Tipping the scales with ethical consumption: our why and how explained

written by co-founder Dr Susan Maiava

Image credits: Elena Mozhvilo via Unsplash

Why do we at fair&good place so much emphasis on reaching a TIPPING POINT in ethical consumption? In fact, it is at the core of all that we do.

Our mission (also known as our elevator pitch) is to mainstream ethical consumption by harnessing the purchasing power of conscious consumers to change demand and demand change.

Why? To transform the lives of the workers, makers and creators of the products we buy, right along the supply chain, reducing poverty, vulnerability and exploitation, and creating freedom, choice and prosperity.

How? As consumers, we hold the power to achieve that goal in our hands. We have the power - which economists refer to as our Purchasing Power - to create a Tipping Point in demand for ethical products just by the choices we make when we shop every day.

The Power of Consumers to Create a Tipping Point

The Tipping Point is the point at which consumer demand really starts to make an impact and change becomes inevitable; the point at which retailers respond to growing consumer demand by stocking their shelves with the products consumers want, as their new normal mainstream practice.

Take free range eggs for example, or the reduction in the use of plastic packaging. Suppliers and retailers responded because consumers demanded change. Businesses that responded by stocking free range eggs or replacing plastic packaging with sustainable or circular alternatives for example, are now reaping the rewards in both customer loyalty and profit. Research shows their profits have increased, not decreased.

Another example is electric cars. It is clear that a tipping point in demand for electric cars has been reached and, within a decade, electric cars will be the new normal.

So we know the tipping point is real and it works. At fair&good, we believe if we apply this strategy to reaching our goal of mainstreaming ethical consumption, together we can create real change for workers, makers, creators, and their families and communities in developing countries.

Poverty and Exploitation versus Development and Prosperity

When thinking of a Tipping Point, think of a set of scales: the Scales of Justice. Imagine one pan is poverty, exploitation and inequality, and the other is development, equality and prosperity. Every time we shop, we are putting our money (think of the weight of coins) into either one pan or the other. Our spending is never neutral. Every time we shop we are choosing either exploitation or prosperity for the people who make the products we buy.

The Tipping Point we want to achieve will happen when more consumers put their money in the prosperity pan than the exploitation pan. But we need a critical mass of the population to make this choice on a daily basis, as part of their everyday shopping routines and lifestyle.

Now I’m not trying to burden you with this knowledge, but rather to explain why your shopping choices are so important and why every dollar you spend counts. At fair&good, we want you to embrace your power to be a change agent every time you go shopping, pop to the supermarket or shop online. You can be an ethical superhero disguised as an ordinary Kiwi consumer.

Development versus Exploitation

Thinking again of the Scales of Justice, imagine this time one pan is development projects and programmes, whether by govts, or NGOs and Not-for-Profits, local or international, all of which do great work in developing countries.

The other pan is unethical and exploitative supply chains, unfair pay and working conditions or unfair prices paid for crops, including child, slave and bonded labour.

We might contribute $1 to the development pan via charity donations or emergency appeals, or through our taxes to support aid programmes or the UN. But what if at the same time we are putting $9 into the exploitation pan every time we buy a cheap T-shirt, or eat chocolate harvested by children, bonded or slave labour?

Not only is our personal goodwill and integrity compromised but the very thing we want to support is undermined. We end up giving with one hand and taking with the other. Development ultimately cannot be achieved because the scales will always tip towards poverty and vulnerability - and that is not fair.

This is not to say charitable programmes are not worth supporting – good giving and good consumption are complimentary and integrated. However, by supporting businesses that pay their workers fairly, we are not only reducing poverty, but empowering entire communities to be able to access education, healthcare and long-term wellbeing, reducing vulnerability and increasing freedom of choice.

Your Choices Make a Difference

It takes a village to reach the Tipping Point. It’s up to us, as a community to decide which way the scales tip. And that includes you and me. Together we hold incredible power in our hands to demand fairness and change.

You may be one person, but you are not alone and what you do really does make a difference. Together, let’s realise our superpower as consumers to tip the scales towards development and prosperity for all, just by the choices we make when we shop every day!