Essay: Ethical Consumption & Unilever's Issues

A brief overview of Ethical Consumption

Give a brief overview of ethical consumption and results of a short opinion survey.

In today’s world, Consumerism matters largely. It is the mode of consumerism, which determines the progress of the business world. The globalization nowadays determines the behaviour of the consumers. Due to globalization, the countries are becoming more and more aware of the culture, customs, lifestyle and all other related aspects of each other. People are no longer confined to their own culture and conventional choices. The citizens of every country are acquiring knowledge about each other’s opinions, culture and thoughts, which are influencing them, consequently making them adapt easily each other’s modes of living life in terms of everything.

However, it is a very good sign that consumers are now thinking about consuming ethically or rather making the act of consumption much more ethical. It is very important to become aware of the increasing damage that is done to the environment daily through various ways of consumption. The unlimited consumption of the ever-growing population of the world is creating pressure every now and then. Hence, ethical Consumerism is the only solution to this problem, in which the consumers consume the needed goods ethically; purchase such goods, which cause less damage to the environment (McDonagh et al. 2012).

In this particular assignment, Unilever has been selected as the chosen organization. Unilever is one of the largest multinational companies based on UK. Dealing with more than four hundred brands, this organization has maintained its ethics, culture and beliefs. The ethical issues of Unilever has been discussed in detail. Moreover, this particular study has provided a detailed overview about the importance of ethical consumption.

Ethical Consumption refers to the method of modifying one’s modes of purchasing items in such a way that they can help in contributing towards the preservation of the environment (Eagle et al. 2015). If the consumers are reducing their consumption of those items, which contain the non-biodegradable materials within them, or involves the intense usage of the non-renewable resources, then the conservation of resources is very much possible (Mudrack and Mason 2013). Food and beverages, some other fast moving consumer goods of daily consumption, banking and finance related activities and fashion constitute the range of products and services, regarding which both the consumers and producing firms should deal more ethically.

The importance of ethical consumption:

Ethical consumerism also denotes that kind of consumerism in which the consumer makes sure that he plays a vital role in reducing the exploitation of the children and women working in many hazardous factories, this can be done only by reducing the usage of those resources or the products (Djordjevic 2014). Through maintenance of ethics or ethics based consumption, the consumers can prevent the exploitation of the human, animal and natural resources. It not only means acting morally in the prevention of the natural resources, but also preservation of the human and animal resources, which are equally valuable (Sebastiani et al. 2013). For instance, if the consumption of non-vegetarian delicacies or the usage of animals in making different types of decorative pieces were reduced, then it would be possible to protect the reduction of the rate of exploitation of those species that are on the verge of extinction. In the crackers factories and in many other industries where children and women are subjected to hazardous activities, may lead to the dangerous accidents frequently. The decrease in the demand of such goods by the customers is the only means of saving the human exploitation (Buil et al.2013).

The importance of ethical consumption

An overview or outline of Unilever and its Ethical issues:

Unilever has become the largest manufacturer in the packaged fast moving consumer goods in the entire world. Unilever is operating in all the countries of the world, touching everyday more than two billion lives. Almost all the well known brands  such as Dove, Axe, Blue Band, Sunlight, Lux, Knorr, Lifebuoy and many others come under the portfolio of Unilever. Unilever through almost all its products promises to keep its consumers happy and make an impact on their lives (Grimmer and Bingham 2013).

The organization has contributed largely in creating employment in nearly 150 countries throughout the world, where its brands are operating (Djordjevic 2014). The most important and praiseworthy fact about Unilever is highly concerned about the welfare of its employees, providing them with all the facilities, ensuring their safety during their work in the workplace; rewarding them on the basis of their performance; and above all assuring them with their job security. These are the basic things which the workforce of any firm usually demands and must demand (Benn et al. 2014).

Unilever has very deftly segregated its brand portfolios. This division has proved highly advantageous for the company because it is now operating in the fields of healthcare, personal care, food and beverages. This segregation of the products has enabled Unilever to reach the customers and satisfy their diversified needs at the same time keeping in mind the purchasing potential of the consumers. The organization has always claimed to keep the manufacturing cost low, so that it becomes possible for Unilever to serve its customers in the best possible way; by providing them the products at reasonable prices. Unilever by launching products such as Dove and Lux beauty soaps, detergent soaps, deodorants, various food items and beverages, has proved itself in each segment of necessity, as these goods form the requirements of one’s day to day life.

