No Lard (semi-religious standard)
- vegan
- free-range poultry
- grass fed beef
- union-made
- dolphin safe
Cetacean bycatch is the incidental capture of non-target cetacean species by fisheries. Species which are seriously affected by this include dolphins, porpoises, and whales. Bycatch can be caused by entanglement in fishing nets and lines, or direct capture by hooks or in trawl nets.Cetacean bycatch...
fish
- recycled
Recycling involves processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower...
- FSC-certified
The Forest Stewardship Council is an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products...
("environmentally friendly") wood
- Product Red
Product Red is a brand licensed to partner companies such as American Express, Apple Inc., Starbucks, Converse, Motorola, Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark, Microsoft, and Dell. It is an initiative begun by U2 frontman Bono and Bobby Shriver of DATA to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,...
- Rainforest Alliance certified
The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior...
Along with disclosure of ingredients, some
mandatory labellingMandatory labelling or labeling is the requirement of consumer products to state their ingredients or components....
of origins of clothing or food is required in all developed nations. This practice has been extended in some developing nations, e.g., where every item carries the name, phone number and fax number of the factory where it was made so a buyer can inspect its conditions. And, more importantly, to prove that the item was not made by "prison labor", use of which to produce export goods is banned in most developed nations. Such labels have also been used for boycotts, as when the merchandise mark
Made in GermanyMade in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany.- History :The label was originally introduced in Britain by the Merchandise Marks Act 1887, to mark foreign produce more obviously, as British society considered foreign produce to be inferior to...
was introduced in 1887.
These labels serve as tokens of some reliable validation process, some
instructional capitalInstructional capital is a term used in educational administration after the 1960s, to reflect capital resulting from investment in producing learning materials....
, much as does a brand name or a nation's flag. They also signal some
social capitalSocial capital is a sociological concept used in business, economics, organizational behaviour, political science, public health and the social sciences in general to refer to connections within and between social networks...
, or trust, in some community of auditors that must follow those instructions to validate those labels.
rightSome companies in the United States, though currently not required to reduce their carbon footprint, are doing so voluntarily by changing their energy use practices, as well as by directly funding (through carbon offsets), businesses that are already sustainable--or are developing or improving green technologies for the future.
In 2009, Atlanta's Virginia-Highland became the first Carbon-Neutral Zone in the United States. Seventeen merchants of Atlanta's Virginia-Highland allowed their carbon footprint to be audited. Now, they are partnered with the Valley Wood Carbon Sequestration Project—thousands of acres of forest in rural Georgia—through the Chicago Climate Exchange. The businesses involved in the partnership display the Verus Carbon Neutral seal in each storefront and posted a sign prominently declaring the area's Carbon Neutral status.
Over time, some theorists suggest, the amount of
social capitalSocial capital is a sociological concept used in business, economics, organizational behaviour, political science, public health and the social sciences in general to refer to connections within and between social networks...
or trust invested in nation-states (or "flags") will continue to decrease, and that placed in corporations (or "brands") will increase. This can only be offset by retrenched national sovereignty to reinforce shared national standards in tax, trade, and tariff laws, and by placing the trust in civil society in such "moral labels". These arguments have been a major focus of the
anti-globalization movementThe anti-globalization movement is critical of the globalization of capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or movement against neoliberal globalization...
, which includes many broader arguments against the amoral nature of markets as such. However, the economic school of
Public Choice TheoryPublic choice in economic theory is the use of modern economic tools to study problems that are traditionally in the province of political science....
pioneered by
James M. BuchananJames McGill Buchanan, Jr. is an American economist known for his work on public choice theory, for which he won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economics. Buchanan's work initiated research on how politicians' self-interest and non-economic forces affect government economic policy.-Biography:Buchanan...
has offered counter-arguments based on economic demonstration to this theory of 'amoral markets' versus 'moral governments'.
Areas of concern
Ethical Consumer, the alternative consumer organisation, collects and categorises information of more than 30.000 companies according to their performance in five main areas, composing the Ethiscore:
- Environment: Environmental Reporting, Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Pollution & Toxics, Habitats & Resources
- People: Human Rights, Workers' Rights, Supply Chain Policy, Irresponsible Marketing, Armaments
- Animals: Animal Testing, Factory Farming, Other Animal Rights
- Politics: Political Activity, Boycott Call, Genetic Engineering, Anti-Social Finance, Company Ethos
- Product Sustainability: Organic, Fairtrade, Positive Environmental Features, Other Sustainability.
Boycott
Moral boycott is the practice of avoiding or
boycottA boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.-Etymology:...
ing products which a consumer believes to be associated with unethical behavior.
An individual can choose to boycott a product. Alternatively, the decision may be the application of criteria reflective of a
moralityMorality has three principal meanings.In its first, descriptive usage, morality means a code of conduct or belief concerning matters of what is moral or immoral...
(or, in the terminology of
ethicsEthics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is , how moral values should be determined , how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations , how moral...
, a
theory of valueTheory of value is an ambiguous term, and may mean:*Theory of value , where value is meant as economic worth of goods and services.*Value theory, where value is meant in the philosophical sense....
