This essay was written by Tavie Meier and was originally published on EcoCult in 2015, a blog devoted to all things sustainable in NYC and beyond. Republished with permission. Why Pity is a Bad Marketing Angle “For just 10 cents a day, you can help a child in need,” said Sally Struthers with an emaciated, …
Changes in Ethical Fashion & Influencing Remember capsule wardrobes? You may recall that I was initially very skeptical of the capsule wardrobe movement, mostly because the people I saw touting it were using it as a way of feigning a reduction in their consumption – after all, a capsule wardrobe is “minimalist” – while, in …
Why Give Back Brands Aren’t Ethical In today’s consumer landscape, more and more companies want to be seen as “giving back” to those in need. But give-back brands that focus on donating a portion of profits to social causes can’t properly be called ethical. Because they don’t work toward systemic change… Are Give-Back Brands Really …
Is Amazon ethical? On this Amazon Prime Day, Francesca Willow from Ethical Unicorn delves into the numerous ethical and human rights violations of this e-commerce giant.
This piece was written by me with compensation and support from MATTER Prints What Does Artisan Made Mean? Artisan made was the buzzword that triggered my exploration of ethical consumerism. In 2011, while undertaking a routine shelf-tidying during my shift at Hobby Lobby, a privately held “Christian” craft and home decor chain, I came across …
Part of the Complexity Series Why Charity Navigator Doesn’t Work for Small Nonprofits Charity Navigator advertises itself as the authoritative source on responsible nonprofits. By combing financial data and assigning a score for things like fundraising, administrative, and marketing costs, along with transparency standards, it ranks nonprofits in order of best to worst. This sounds …
Is Social Good Marketing Hiding Ethical Issues? Recently I’ve been dealing with a really unpleasant situation regarding a company that reached out to me for collaboration. Their marketing looked good: they produce eco-friendly accessories in the USA through a program that empowers marginalized women. What’s not to like about that? After all, the US has …
Missions, Aid, and Colonization I recently finished reading Dangerous Territory, a spiritual memoir about Amy Peterson’s experience as a short-lived missionary in a closed country in Southeast Asia. I read it hoping to glean some good information about cross-cultural communication and the dangers of Western missionary models and related forms of “development” (read this post for …
What’s Fair in Fair Trade? Growing interest in conscious consumerism has necessarily brought with it a range of questions about what constitutes fairness, ethics, and transparency. While the definition of fair trade has remained fairly solid over the last several decades, new companies, marketers, freelancers, and bloggers have introduced terms to the marketplace that, at …
You Can’t Buy Your Way to a Better World Since I recently reworked my Direct Sales critique from several months ago, I wanted to take the opportunity to answer a particular question I received from a reader: Why would you use your influence to speak out against a company that is ultimately seeking the greater …