Ethics; is very much a 20th century word, that not only epitomises the changes in our collective attitudes towards business practices, but also a change in our developed societies.
Nowadays, it can be said that everyday decisions, whether within objectives, strategies or tactics, have ethical considerations. These ethical issues are usually large scale, that impact on many people’s lives, such as, environmental sustainability, morality towards minorities and helping those most vulnerable. But what may be more true to the point, is that while businesses appear to increasingly be doing “the right thing”, secluded away from public view, they are doing what they have always done, maximising profits at any cost.
Ethics affects everyone on the planet, but for so many people, they seem not to hold a full and total understanding of why it is important to them. The widespread use of repetitive marketing messages means that businesses can easily convince the public that they are looking after you and our society through advertising via the internet, outdoor billboards and the TV. Messages including outsourcing resources fairly, using environmentally friendly materials and paying workers a fair wage for their work. Through this very effective means of communicating, some may say they are brainwashing their audience to the extent that many people can recite their “ethical” marketing messages.
The printing of good deeds
It is certainly plausible that we can keep checks on businesses activities far more effectively than was possible in the past. Many businesses choose to publish Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports that show statistics such as the amount of Co2 they produced, how much money each executive in the company earned and, their future plans to improve environmental sustainability. There have been official bodies set up to monitor and regulate businesses to ensure they are operating within the bounds of the laws and regulations, many of these regulations are concerned with ethical matters. Most of this information is available for public view as part of the push for more companies to pursue ethical issues and a great incentive to take CSR seriously. The vast speed of new technology has naturally played a part in this, as well as access to information via computers and mobile technologies that allows people to access information extremely quickly. Undoubtedly all these points hold a strong case for the statement that Businesses today have become more ethical and transparent for the benefit of every one of us.
While it may appear that on the surface, businesses are telling us the whole truth, it could also be true that businesses are simply more able to deceive us. One example of this is from the brand Dove. Dove has released a series of adverts using older models of all shapes and sizes and from all ethnic backgrounds. Through this repeated marketing campaign, Dove has been seen as a promoter of raising awareness that models are usually thought of as only being young and that beauty should come in all shapes and sizes. But, a closer look reveals a different side to Dove’s parent company, Unilever. Dove is only one of a number of brands owned by Unilever. Another brand it owns is Lynx. Lynx’s marketing campaign has focused only on young attractive models, quite a contrast to Dove’s. The message from this research suggests that Unilever is simply using ethics to sell its products. However, It is unlikely most people would be aware of this or perhaps most wouldn’t consider this to be of great concern, it has the potential create bad public relations for the Dove brand if this message was interpreted badly by enough members of the public. It is one example of how businesses are profiting from marketing campaigns centred on ethics. Often businesses are subtle and smart enough to get away with this behaviour.
The power of the public’s voice
But when the topics are serious enough, it seems businesses must be prepared to suffer the consequences. Another strong topic of debate is the use of child labour. It is another ethical issue that has caused many businesses to suffer from public outcry. Primark is one big name who has been exposed as guilty of using child labour in the manufacturing of their products. Primark has had to implement policies that check their suppliers in developing countries are not using child labour. Primark also produces corporate responsibility reports and dedicate parts of their website to promoting their ethical credentials to the public. Primark took this exposure to bad public relations with utter seriousness. A look at the company’s website could even suggest paranoia about the public’s opinion on its ethical practices; its ethical policy is highly visible on their homepage. However, Primark has continued with success in its business operations.
Another example was the British media scandal, involving News of the world (NOTW) that occurred in June 2011. It promoted greater interest in how the British media conducts its business and collects the information that it publishes. The company obtained some of its information through hacking into messages belonging to members of the public. This created an outcry, particularly as many of those members of the public were crime victims. The company also faced allegations of bribes to the UK police force and many journalists for the company were arrested. It was deemed so serious that the newspaper company was forced to cease trading. This scandal proved that the public has the power to pressurise companies to pay the price of their crimes where ethics are concerned.
More NOTW style scandal’s to come?
The crime committed by NOTW, was certainly gravely serious, but so was Primark’s use of child labour. Primark has been able to continue, whereas NOTW was forced into closing its business. The public are certainly able to influence justice that is brought on misbehaving companies, but it is difficult to comment on whether the levels of justice are fair.
It leaves the question, if the public were made aware of even more of these cases of wrong doings and even more detailed information, would there be far more punishment awaiting these businesses? What subjects are deemed unimportant to the general public and what are serious enough to draw attention to a significant number and cause a public outcry?