) to any purchasing decisions.
Products
Reasons for products boycotts include
- factory farming
Factory farming is the practice of raising farm animals in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory — a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses....
- environmental harm
The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof....
- strike action
Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines...
Corporations
Examples include corporations that
- are perceived to espouse unethical behavior by one of its subsidiaries
- investing a portion of their profits in for example the arms industry
The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. Arms producing companies, also referred to as defence companies or military industry, produce arms mainly for the armed forces of states. Products include guns,...
Such boycotts can cause great damage to reputations, not to mention loss of profits, and has, in part, led to the development of the concept of
corporate social responsibilityCorporate social responsibility , also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible business , or corporate social performance, is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
.
Consumers are encouraged by animal welfare organisations to only shop at supermarkets which have strict animal welfare policies regarding the products they sell.
Compassion in World FarmingCompassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa....
produce a supermarket survey every 2 years assessing supermarket performance in the UK.
Countries
Examples:
- Made in Germany
Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany.- History :The label was originally introduced in Britain by the Merchandise Marks Act 1887, to mark foreign produce more obviously, as British society considered foreign produce to be inferior to...
- Consumer boycotts of South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
over apartheid. These boycotts were mirrored in state policy over time, and contributed to the fall of the white regime.
Research
GfK NOPGfK NOP is a leading market research agency based in London, providing business insight through quantitative and qualitative research.- History :...
, the market research group, has made a five-country study of consumer beliefs about the ethics of large companies. The report is described in a
Financial TimesThe Financial Times is a British international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and is printed at 22 sites...
article published on February 20, 2007 entitled 'Ethical consumption makes mark on branding'
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d54c45ec-c086-11db-995a-000b5df10621.html, and was followed up by an online debate/discussion hosted by FT.com (
http://www.ft.com/ethicalbrands). The countries surveyed were
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, the USA,
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. More than half of respondents in Germany and the US believed there is a serious deterioration in standards of corporate practice. Almost half of those surveyed in Britain, France and Spain held similar beliefs.
About a third of respondents told researchers they would pay higher prices for ethical brands though perception of various companies ethical or unethical status varied considerably from country to country.
The most ethically perceived brands were: The
Co-opThe Co-operative Group is a United Kingdom consumers' co-operative, and, after the acquisition of Somerfield supermarkets, is the world's largest consumer-owned business, with over 4.5 million members and 87,000 employees across all its businesses...
(in the UK), Coca Cola (in the US), Danone (in France),
AdidasAdidas AG is a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas golf company, and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports...
(in Germany) and
NestléNestlé S.A. is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, and listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange with a turnover of over 87 billion Swiss francs...
(in Spain). Coca Cola, Danone, Adidas and Nestlé did not appear anywhere in the UK's list of 15 most ethical companies.
NikeNike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
appeared in the lists of the other four countries but not in the UK's list.
In the UK, the
Co-operative BankThe Co-operative Bank plc is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom and Guernsey, with its headquarters in Manchester.The bank markets itself as an ethical bank, and refuses to invest in companies involved in the arms trade, global climate change, genetic engineering, animal testing and use of...
has produced an Ethical Consumerism Report (formerly the Ethical Purchasing Index) since 2001. The report measures the market size and growth of a basket of 'ethical' products and services, and valued UK ethical consumerism at GBP29.3 billion (USD59.1 billion) in 2005.
A number of organisations provide research-based evaluations of the behavior of companies around the world, assessing them along ethical dimensions such as
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
, the
environmentThe biophysical environment is the symbiosis between the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables that comprise the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories: the natural environment and the built...
,
animal welfareAnimal welfare, the health and well-being of animals, represents a systematic concern for people who believe that nonhuman animals are sentient beings that deserve consideration, respect, and care...
and
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
. Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982 that provides the
Green American Seal of Approval and produces a "Responsible Shopper" guide to "alert consumers and investors to problems with companies that they may shop with or invest in." The Ethical Consumer Research Association is a not-for-profit workers' co-operative founded in the UK in 1988 to "provide information on the companies behind the brand names and to promote the ethical use of consumer power" which provides an online seachable database under the name Corporate Critic or Ethiscore. The Ethiscore is a weightable numerical rating designed as a quick guide to the ethical status of companies, or brands in a particular area, and is linked to a more detailed ethical assessment. "alonovo" is an online shopping portal that provides similar weightable ethical ratings termed the "Corporate Social Behavior Index".
Conscious consuming
Conscious Consuming is a social movement that based around increased awareness of the impact of purchasing decisions on the environment and the consumers health and life in general. It is also concerned with the effects of media and advertising on consumers. Many aspects of Conscious Consuming have been practiced throughout the world but not in a cohesive form.
As a result of organizations such as Adbusters and the Center for a New American Dream, the Conscious Consuming movement began in Boston in the summer of 2003 when a group of people gathered together and planned an alternative gift fair, "Gift It Up!" In the fall of 2004, another group of Bostonians formed a group named "Conscious Consuming" and began meeting to discuss a broad range of topics, from the environmental impact of consumption to the effect of media and advertising. The memberships quickly overlapped and in 2005, the groups merged into Conscious Consuming.