According to the organization, the world today is in great need of conservation of its resources, which are depleting very rapidly due to the irrational usage and over exploitation of resources. The ever growing population of the world is consuming the resources of the earth immensely, which will lead to the extinction of the non renewable precious resources. Thus, Unilever claims that it takes a great care while producing and accessing the resources for the products, so that no damage is caused to the environment. Because when the earth is safe and the surroundings are healthy, the life on the earth will also remain healthy forever (Fogliasso and Farmer 2014).

An overview or outline of Unilever and its Ethical issues

Unilever’s business strategies enable its customers feel very special and pacify them to rely on the brands of Unilever. Dove and lifebuoy and other such well known brands of Unilever have turned to be the necessities of many consumers. Dove through its advertisement has often launched campaigns for healthy and beautiful skin, and Lifebuoy via its campaigns has tried to propagate the message of good health and safety. This is what makes Unilever one of the most reliable brands in the world (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2016).

Unilever has also made it sure, that the advertisements it displays must match the thought process of the consumers. For instance, in the advertisement of Dove, the models who promote the brand are shown in a very realistic mode. Unlike the dazzling images of the models shown in the advertisements of other beauty products, Dove is using healthy and realistic body images to promote its product (Solomon et al. 2012).It does not lure its customers through extraneous information about the brand (Eagle 2015). It claims to tell the truth about the benefits of the product. Another example can be considered, that is of Surf Excel, which through its different attractive advertisements tries to convey the message to its consumers that children should not be derived of the fun of their age, their childhood is very valuable and thus they should be allowed to play and think freely (Pandey et al. 2012). Through their Dirt is good campaign, as displayed in the advertisement of Surf Excel, the brand attempts to tell the truth that playing and getting dirty is a positive sign of growth for the children. This is how Unilever and its specific brands operate and appeal directly to the thought processes of the consumers, people can easily relate to what is shown via the advertisements. The manner in which the advertisement of Knorr is shown, very readily applies to the consumers. It is depicted in such a way that relates to the day-to-day activities and food habits of the people, seems to be very familiar with the life and habits of the customers (Korthals 2013). The quality of the products remains researched and formulated. This process is able to make a smooth process for the company to achieve its goals by satisfying the needs of the consumers (Carter 2013). It believes in gaining the trust of the people through the truthful and moralistic business practices.

Besides being so ethical in its approach and service to its customers, Unilever has been also accused of some unethical business practices. Many consumers believe that it is unethical on its part to promote its product through such advertisements, which do not appeal to the customers, rather create a bad image of those specific brands in the minds of the consumers (Murphy and Schlegelmilch 2013).The advertisements the customers have considered promoting Axe as going against the ethics. Although Unilever says that the advertisement shown through Axe is not to create a bad image, but only to introduce a smart brand for the youngsters, it is taken by most of the consumers in a wrong way.

The reports received from a short survey of the consumer opinions regarding various products, conducted by a small group of students of GSM London, give a good idea about how the modes of consumption  works. People interviewed have almost expressed the similar views. According to the consumer viewpoints, the buying behaviour of the buyer depends upon the factors that follow:

1. When the consumer is rest assured about the brand, on which it can rely upon undoubtedly, he gets inclined towards that brand.
2. It depends on the culture, customs, surroundings, environment, and lifestyle of a particular buyer.
3. It also depends upon the urgency or necessity of the products for the customers.
4. The snobbishness of the consumers regarding various brands also determines the demand of the certain goods. This makes a consumer stick to a particular brand (Wilshaw et al. 2013).
5. Moreover, in many cases the effect of acting ethically motivates the consumers and their attitude, which makes them buy only those brands that produce organically following the moral values (Orozco and Poonamallee 2014).
This short opinion survey conducted by the students comes under the criteria of primary research, since it informs about basic views of the consumers which are the fundamental aspects that ultimately determine the ethics of an organisation as well as their success in satisfying the needs of the buyers.

Figure1: Factors affecting buying behaviour

(Source: Arnold et al. 2012)

 Conclusion:

The primary research undertaken very clearly gives knowledge about the behaviour of the consumers and their views on ethical consumption which is very important for creating the base for a sustainable society and environment.

The secondary research, on the other hand depicts how an organisation has emphasizes upon the ethical issues and the behaviour of the customers, and produces the goods and manages them accordingly. This in turn also enables the firm to set forth an example for the other manufacturing concerns to produce and proceed accordingly. Hence, it is evident from all the above observations and discussion regarding Ethical consumerism, modes of consumer behaviour and ethical business practices to be followed, that Ethical Consumerism can only turn out to be successful if it is accompanied by the moral practices of the business organizations as well as those of the consumers. (Quarshie et al. 2015). Undoubtedly, the practice of ethics-based consumerism is the need of the hour in order to preserve the animal, human and natural resources via reduction of over exploitation and over consumption (McDonald 2014).

