Mitch Erekson & Hailey Fernelius

BUS 1050
Roger Lee
11/16/2014

Consumerism and Social Responsibility

Maslows Hierarchy of needs is separated into five parts. First being physiological;
breathing, eating, drinking, and sleeping. Where do we buy our food? Is it organic? What
chemicals are our water bottles made out of? How clean is the air we breathe? Second is
safety; safety of body, employment, resources, morality, family, and health. What resources are
we using to maintain safety? Are we preserving them? Next is Love; friendship and family. What
do we give to our friends and family? Are the products made with harsh chemicals? Then we
strive for esteem; confidence, achievement, and respect. What do we need in order to attain
these things? Are the clothes we wear to impress others made in sweat shops? Lastly we need
self-actualization; morality, spontaneity, and acceptance. Was there a cost to someone or
something in order for you to achieve self-actualization? It is a persons responsibility to not
only strive to meet these needs, but to do it in a way that is socially and environmentally
responsible.
As an example, lets look at H&M, a place where you can buy reasonably priced,
fashionable clothes. In March 2010, a Bangladesh factory burnt down, killing twenty-one of its
workers. These workers had been locked in in order to prevent theft. The only thing is that they
were working with highly flammable, synthetic yarns. H&M was one of this factorys clients
(Smith 70). Low pay and poor conditions are the components that make up a company whose
success is produced by its low prices. A marketer can choose to advertise and sell a shirt that
has been made by a child in a sweat shop, but you as the consumer has the choice to either

Mitch Erekson & Hailey Fernelius

BUS 1050
Roger Lee
11/16/2014

support this action by purchasing the shirt, or you can protest this kind of treatment by
purchasing clothes made locally (Smith 71).
Marketers caught onto this growing concern for where our products were being made,
and what they were made from. Marketers began calling this Corporate Social Responsibility.
Corporations all over the world began promoting the social and environmental good of the
products they were trying to sell (Smith 71). They were trying to satisfy the consumers selfdefinitional needs. Only, this was a scam. Marketers were not really concerned with the
production of the products, only what the implied environmentally safe production of products
would do to their profits. Eventually this caught up with the big corporations. Accusations of
unfairness and deception became an increasing problem for companies, as did anti-brand
activism. In a world with advanced technology people were able to quickly spread the news all
over the world (Smith 72).
Companies began launching PR campaigns trying to paint pictures of social and
environmental responsibility. This was not enough. Marketers needed to attack the problem
head on. Companies needed to take a stakeholders approach, promoting a responsible
consumer if they actually planned on incorporating Corporate Social Responsibility into their
values. This meant that the marketers must know exactly how their products were being made
and where they were coming from, this meant manufacturing, shipping, and sale of products
(Smith 72).

Mitch Erekson & Hailey Fernelius

BUS 1050
Roger Lee
11/16/2014

A stakeholder is someone who has an investment or interest within a company, this

includes customers, suppliers, employees, and shareholders. For marketers to be recognized as
taking a stakeholders approach, they needed to think of a way to benefit everyone (Smith 72).
Companies must first decide who their most important stakeholders are and determine their
needs, this is the basis for them to fix the damage done. Once they have determined the most
important needs, then they can start implementing initiatives. When companies start
accounting for people and the environment we start creating a more responsible consumer
(Smith 73).
The International Federation of Fair-Trade Networks helps the consumer be more
responsible. They define fair trade as a trading partnership, based on dialog, transparency and
respect that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable
development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized
producers and workers (Smith 74). People must recognize that consumption patterns must
change for social responsibility to be recognized in production processes.
One company that has taken the initiative and is using fair-trade ingredients is Ben and
Jerrys ice cream. Under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Ben and Jerrys has been
increasing the use of fair-trade ingredients and has been succeeding. Jerry explains that it has
been a rocky road, but the Unilever executives are proactively learning from their model. They
have three goals: to help billions of people improve their well-being, to reduce their
environmental impact by half, and to enhance the lives of those in the supply chain (Smith 74).

Mitch Erekson & Hailey Fernelius

BUS 1050
Roger Lee
11/16/2014

This is a company that is proactively acting on the wants of the people. They are making it
easier for consumers to be more responsible in their everyday decisions.
What is our role as a consumer? Obviously if a company is not willing to be socially
responsible then the consumer cannot be socially responsible either, the opposite is true as
well one cannot survive without the other. But as stated previously companies are moving in
the direction of being more socially responsible as the demand for it increases. How can we as
the consumer be as socially responsible as the company that we expect it from? What changes
do we need to make in our own life that can help the issue? And how could technology help us
in being more socially responsible?
Over about the last twenty five years there has been a large increase in the demand for
companies to be more socially responsible when surveyed about it. But is that really translating
into peoples actual lives? How many ethical consumers, which is someone who bases all of
their purchases on a products social and ethical position, are there? Is the consumer a causedriven liberal when surveyed, but an economic conservative at the checkout line? (Paragraph
3) Are our behaviors contradicting what we say we believe? There is clearly a problem with
social responsibility in the world and their needs to be a solution, but it will not come by just
talking about it, we as a society need to act.
Over a ten year period there was a large survey conducted by Carnegie Council where
individuals were questioned about the products that they consumed. There were 120 in depth
interviews that took place as well as the general polls. The people surveyed were from eight

Mitch Erekson & Hailey Fernelius

BUS 1050
Roger Lee
11/16/2014

different countries including: Australia, China, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the
United States. They were asked about several ethical issues and what they have done in the
situation or what they would do. The results are quite informative. By following the people for
ten years they were able to get accurate information about their real purchasing habits. Study
participants often stated that someone other than the individual consumer should be
responsible for important social issues. (Paragraph 8) If it is not going to be us, then who is
responsible? Of course it is us! That is how we make a change in the society by making smart
educated decisions one by one. Then is it possible for our society to change and make the
progress that is necessary.
How can technology aid us in making the transition into being more socially
responsible? It has a large role in keeping us informed on what is going on in the world. Smart
phones are so widely used that virtually everyone has unlimited information at their fingertips
all of the time. We as consumers could have a huge impact on the products purchased because
we could instantly research whether a product has been ethically produced or not. The
consumer has all of the power and ability to make this change that is so desperately needed in
our society. It will be done by making the little decisions daily that will make the difference.

Mitch Erekson & Hailey Fernelius

BUS 1050
Roger Lee
11/16/2014

Bibliography
Smith, N. Craig, and Elin Williams. Responsible Consumers and Stakeholder Marketing:
Building a Virtuous Circle of Social Responsibility.Universia Business Review, no. 30, pp. 6878.
Timothy Devinney, Pat Auger, Giana M. Eckhardt. Value vs. Values: The Myth of the
Ethical Consumer Last modified March 24, 2011,
http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/briefings/data/000199