Ethics of Consumption: the Good Life - Assignment Example

 Ethics of Consumption: the Good Life In the United Kingdom, the idea of buying ethical products has already been introduced and widely accepted. According to the survey that was conducted and then presented in ‘The Ethical Consumerism Report of 2008”, the spending on ethical products by the people of United Kingdom has increased by more than 15% when compared to the figures of 2007. This shows a giant leap in the sales of ethical products, possibly due to increasing awareness on the part of the consumers and their likeness for ethical products over others. This pattern is also showing that people are ready to pay a greater price, or forego a little taste in the food, to follow the ethical practices and to support what they believe in; hence the increased spending on ethical goods. Recession has called for various phenomenons which were previously absent in consumer behavior. This recession has brought about major changes in the minds and buying patterns of humans. Since premium priced products are bound to lose during recession in such a market which is saturated with other supplementary goods, the sales of ethical products are a question mark in the days of recession (William, 2004). a) Ethics can derive many responses from the consumers; they may be neutral towards products which are ethical, they may be aware about them but don’t consider it an incentive enough to make a purchase or they follow the ethical approach and confine themselves to buying only ethical goods. The two responses that will be evaluated are ethical dilemma and ethical neutrality. Before moving forward, one needs to understand the two responses better in order to grasp the reaction that recession may have created for ethical products. Ethical dilemma refers to an intricate situation during which a person is in a mental conflict of choosing between two or three options, of different moral imperatives. A paradox exists and a person is lost between either acting morally ethical or loosing onto something which is important to that person. Ethical dilemmas usually arise when some ethical system or a moral code that is gaining attention and importance is wanted to criticize or the people want to present the other side of the picture to the people. An example of ethical dilemma from normal life is that of abortion; after an unwanted pregnancy, a woman is faced with the ethical dilemma whether to abort or not, as it is a human life in existence now. Another example from the business perspective is when your family has a non-gifting policy and some suppliers of the company gift you something that your family would love. There creates an ethical dilemma between what you want and what is needed to be done. Ethical neutrality involves a totally complex situation; in simple terms it means that a person is neutral to responses and doesn’t judge them over the code of ethics when making a decision. However, a great debate over the existence of such a phenomenon is present where experts argue that there is no such thing as being ethically neutral. All interaction that takes place is guided by certain values and beliefs that are instilled in us throughout our lifetime. Therefore, every human being has a view towards ethics; positive or negative, a neutral view would imply a negative connotation. However, one can’t just ignore ethics; they are instilled in us, good or bad (Alex, 1995). When it comes to the United Kingdom, there were positive signs in consumer spending, showing increase in the number of ethical shoppers which were increasing, before the recession. Recession or the economic crisis was bound to have a negative impact on consumer spending. In a way, recession happened due to the economic crisis that engulfed the world. However, it was expected that recession would hurt ethical spending to a greater extent than overall consumer spending. The increase in ethical spending has seen its growth in times of low unemployment rates and healthy retail lifestyles. However, recession is suspected to decrease the market of sustainable goods. On the other hand, a question arises, that says that people who are genuinely committed to the cause of ethical spending will do so in times of tight budget as well. Therefore, marketers see themselves at a dilemma, where they have to choose if they should continue their ethical marketing agenda and risk losing market share or change their strategy (Marilyn, 2009). A person who has a tighter budget this recession, is bound to face an ethical dilemma, where he or she will have to either choose an ethical product and spend more or chose a cheaper product, letting go of their beliefs. Those, who readily believe in their cause may not change, however, it is a harsh reality that such a time will switch ethical consumers towards cheaper products. The signs of these phenomena are already appearing. Guardian in 2009 has reported that recession has triggered the switching of consumers from ethically sound products towards cheaper products, especially in their grocery; volume is driving consumers towards cheaper goods (Rebecca, 2009). Post-recession times may not bring a good picture for ethical products; a research has shown that 69 percent of people are going to continue spending low against ethical products post recession (Rebecca, 2009). The reason behind this is consumer caution; a person who is facing an ethical dilemma in these times of recession, after going through this unexpected recession, is bound to be careful and continue with their careful spending pattern at least for some time to come. However, others believe that these phenomena will vanish in post-recession; where people will start spending premium for ethically sound products and services (Martin, 2009). Ethical neutrality in times of recession is going to increase; people would want to immune themselves from the inner voice that would compel them to spend ethically. Ethically neutral people will care less about ethical products and will not want to spend on those products in times of tight budget as well. b) Ethical neutrality and ethical dilemma are two responses that may be similar in many ways; they certainly are liable to produce similar responses in times of recession. Therefore, a number of key ethical issues might be influenced by the two responses. Ethical dilemma in times of recession may decrease spending on ethical goods. However, the flip side is that people who believe in the cause whole-heartedly will continue to spend for the added little costs, knowing that they are helping somebody or making somebody’s lives better. Therefore, ethical dilemma can have two sides. Another ethical issue that may be triggered is that people who believe in ethics