Conscious consuming has its roots in voluntary simplicity, in which people re-evaluate their
work-life balanceWork-life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between career and ambition on one hand, compared with pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development on the other....
in order to spend more of their time and money on the things that matter to them. As people work less, there is more time for connecting with family and friends, volunteerism, hobbies, and community service. A natural off-shoot of working less is spending less. Instead of spending time and money shopping, people engaging in voluntary simplicity buy less. They get goods using web sites like
craigslistCraigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements – with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.-Description:...
, trade with friends, make do with what they have, or hit yard sales. When they do purchase something new, the decision to buy is made consciously. A would-be shopper asks, "Is this item made in line with my values? Am I supporting the local economy? Are the people who produce this item treated and compensated fairly? Is this item built to last?" As a result of these questions, conscious consumers find themselves supporting organic agriculture, fair-trade and sweat-shop free products, and local and independent businesses.
Consumocracy
The broader regulation system within which corporate behaviour is in part subordinated to consumer demand functions obeying both logics of
individualismIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
and
solidaritySolidarity is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, and originally led by Lech Wałęsa.Solidarity was the first non-Communist-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country...
is referred to as Consumarchy or Consumocracy (from consummare (Lat.), to consume, and kratos (Gr.), authority). It lends itself to economic, political and philosophical analyses. The political branch of consumocracy is also known as political consumerism.
Alternative giving
In response to an increasing demand for ethical consumerism surrounding gift giving occasions, charities have promoted an alternative gift market, in which charitable contributions are made on behalf of the gift "recipient". The "recipient" receives a card explaining the selected gift, while the actual gift item (frequently agricultural supplies or domestic animals) is sent to a family in a poor community.
See also
- Air travel, climate change, and green consumerism
- Anti-consumerism
Anti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against consumerism, the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions. Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of the market economy on the individual...
- Cause marketing
Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and...
- Consumerism
Consumerism is the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen or, more recently by a movement called Enoughism...
- Consumers Union
Consumers Union is an independent, nonprofit testing and information organization serving consumers in the United States. Its mission is to test products, inform the public, and protect consumers...
- Ecotarian
Ecotarian is a term that refers to the process of selecting food with consideration for all of the various ecological factors plus energy used to produce the food. The goal is to eat in a sustainable way...
- Ethical Consumer
Ethical Consumer is a UK magazine that also publishes information for free on its corresponding website. It is in its own words "an alternative consumer organisation looking at the social and environmental records of the companies behind the brand names"....
The UK’s leading alternative consumer organization
- Ethical Consumers Community
The Ethical Consumers Community is a non-profit organization based out ofHamilton, Ontario that promotes sustainability through selling ethical products that conform to the triple bottom line. The organization allow members to products such as low flush toilets and solar hot water systems at...
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of...
- Green brands
Green brands are those brands that consumers associate with environmental conservation and sustainable business practices.Such brands appeal to consumers who are becoming more aware of the need to protect the environment. A green brand can add a unique selling point to a product and can boost...
- Green Earth Market
Launched in 2006, Green Earth Market is an American online retailer of environmentally friendly goods, offering products that are made locally , of natural, organic, or recycled materials, and/or produced in a fair trade, sustainable, or organic production process or method utilizing energy...
- International Labor Rights Fund
The International Labor Rights Forum is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world". ILRF, formerly the International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund, was founded in 1986...
- Interrupcion
Interrupcion, founded in 2000, is a global organization of non-profit and for-profit organizations and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Interrupcion works to integrate social change into everyday life by actively facilitating and promoting community involvement, responsible consumption , and...
- Socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing, also known as socially-conscious or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to maximize both financial return and social good....
- Tearfund
Tearfund is a UK Christian relief and development agency, working with a global network of local churches to help eradicate poverty, transform lives and bring justice.It is a founding member of both the and the Disasters Emergency Committee....
- The Green Guide
The Green Guide is a bi-monthly publication produced by the National Geographic Society as an information resource on eco-conscious and healthy living. Founded in 1994, it has become the most reliable source of environmental information for consumers....
- Traidcraft
Traidcraft is a UK-based fairtrade organisation, established in 1979. The organisation has two components: a public limited company called Traidcraft plc, which sells fairly traded products in the United Kingdom; and a development charity called Traidcraft Exchange that works with poor producers in...
External links
- Corporate Critic - Ethical Consumer
Ethical Consumer is a UK magazine that also publishes information for free on its corresponding website. It is in its own words "an alternative consumer organisation looking at the social and environmental records of the companies behind the brand names"....
's corporate social responsibility database
- Compassionate Shopping Guide - Compassion in World Farming
Compassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa....
's food shopping guide
- Good Egg Awards - Compassion in World Farming
Compassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa....
's award for companies sourcing cage-free eggs
- Green Seal - certification for products and services
- Ethical Consumer magazine
- ECIS podcast series - interviews with many projects related to Ethical Consumerism
- http://www.sweatfree.org/shoppingguide - Sweat Free Communities' "2009 Shop with a Conscience" Consumer Guide