Sticks and Stones won’t Break our Bones but Money will always hurt us.

Phrases such as ethical consumerism and corporate responsibility have been banded around for at least a decade. However it is only now that companies have really had to listen up; why? Its Money.
The notion of companies been ethical has never been a non-issue. The concept of better working conditions, fair trade and involvement in the community certainly seem like an idyllic contribution by wealthy corporations. The problem faced by most organisations is that it costs without a return, which for the majority makes it a no go area. But with a sudden speed in corporate ethics one must beg the question ‘what has changed?’
In a perfect world one would move to say that large companies are operating with their heart as well as their mind; that they feel culpable about their carbon footprint or they feel ashamed about their exploitation of slave labour. It may be a guilty conscious playing on their minds when they see images of neglected employees living in squalor conditions. Or it could equally be a helpful hand from those who can help. In many ways, the slogan of companies investing in a better world is what they want you to think, and they will certainly go out of their way to paint it this way. In fact, it would be probable to calculate that for every penny a company spends been ethical it spends 2 on telling you about it. So why do it? The reason is that been ethical has become profitable.
Business has not changed. The concept of running a successful business always contains a predominant factor of been ruthlessly calculated and parsimoniously thrifty. Risks are more calculation that risk, investment is more reward than disburse, and charity more image than contribution. With this equation in mind, the question of making a company ethical has actually never been about protests outside their office or bad press in the newspapers. It has always been about applying ethicality to business management. Like Starbucks and Gap will testify, there is a lot of money to be made in been corporately responsible.
The media has had a fair part to play in the awareness of the consumer. Along with that charitable organisations that have used their place in the media to good effect. This hype has exacerbated the attentiveness and sensitivity of the public to these issues. On the shopping list instead of the usual marks next to Tea Bags, there is now an additional ‘make sure they are fair trade’ besides it. The demand for organic food has risen significantly and local produce has become an important factor. In fact, anything that might give you a moral boost while perusing the supermarket is now in big demand, and the companies are fully aware of this. Coffee companies fight and tussle between making their working environments more sustainable, with adverts plastered over their homepage littered with ‘rainforest alliance’ plugs. Companies such as Nike, Addidas and Coca Cola make an effort to inform us that their working conditions are now safe and sustainable, and their employees make a minimum wage. Congratulations to the big three, for elegantly using propagandistic literature to suggest that this isn’t what they should have been doing all along!
Global warming can also be significantly accounted to the rise in this trend and the publicity the subject has got. The population is now fully aware of their separate black and green bins and they are increasingly living up to the fact that the ‘guardian of the planet’ role is ours. So companies jump on board. Persil and Daz offer washing solutions that clean ‘deep down and dirty, even at 30’ and of course their intentions were only in the interest of saving the planet. They also make their detergents from biodegradable ingredients as another measure of selflessly saving our planet. But it would be ignorant to disregard the fact that both companies have seen a huge leap in company profits!
The revelation of corporate responsibility in the 21st century has been one that can no longer be ignored by the company or the consumer. Of course this is a good thing, but it outlines who is really responsible for the change in direction. Consumers now looking for organic goods or ethically made produce drive the shift for a better world. The more that jump on board the more substantial the cause becomes. As many already have found, sticks and stones don’t break their bones, as long as the money is rolling in the presence of a load group of people with a few placards is a minor inconvenience. So hit them where it hurts, and use their business model against them. If you are shopping tonight, then your quest starts now.