The consumer is only as good as the product he or she consumes. In the era of fair trade, the consumer is a product of THE product. A product unites the two sides of ethical business and ethical consumer, and brings out the best and worst in these. The ethical producer or ethical marketer is simply expected to highlight the ethical dimensions and attributes of the product being sold for the consumers to appreciate the product’s positive intention upon learning of any or such intention, as well as for the business organization to develop and hone ethical consumers.
Business is an entire value chain – from production to sales to promotion. The system is huge. The network is wide and complex. Business cannot control the entire chain on its sheer will. There are simply too many factors and components to hold. This value chain, in turn, is also dependent on other external forces that may even be unmindful of the business value chain on hand. This means that there cannot be a completely ethical product.
What business can do, however, is be responsible by itself to highlight the value of ethics in its product or service offering – all for the information, knowledge, and education of consumers. Business should also be honest enough in its product promotion or advertising to tell the truth about the product, no matter how the truth hurts. This, in itself, is responsible business stewardship. Although, it is easy to see why a business cannot spill the beans, so to speak.
By and large, ethical consumerism and ethical consumption do not fall on the shoulders of either business or consumers alone. These are holistic approaches that need the combined efforts of all stakeholders in the business cycle. The rest of the task falls on consumer welfare concern groups and civil society, in general.
Moreover, there is hardly any consumer product that is completely ‘good.’ Take the example of a relatively new product that is touted to address the destructive dependence on fossil fuels: biofuel. While this product is said to be environment-friendly with its capability to put an end to CO2 emissions, it is hardly sustainable in the true sense of the word.
Crops used for human consumption and animal feeds such as grain are now being replaced with those that can be processed into biofuel such as soya and sugarcane. Worse, food crops such as corn is processed into biofuel instead of alleviating world hunger.
Via Economy Watch/Progressiveu
