15
2008
Shopping Activism
An article by 
There are a few different ways of referring to the topic of this article. Some refer to it using the mouthful – “Socially Conscious Purchases” or “Socially Aware Consuming”. Over at Phoenix and in many other places they’re calling it “Ethical Consumption”. I like that term, but love the subversive tone in “Shopping Activism” so am going to work with that.
Every purchase we make is an act that says something, whether we like it or not. When we speak through our consumption there are messages sent – whether we agree with the messages our consumption sends or not. When we spend money on a product, we are telling the supplier of that product that what we have purchased has value to us and that, in some sense, we appreciate them getting it to us. We are telling them that we want the supply of that product.
The message that we are also sending is that we are ok with whatever practices enabled that product to reach us as at the price that we paid for it. Now many of us might protest at this assumption because many of us don’t know what happened to enable the supply of that product from the beginning of that process to the point of purchase, but nevertheless, our purchase of any given product is a stamp of approval, even if that stamp has a degree (whether it be high or low) of ignorance attached to it.
Through our purchases, we enable companies to do what they do or adversely, by ignoring certain products, we very quickly put some companies out of business or force them to adjust their offerings to the market place to better meet demand and profit.
When we understand such market drivers and understand the basic concept that every purchase makes statements that say something to all those who choose to supply us with the products that we consume, we very quickly get a picture that shopping and consumption are inherently a form of activism. Sometimes that activism supports practices many of us would deem to be unethical, yet we act in support of such unethical practices often out of ignorance. We can change that.
Many of us aren’t in a position where we can uproot our lives to head into poverty stricken areas to serve the poor. Many of us shiver at the thought of entering one of the world’s slums even for a visit. Many of us don’t see ourselves as activists wanting to chain ourselves to trees to save the planet. Many of us can’t be bothered bugging our politicians with letters to compel them to act in the worlds greatest needs. Many of us just want to live our lives and feel like we’ve got enough on our plate just trying to get through life without having to worry about trying to cause tectonic shifts in the worlds problems as well. But with all that in mind, many of us still have a heart and many of us would still like to see the world become a better place. If that’s you then Shopping Activism is for you.
Shopping Activism only asks you to understand one thing and to do one thing with that new understanding. Shopping Activism asks you to understand that every purchase you make sends a message. That message might be about what’s ok and what’s not ok in how companies treat the environment or animals. That message might be about the use of cheap labour around the world; it might even be about human trafficking. The question is, what messages do you want sent by your purchases? Choose those messages and then buy accordingly. Choose products that support the messages that you want sent and ignore products that insult those messages. Send a message to companies that support your values that their products are in demand and send a message to the companies who do not, that they need to change their approach if they want you to support their products.
Become an ethical consumer; become a socially responsible purchaser; become a socially aware consumer; become a Shopping Activist and don’t passively send messages out of ignorance in support of values and ethics that do not align with your own.
If you want to know where you can purchase different products – leave a comment, tell us what you’re after and let’s see if we, as a small community reading this, can help each other find products that better align with our values.
To get started as a Shopping Activist, check out places like Good Books and Trade Aid.
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About the Author: Frank Ritchie
Frank is the Education and Advocacy Manager for TEAR Fund NZ. Frank is a licensed Minister in the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand and has a keen interest in biblical perspectives of Justice and how this connects to service to, with and for the poor, disadvantaged and marginalized people of the world.
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Loving the subversiveness of the term! After recently hearing Steve Chalke (I think?) talk about the human traffiking involved in the chocolate trade I switched to Fairtrade chocolate. Not only do I get to feel good about what I purchased, but the chocolate is actually ridiculously nice! (Scarborough Fair if you’re looking to buy some – silky smooth, velvety goodness).
Have been thinking about the whole diamond issue too – not quite enough to make me take my diamonds off, but have decided not to purchase any (not that difficult when you can’t afford them anyway). It amazes me that we value something that is in some areas causing great harm to people, when the cultured version is cheaper, more ethical (I think – please correct me if I’m wrong) and also flawless!
Yes, Scarborough Fair make good chocolate.
The diamond issue is an interesting one, because of course, not all diamonds are unethically gained, but it can be a tricky process trying to work out whether or not the diamond being purchased is a ‘conflict’ diamond.
Have you seen the movie, Blood Diamond?
Here is some interesting information from the UN, on conflict diamonds:
http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html
Yep, saw blood diamond and still haven’t recovered from the opening scenes.
One issue I have with diamonds, is that even if they aren’t gained from conflict areas – buying them promotes buying diamonds, which encourages the industry (the good and not so good sides of it). Mind you, perhaps buying cultured diamonds does the same thing. Perhaps even wearing mine does the same thing.
I’d be interested to know how we REALLY know if things are freetrade. The logo can mean different things with different products. For example – the recent McCafe ads about their coffee. Is it ‘fair trade’, ‘relationship coffee’, or something else? What regulations are there on using these labels?
oops – meant Fairtrade of course…
Good thoughts Rachel.
I don’t know enough about the diamond trade to say much there, but I like your question about ‘labels’ that relate to what we’re talking about.
It comes down to research and knowing what the standards and processes are for the different labels.
There are no regulations around the use of such certifications except use of such labels where permission has not been given by the governing body of that certification standard to use its logo.
The one being used by McCafe is an interesting one. Essentially it is an environmental regulator, not a trade regulator. It provides no guarantees on what is being paid to growers of the product and only a percentage (30% I think) of the sold product needs to meet the requirements of the certificatoin. That means that if one were to buy a bag of coffee beans using the label used by McCafe, only 30% of those beans need to meet the requirements – thus you have no guarantees on how the other 70% have been produced.
The label in question is the Rainforest Alliance Certification.
Here are two places to check it out:
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/certification.cfm?id=main
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest_Alliance
The best thing to do is find valid criticisms and decide if you can live with those criticisms. If not, boycotting the product may be a valid form of shopping activism.
For those interested in looking at the differences between the Fairtrade Foundation (and fair trade in general) and the Rainforest Alliance, here are two articles comparing the two:
The Guardian UK
Trade Aid
They both have their pros and cons and Rainforest Alliance certification is better than nothing, but I would still put the Fairtrade Foundation ahead of it easily.
McCafe could do a lot better in my opinion as I think they have taken the cheap option to appease a public they believe want to be more ethical but may not research the ins and outs of the certification. It’s all about awareness and then acting on what we know and value.
On this topic, I have been happy to see BP take up Fairtrade certification on the coffee they use in their Wild Bean Cafes.
There is another method that can be mentioned here as well – direct trade – where coffee suppliers work directly with co-ops to bring a product that has been purchased directly at a good price. This can involve a need for more direct questioning of how a product was sourced.