As far as Unilever is concerned, it is quite clear that the organization, which is able to touch the lives of more than two billion consumers, truly remains concerned about the quality and impact of its products. The moral values and the truth based business practices have formed the basis strong foundation of the company in the global market (Muralidharan and Madhavi 2014.)

The only aspects, which should be taken care of are as follows:

1. To make the people more and more assured regarding the benefits and ethics of its products. It must avoid the promotion of the products through such advertisements, which are unethical and do not appeal to the consumers and go against the moral values of life (Arnold et al. 2012).
2. As it is seen in the case of Axe and other beauty products, Unilever should make amendments in the concept of those ads, so that it is able to earn the trust of the customers and prove itself a truly reliable brand.
3. Moreover, it should also continue maintaining the ways of sustainable development and keep in consideration its claims while manufacturing the goods, as it can only help in establishing itself in the hearts of the people and in the business world (Parboteeah and Cullen 2013).

References:

Arnold, D.G., Beauchamp, T.L. and Bowie, N., 2012. Ethical theory and business. Pearson Higher Ed.

Muralidharan, P. and Madhavi, C., 2014. Emerging Ethical Issues due to Technological Developments in an Era of Globalization. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 4(4), p.317.

Murphy, P.E. and Schlegelmilch, B.B., 2013. Corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility: Introduction to a special topic section.Journal of Business Research, 66(10), pp.1807-1813

Korthals, M., 2013. Ethics of food production and consumption.

Eagle, L., Dahl, S. and Low, D.R., 2015. Criticisms of Marketing. Marketing Ethics & Society, p.29.

Fogliasso, C.E. and Farmer, C., 2014. Rawls' A Theory Of Justice And Its Application To Modern Organizations. Ethics & Critical Thinking Journal,2014(1).

Benn, S., Dunphy, D. and Griffiths, A., 2014. Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge

McDonagh, P., Dobscha, S. and Prothero, A., 2012. Sustainable Consumption and Production. Transformative consumer research for personal and collective well-being, p.267.

Buil, I., Martínez, E. and de Chernatony, L., 2013. The influence of brand equity on consumer responses. Journal of consumer marketing, 30(1), pp.62-74.

Carter, J., 2013. Corporate social responsibility: Ben & Jerry’s.

Djordjevic, B., 2014. The Nature of Strategic Management. Archives of Business Research, 2(4), p.38.

Eagle, L., 2015. Introduction to Marketing Ethics. Marketing Ethics & Society, p.1.

Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2016. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson Education.

Grimmer, M. and Bingham, T., 2013. Company environmental performance and consumer purchase intentions. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), pp.1945-1953.

McDonald, G., 2014. Business Ethics: A Contemporary Approach. Cambridge University Press.

Mudrack, P.E. and Mason, E.S., 2013. Ethical judgments: What do we know, where do we go?. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(3), pp.575-597.

Orozco, D. and Poonamallee, L., 2014. The role of ethics in the commercialization of Indigenous knowledge. Journal of business ethics,119(2), pp.275-286.

Pandey, M.K., Tiwari, S. and Srivastava, S.K., 2012. Ethics of international business in global economy. International Journals of Marketing and Technology, 2(8), pp.236-248.

Parboteeah, K.P. and Cullen, J.B., 2013. Business ethics. Routledge.

Quarshie, A.M., Salmi, A. and Leuschner, R., 2015. Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.

Sebastiani, R., Montagnini, F. and Dalli, D., 2013. Ethical consumption and new business models in the food industry. Evidence from the Eataly case.Journal of business ethics, 114(3), pp.473-488.

Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R. and Previte, J., 2012. Consumer behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Waddock, S., 2014. Wisdom and responsible leadership: Aesthetic sensibility, moral imagination, and systems thinking. In Aesthetics and business ethics(pp. 129-147). Springer Netherlands.

Wilshaw, R., Unger, L., Quynh, C.D. and Thu, T.P., 2013. Labour Rights in Unilever's Supply Chain: From compliance to good practice. An Oxfam study of labour issues in Unilever's Viet Nam operations and supply chain. Oxfam Policy and Practice: Private Sector, 10(1), pp.1-108.