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Ethical consumerism—the practice of buying products based on how they are made and how harmful they are to the environment or society—is having its moment as people prioritize their connection to people and the planet. Brands that are authentically able to communicate their values and efforts in sustainability are able to capture these customers, creating brand loyalty and attracting those who are prioritizing similar values.
There are skeptics. Some believe the consumer is not personally responsible for the social and environmental issues caused by unethical corporations and feel that only regulations will govern how corporations behave. There is merit in this belief because ultimately, large legacy brands that are too big and too slow to move will not be able to integrate fully sustainable practices into their core business model, and it will require government regulation. So corporate responsibility needs to be baked in from the beginning and applied to all facets of the business instead of an afterthought. For those brands that have established themselves and are still nimble, they will need to bring in a third party to audit and consult on how to build sustainable operations so that one solved problem doesn’t create several other problems. But practicing where to spend your money does create impact, as evidence in the countless successful boycotts over the years.
The best step is to help people make the best choices. Marketers and brands need to make it easier for people to make the decision to buy responsibly made products and services through education, creating accountability and standardizing information all in a way that’s authentic to the brand.
Educate your customers
As brands and marketers dive further into intersectional sustainability, the marketing community faces a collective responsibility to inform the public how to make responsible choices. There is an opportunity for brands to provide additional value by educating people, which supports accessibility and nudges people in the direction of choosing better products over convenience. Broad terms like “sustainability made,” “eco-friendly” or “fair labor practices” do not offer specifics and require customer interpretation. Marketers and brands need to educate people on what these mean for their brand. It also creates room for brands to be held accountable, which helps establish trust in the brands’ messaging and offerings.
Choose certified
Marketers will need to help individuals translate brand actions into something that can be used to judge against the larger competitor landscape by providing brand differentiation through reliable information about the impact on the environment and society. Using accountable third parties that can be verified while in the shopping aisle through a shopper’s smartphone will help hold brands accountable. Certifications such as fair trade, organic, B Corporation, 1% for the Planet, Global Organic Textile Standard, Climate Neutral, Green Guard, Made Safe and Clean Energy Partner can back up what brands are saying. As accreditation takes hold, marketers will need to dig in and find innovative ways for shoppers to easily access information and speak to values and efforts on labels.
Product labels and messaging
People may have ethical motivations when making a purchase, but how, where and when they receive the information used to make the decision will affect how those motivations go into action. Product labels and messaging help leverage the product into an education and communication tool around their mission or purpose. It serves as a key place for brands to speak to their customers and offers an opportunity to speak to their production footprint, product ingredients, packaging techniques and distribution, among other things. This enables brands and marketers to expand upon the experience, using AR to show how their products are different in an interactive way. This includes certifications, supply chain transparency and product/packaging facts that can help give buyers the reasons they need to make the purchase.
Long-term success will come from developing ways to innovate products and services that support the reduction of consumption and lead people to realize a collective effort of small actions can lead to big gains for self, community and planet. Marketers have an opportunity to create real environmental and societal progress by educating the general public. Ethical consumerism as part of a plan to reduce consumption and regulate the practices of large corporations will get us where we need to be, but it will take a collective effort. When this generation of marketers retires and looks back on their career, do we want to remember the ads we made, or the efforts toward a greater good?
