Many companies benefit from “green” or “ethical” association but how much of it is spin, and how many deserve that status? Such was the rush to adopt the magic green cloak, that skeptics set up the annual Greenwash awards. Still, the concept of ethical brands seems to be growing in direct proportion to people’s awareness that there are good ways to be conducting business, and bad ways, much as there are sustainable ways of living on the planet and unsustainable ones. Ethical and green policies are here to stay, and businesses and brands are adapting to this changed consumer sensitivity.
Brands occupy a huge and growing importance in our lives - the BBC quotes an Association of Teachers and Lecturers report that children are being bullied for not buying the “right” brands, but interestingly it finds that
…children are strongly aware of brands and logos, but pay little attention to the green or ethical values of products.
So are we like children - do we buy brands purely on their strength of their reputation as defined by marketing, or do we adults work with richer concepts which refer to standards of corporate behaviour?
As the UK’s “most ethical brand” The Co-operative has done very well from its ethical / green positioning, which stems from its origins in the labour movement, and which is carried forward via a progressive outlook within a large retail set up - not traditionally an easy fit. They themselves quote GfK NOP to define what “ethical” means to the UK consumer:
When asked what an ‘ethical brand’ meant to them, the UK consumer has ‘treating third-world suppliers and workers fairly’ as their main priority, then ‘good environmental practices’, ‘ethical business practices’ and ‘treating employees fairly’.
It’s fair to say the Co-Op are covering many causes for consumer concern - their ethical policies now extend to food, waste and recycling strategies, reducing own-brand packaging, foreign purchasing policies, supporting Fairtrade, and animal welfare - and they are pleased to reap the marketing kudos for this, as well they might be.
But there is a flip side - businesses these days have to be aware of politics as much as their consumers, because decisions can come back to bite you. For example, BBC Worldwide are now on a boycott list since buying Lonely Planet publishers, who produce a tourist guide to Burma and refuse to stop selling it. The point here is not whether they are right or wrong, but the flak they are drawing when everyone knows the Burma regime are the bad guys. And it gets more complex than that - look further down the list and you’ll also find the Body Shop, who come third on the GfK NOP UK green list, who invented the concept of “Beauty with cruelty” :
Since L’Oreal (26% owned by Nestlé) bought out the Body Shop earlier in the year, campaigns have brought together concerns about animal testing, relations with the Majority World, human rights, discrimination in the UK and the environment.
The lesson here is: if you’re going to be ethical, be wise. Be green if you can, but be aware that it’s not a destination, it’s a journey - for as soon as you hoist that ethical flag, the eyes of the world will be watching to see whether your actions continue to match your declared intent.
