Question

Due to the growing global concern about climate change, environmental destruction and the increasing number of endangered species, ethical consumerism has become an extremely prominent topic. Bertrand and Regan (2008) describe ethical consumption as consciously identifying the links between a product, its origins and the context in which it has been produced. They define the term as awareness of how a consumer’s lifestyle affects people, communities and the environment, and claim that “[an] ethically-informed consumer realises that when they buy something, they are not only buying the product”. Hussain (2012, p112) outlines an example: “…when you walk into Starbucks and face an array of coffee choices, one of them might be fair trade. If you base your decision to buy the fair trade coffee at least partly on the fact that the growers were treated fairly in the manufacturing process, you engage in ethical consumerism”. This definition and example are relevant, as they place the responsibility of ethical consumerism on the end user, the customer, which is an accurate depiction of the term. However, to understand ethical consumerism, it is important to identify what constitutes unethical consumerism.
Unethical consumerism is a challenging term to define due to the subjective nature of what constitutes ‘unethical’. However, Hunt (2018) highlights certain factors as being key ethical indicators consumers should consider when deciding whether to purchase from a company: adherence to tax laws, treatment of workers, environmental considerations and sustainability. If a company performs poorly in any of these areas, the consumer should carefully consider whether purchasing from that company is ‘unethical consumerism’. For example, Hunt (2018) highlights delivery giant Amazon’s poor treatment of workers at their distribution centres as an example of unethical practice as well as the much publicised tax avoidance accusations (Fuller, 2012). Other companies have also come under scrutiny for worker’s rights abuses: ASDA and Tesco have been accused of paying unfair wages as well as showing discrimination towards staff (Tatum, 2020). Other company’s ethics have been questioned for environmental reasons, with Coca-Cola being accused of hoarding water supplies in rural communities (Vos et al., 2018).
The growing number of reports of unethical practices by large companies has led many shoppers to consider what they can do as individuals to become more ethical consumers. This has resulted in a significant rise in the practice, with the Co-op Ethical Consumer Report (2018) reporting a 400% increase in ethical consumerism since 1999. When compared against the fact that the average UK household expenditure has grown by only 2% over the same period, this represents a significant increase in the practice. The biggest rises have been in ethical food and drink consumption, which could include such practices as buying Fairtrade or more local products as well as green home expenditure. This includes trying to be more efficient with energy and installing solar panels amongst other initiatives. The large and continuously expanding range of methods of ethical consumption has led to discussion of what type of consumer is choosing to become more ethical. Park (2018) argues that the range of people who may become ethical consumers has grown due to an expanding range of factors. She argues that female consumers respond to ‘ethical narratives’, where a product is sold based on an emotional appeal. This sort of marketing has become much more achievable in recent years due to the rise in social media advertising. Park (2018) also argues that younger people may value ethical goods more highly due to an increased awareness of the damage unethical consumption can do to the planet and the potential long-term ramifications this could have.
It is important to question whether the rise in ethical consumerism will continue. It could revert to a marginal social movement, or it could become a mainstream movement, replacing price, speed and convenience as the main factors behind consumption. In 2007 Thompson and Coskuner-Balli argued that the emotional engagement and moral responsibility of the public as well as the rising awareness of our environment would lead to continuous growth in ethical consumerism. Thirteen years on this observation has proved to be correct, and the rise in ethical consumerism looks set to be a trend that will continue.

summarize the essay in 200 words

Answer 1

Summary =

Ethical consumerism has come up as one of the most important topic due to increased concern relate to the change in the climate, environment, and increased number of red book species. In the opinion of . Bertrand and Regan ethical consumerism is mainly the activity in which the attempts are made to find out the origin of the product and why that product was produced. The ethical customer is one who understands that they are not only buying the product , the customer is in fact involved in the production process too. For having the better understanding of the term ethical consumerism, it is important to look for the elements that are related to unethical consumerism. adherence to tax laws, treatment of workers, environmental considerations and sustainability are some of the factors that can be used to find out the ethical manufacturers. ‘Ethical narratives’ are used to sell the product in females who are more sensitive towards emotional appeal. Finding out the future of ethical consumerism is a big question as it can be just a normal reform or mainstream movement. emotional engagement and moral responsibility and awareness towards environment can raise the concerns related to the ethical consumerism and it may continue in future.