According to the Indepentent News of Britain… A new generation of consumer activists is emerging in Britain, with more than one in two people boycotting the products of companies that they regard as unethical, according to a study.
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Consumers embrace ethical sales, costing firms £2.6bn a year
By Danielle Demetriou 09 December 2003
A new generation of consumer activists is emerging in Britain, with more than one in two people boycotting the products of companies that they regard as unethical, according to a study.
From Nestlé to Esso, multinationals have been the subject of high-profile consumer boycotts in recent years. In the first study to examine the extent of brand boycotting, published yesterday, it emerged that the cost of consumers switching brands for ethical reasons last year was £2.6bn in lost business.
While 52 per cent of consumers have boycotted at least one product during the same period, two-thirds claimed that they would never return to a product once it had been associated with unethical practices.
The figures came to light as part of The Co-operative Bank’s Ethical Purchasing Index, which has annually analysed the extent of ethical consumerism over the past four years. This year’s report incorporated an additional study involving 1,000 consumers that aimed to gauge the extent of ethical boycotting and its impact on industry.
The high level of boycotts was consistent with a continued increase in the overall growth of ethical consumption in the UK, according to the report.
The value of ethical consumption in the UK – including the sale of products, banking and financial services, and products that are boycotted – peaked last year at £19.9bn. The total sales of ethical products rose by 44 per cent from £4.8bn to £6.9bn between 1999 and 2002. During the same period, the market share of the products rose by 30 per cent.
Simon Williams, the director of corporate affairs at The Co-operative Bank, said: “The research enables us to drill down and look at people’s motivations and we have discovered that many consumers are driven by ethical concerns.
“For instance, many people shop locally for convenience, but for others the overriding consideration is to buy from local stores in order to support their community.”
He added: “The full extent of ethical consumerism will always be difficult to gauge, given that it is about the motivation behind a particular purchase as much as the product or service itself.
Boycotting big brands, shopping locally, recycling and using public transport cost consumers a combined total of about £5.6bn during 2002, the study revealed.
Food, household appliances, cosmetics and tourism were among the most frequent choices of purchases for ethically minded consumers.
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