Ethical or Otherwise?

It seems the word “ethical” is the new bandwagon parlance and everyone who wants to sell something seems to be fluent in its use. Ethical consumerism is the talk of the town, the must have attitude to avoid being a pariah amongst those who seemingly have integrity and the planet’s well-being at heart. You’re pressured to get on that wagon and ride blissfully into a cleaner, brighter future.

Don’t be fooled! Tagging the word “ethical” onto your business name, magazine or tagline does not automatically exonerate you. I see this going on all the time in business and I see a prevalent and shocking misuse of the word and its offspring such as “eco” and “sustainable”.

One such company is the so-called “Ethical Consumer Magazine”, who bully real ethical and small businesses who are trying to get a foothold in the market, by demanding that they fill out obfuscating and convoluted ranking forms, to provide free content for their publications. If the business does not complete the form, the journalists use the morality of the baby-eating bishop of Bath & Wells by simply making stuff up! They have labelled several small businesses as animal-cruel, I.E. their products or ingredients are tested on animals. They have actually made these statements knowing full well that they are untrue. Why would they do this? How can that be “ETHICAL”?

This magazine has around 12k readership, so that is at least 12 thousand people they are lying to… literally and blatantly lying to their readership. That, I guess, is the practice of most journalism. How sad that it filters into the mindset of those who really care about our planet and the way we live. How sad they are damning small businesses who really care. How sad that the word “ethical” can not be trusted.