The Hindu Business Line : Four waves of consumer activism

RELAX! This book isn't about the oft-discussed business ethics, but about people like you and me who shop. Only, they shop differently. Traditional purchasing behaviour, which most of us follow, goes by the economics rulebook, looking for the right bargain between utility and price. In contrast thereto, ethical consumption factors in news reports about the brand, empathy towards the developing countries, and concern for the environment, say Rob Harrison, Terry Newholm and Deirdre Shaw in a book they have edited, The Ethical Consumer, from Sage (www.sagepublications.com) .

For instance, not buying fur coats may be driven by wildlife worries; and one may shun `timber from unsustainable forestry' and crackers from factories employing child labour. But switching over to organic foods because of fear that pesticides may harm one's health is driven more by an internal trigger, and therefore not strictly an ethical purchase, note the editors.

Chapter 1 offers a hefty dose of moral philosophy and concludes by saying that a simple set of unchanging ethical consumer practices is neither possible nor desirable. These must be "formulated and reformulated in a continuous and open public debate." Next comes a chapter titled `The Consumer as Economic Voter', with a quote of Enoch Powell - "Everyone who goes into a shop and chooses one article over another is casting a vote in the economic ballot box."

You may ask if consumption is so important. Yes, says the trio, because "buying by consumers is a key component of the economic system." Numbers cited are that in the US, consumer spending represents more than two-thirds of spending; and that in Japan, where "low levels of consumption have been seen as a key cause of the malaise of the economy over the last fifteen years," consumer spending makes up only 55 per cent.

Can ballots achieve common good? Yes, if there is no `coercive power' from important groups; watch out for `spin' too! "A key purpose of spin is obfuscation by inducing a perspective on the target engendered by misrepresentation." This technique works in politics and "moves individuals to vote;" something similar may happen with the economic ballot box too, cautions the book.

Authors of The Unmanageable Consumer, Tim Lang and Yiannis Gabriel trace the history of consumer activism in `four waves.' In the first wave was born the `cooperative consumer.' This wave was driven by `self-help by the people, and served as an alternative to capitalism. The second brought in value-for-money consumers with a stress on "right to information and labelling and redress if something goes wrong." Third came Naderism, which "sees capitalism as something to be accepted but which has to be worked hard on to prevent its excesses becoming its norms." Remember Ralph Nader's 1965 book, Unsafe At Any Speed, an exposé of the car industry? Next came `alternative consumers,' as the fourth wave, with many elements "green, ethical, Third World solidarity and fair trade orientations."

A useful compilation of URLs lists `seventeen types of Web sites providing information for the ethical consumer.' More than the availability of information, what can cause anguish more are the quality and complexity of the info. The book highlights `successful consumer boycott campaigns 1986-2004', the earliest in the list being Barclays Bank pulling out of South Africa in response to anti-Apartheid movement, and in 1986 again, eight leading sports shoe companies capitulating to threat of boycott if they used kangaroo skin. The editors remind that ethical consumption adds to the price of goods and services, "by internalising otherwise externalised social, environmental and human costs." If humanity wants a decent society, the price has to be paid, states the book. "If it doesn't, or enough don't, society and the biosphere will pay anyway."

A book worth paying the price for, if you'd like to join the ethical debate with a wish to leave a better world for the morrow.

BookMark@TheHindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Predicting demand in an uncertain world

On the road to total branding

Channelling synergies

`Powerful' communication

Zoom anniversary

Creative repositioning

Four waves of consumer activism