may start their spending in welfare and charity, rather than supporting products directly. They might feel a direct connection of ethics and governance with charitable organizations and may direct their attention towards that aspect of ethics. One thing is for sure though, people who believe in their cause will continue spending for premium prices. An example of an ethical issue would be animal rights. Those who are really close to animals, own pets or have been in close interaction with them, will have a strong inclination towards animal support programs, and may have negative connotations attached to animal testing. Hence they will never buy products that may have been tested upon animals, under implication that it may have harmed them. Animal testing today is banned; however, this can be used as a relevant example. Another example would be that of environmentalism; those who believe in greener society and the implications of global warming will spend on products which support these causes no matter what. Another example would be of fair-trade. These issues might influence the two responses, ethical dilemma and ethical neutrality and bring consumers closer to ethical spending. People who believe in spending ethically may use another approach towards spending ethically; they would stop spending on products which are known to create ethical issues in society. This is called negative spending and is an important concept in ethical spending. For example, one would stop purchasing products that cannot be recycled or cars that pollute more than others. This is another way of supporting ethical spending; by not spending on unethical products. Research has revealed that consumer spending has been comparatively steady in green products over the last economic crisis (Cath, 2009). When green spending has remained steady over the recession, ethical spending can remain steady in times of recession only when people start actively believing in the cause and are now ethically neutral. The scenario when such an economic crisis is not present may be different. When economy is c) Retailers have the power to induce spending in consumers. Marketing and branding are two areas which can invoke spending in people by targeting their emotions, their beliefs. Retailers can effectively increase the ethical spending by consumers by supporting and stocking major ethical and sustainable products on the top (Swapna, 2006). Marketing those products throughout their outlets and supporting a certain initiative; this will induce increased awareness related to the specific program and develop the market. Organizations are increasingly supporting fair-trade and other ethical products and initiatives; M&S has become one of the first UK Retailer to support products made from 100% fair-trade cotton (Poulomi, 2006). Similar initiatives by other retailers are bound to increase consumer awareness, lower ethical neutrality and increase spending on ethical products. People idolize brands, they want to become like the brands they support. Therefore, when retailer brands will start supporting ethical causes, they’re bound create awareness and liking by their consumers. In times of recession, sound beliefs are what will keep ethical spending stable or on the rise in post-recession times. Fairtrade sales increased by 30% over the 10 year haul (Martin, 2009); this shows the dedication consumer feels toward ethical products these days. However, if people start feeling detached with the cause, they will face ethical dilemmas and may not spend much on products that used to appeal to them before. Therefore, the idea should be continuously conveyed to the valued stakeholders so that they make an informed decision. The Body Shop is a global ethical brand and can be a prime example of incorporating ethical practices across all its business functions. They have labeled their products as completely ethical and make sure they market on the basis of ethics only. Their products boast of being able to provide a lively hood to women, they don’t do animal testing and all these ethical practices are well marketed on their products. Ethical products are bound to do good if they deliver their promise of ethics as well as the product benefit to their consumers and The Body Shop is the best example for this. Retailers can play a major role in increasing ethical consumer branding, they have done it in the past, and they should continue doing so in the future. Buying ethical products is on the rise; however, it is not a dominant practice. Therefore, the job of the retailers is to act as a filter so that consumers are exposed only to sustainable and ethical products. Such ethical filtering is not becoming an important part of the brand promise that a retailer makes with its consumers (Michael, 2008). BIBLIOGRAPHY Crocker, D. Linden, T. (1998) Ethics of Consumption: the good life, justice and global stewardship. Rowan and Littlefield. Pradhan, S. (2006) Retailing Management 2E. Tata McGrawHill Michalos, A. (1995) A pragmatic Approach to business ethics. Sage Publications. Crane, A., Matten, D. (2007) Business Ethics: Managing Corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press. Shaw, W. (2004) Business Ethics. Thomson. Smithers, R. (2009) Recession sees shoppers switch from green to budget products; guardian.co.uk. Available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/06/shoppers-survey-fairtrade-green-budget [30 April 2010] Rosenmeger, Martin. (2009) The post-recession economy- how will consumers spend when the recession is over? Available from http://www.fhiosinsights.com/?p=566 [30 April 2010] Carrigan, M. (2009) Can consumer ethics survive the recession. Available from http://www.open2.net/blogs/money/index.php/2009/06/29/consumer-ethics-survive-the-recession?blog=5 [30 April 2010] Blatner, A. (2006) Ethical Issues in contemporary culture. Available from http://www.blatner.com/adam/psyntbk/ethicissues.htm [1 May 2010] Everett, C. (2009) Green consumer spending defies the downturn. Available from http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2254941/green-consumer-spending-defies [1 May 2010] Saha, P., Webb, T. (2006) Ethical Product Marketing: Brave Branding. Available from http://www.spinwatch.org/-news-by-category-mainmenu-9/154-food-industry/2691-ethical-product-marketing-brave-branding [1 May 2010] Hickman, M. (2009) Sales of Fairtrade goods show 30 fold increase in 10 years. Available from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sales-of-fairtrade-goods-show-30fold-increase-in-10-years-1852820.html [1 May 2010] Sadowski, M., Buckingham, F. (2008) Retail Corporate Responsibility. Available from http://www.sustainability.com/researchandadvocacy/columns_article.asp?id=1505 [4 May 2010] Read More