Ethical Purchasing

Ethical Purchasing

1. Definition: buying items that are made ethically by companies that act ethically

   • Good Because...
     • empowers the consumer
     • deprives other businesses that abuse the envnm't or people for profits
     • encourages innovative products
     • sends support directly to progressive companies
     • can and has changed history
   • Key Political Trends Driving Ethical Consumerism
     • globalization of markets
     • weakening of national governments
     • rise of single-issue pressure groups
       • ex: plastic straw ban
     • shift in market power
   • Coffee Comes Alive
     • Envnmt'l and Social Issues with Coffee Market
       • living conditions of coffee farmers
         • exploitation of big corporations on local workers
           • lack of protective gear for workers
           • relative wealth
         • drinking water
         • separation from families
         • indirect impacts on Indigenous communities
       • amount of pesticides
       • monoculture
         • impact on ecosystems
           • habitat for wildlife
             • transmissions of diseases in migrating organisms
       • Propagates gender inequality

2. The New Consumer Group

   • new marketing research showing that there is a growing group of consumers concerned with:
     • the envnm't
     • animal welfare
     • societal concerns

3. Attitudes towards shopping decisions

   • activists (33%) claim to buy products that support their beliefs
   • showboaters (4%) claim to buy ethical products bc they think they should
   • lapsed activists (9%) think they should buy products that support their beliefs but don't
   • Laissez faire (34%) claim to buy products that satisfy their needs, not those that support their beliefs
   • Guerilla (15%) claim not to buy products because they do not support their beliefs

4. How to take part

   • Shop Locally
     • grown local= less fossil fuels for transportation
     • preserves natural resources
     • allows small-scale farmers to stay in business
   • Organic and Whole Foods
     • crops grown without artifical pesticides, fertilizers and food additives
     • animals reared without routine use of antibiotics and growth hormones
     • Whole food is food as nature intended it (nothing added/taken away)
   • Fair Trade
     • fair standards for intn'l labour, environmentalism and social policy
       • empowers the worker
       • moves workers away from vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency
       • promotes equity
   • Products not tested on animals
   • Free Range
     • animals live as freely as possible, allowed to live out their instictual behaviours

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