Ethical Chic: The Inside Story of the Companies We Think We Love
Fran Hawthorne
Language: English
Pages: 181
ISBN: 0807000604
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“Hawthorne gives readers an impartial picture of the difficulties of running a profitable company while trying to maintain a positive corporate belief system…Highly recommended.”—Library Journal, starred review
Consumers are told that when they put on an American Apparel t-shirt, leggings, jeans, gold bra, or other item, they look hot. Not only do they look good, but they can also feel good because they are helping US workers earn a decent wage (never mind that some of those female workers have accused their boss of sexual harassment). And when shoppers put on a pair of Timberlands, they feel fashionable and as green as the pine forest they might trek through—that is, until they’re reminded that this green company is in the business of killing cows. But surely even the pickiest, most organic, most politically correct buyers can feel virtuous about purchasing a tube of Tom’s toothpaste, right? After all, with its natural ingredients that have never been tested on animals, this company has a forty-year history of being run by a nice couple from Maine . . . well, ahem, until it was recently bought out by Colgate.
It’s difficult to define what makes a company hip and also ethical, but some companies seem to have hit that magic bull’s-eye. In this age of consumer activism, pinpoint marketing, and immediate information, consumers demand everything from the coffee, computer, or toothpaste they buy. They want an affordable, reliable product manufactured by a company that doesn’t pollute, saves energy, treats its workers well, and doesn't hurt animals—oh, and that makes them feel cool when they use it. Companies would love to have that kind of reputation, and a handful seem to have achieved it. But do they deserve their haloes? Can a company make a profit doing so? And how can consumers avoid being tricked by phony marketing?
In Ethical Chic, award-winning author Fran Hawthorne uses her business-investigative skills to analyze six favorites: Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, American Apparel, Timberland, and Tom’s of Maine. She attends a Macworld conference and walks on the factory floors of American Apparel. She visits the wooded headquarters of Timberland, speaks to consumers who drive thirty miles to get their pretzels and plantains from Trader Joe’s, and confronts the founders of Tom’s of Maine. More than a how-to guide for daily dilemmas and ethical business practices, Ethical Chic is a blinders-off and nuanced look at the mixed bag of values on sale at companies that project a seemingly progressive image.
From the Hardcover edition.
Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It
AFL-CIO posts an annual roster called “The Labor Day List: Partnerships That Work” in order “to recognize successful partnerships between employers and their employees’ labor unions that are working well in the global economy,” as the accompanying report puts it. In the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s archives, you might find press releases announcing lawsuits alleging racial or sex discrimination at various businesses. Homing in specifically on the treatment of lesbian,.
You pressuring your supply chain [to reduce this energy consumption]?” There have been contradictory studies of whether reading something electronically is greener than using old-fashioned paper, but even if it is, skeptics don’t necessarily buy Apple’s assertion that its electronic products are the greenest. And finally, even if all of Apple’s claims are true, customer usage is one area the company really doesn’t control. Maybe fans love its products so much that they use them more than they.
“What is free-range chicken?” While the Fearless Flyer newsletter may lack coupons, it explains why Northern California’s climate is good for growing orchids and where Fuji apples come from. Respondents in the 2009 Consumer Reports survey, in addition to citing low prices, gave Trader Joe’s top marks for service. And the magazine singled it out, along with Wegmans, as “among the most satisfying chains to shop at.” The main consumer complaint involves the notoriously long lines. You could.
Company as in-your-face as American Apparel would be busted. Sure enough, in January 2008, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency demanded to see the company’s personnel files. Over the next year and a half, American Apparel cooperated with the feds as they pored through the records in search of phony Social Security cards and other suspect IDs. By September 2009, the company had axed some 1,500 employees who couldn’t prove their legal status, more than one-fourth of.
Marketing strategy from a hard-nosed business angle, Robert Passikoff, the branding expert, said, “It does provide some level of image differentiation for the brand, but it’s a dangerous game.” Yet the bottom-of-the-line reputation is not universal. Several mothers of teenage girls I talked with didn’t think American Apparel’s ads are particularly different from those of other stores or manufacturers. Although Loretta Lurie (who is married to Peter Bornstein, the artist who wears Timberland.