Does the modern consumer care about ethical marketing? Well, a recent survey by AFLAC seems to suggest so. The survey showed that 76% of respondents would snub a brand that isn’t socially conscious or take their social media actions seriously.
One key driver of the ethical market is the high value these modern consumers place on social media consciousness. In this article, you will discover a more in-depth look at ethical marketing and examples of five brands that got it right. These brands were chosen based on how they applied ethics to their marketing and why what they did is crucial to a brand’s effective marketing strategy.
But first,
The basis of ethical marketing is that morals are crucial to brands and consumers. Thus, here are five ethical marketing examples of brands we identified are applying the right ethics to their marketing:
What Does Define Ethical Marketing Mean?
Ethical marketing refers to the way a brand communicates the value of its product or services to its consumers. It also involves how their products or services are of value socially and environmentally.
In our opinion, ethical marketing is more of a philosophy than a strategy. It involves:
Brands with an ethical marketing perspective in mind make decisions based on the achievement of a business objective and whether such decisions are morally right. Hence, such brands usually ensure that their marketing campaigns:
1. Farmer Direct Co-Op
If you have ever watched some food documentaries on Netflix regarding industrialized agriculture, then you will know that this industry is one of the most unethical industries and even the hardest job sector in North America.
Unethical practices include top companies bullying family-owned farms and inflicting misery on their livestock. Most local supermarkets hide these scenes from the presentation they show on media.
But Canada’s farmer direct co-op is different. It is a worker-owned cooperative and consists of a network of over 65 privately owned farms spanning across the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.
Ethical Marketing Used By Farmer Direct Co-Op
Being active on social media (especially Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest) where it shares useful eating tips and fun content. They also provides detailed blog content on how people can improve food making decisions to live healthily.
Farmer Direct’s objective is to change people’s decisions about food and the sources of such foods. They want to erase the notion that industrialized agriculture has eroded the proper way we consume food. Also, it is creating more awareness of the effects of natural factors on farms and communities.
2. Dr. Bronner’s
In recent years, there has been an increase in the demand for ethically produced
cleansing products by consumers. While there are several soap brands available to consumers, none of them comes close to dr. Bronner’s organic liquid soap in terms of sales in the USA. Bronner’s soap consists of its cosmic principles which its founder and Emmanuel Bronner explained during his tour of the USA in the 1940s.
Ethical Marketing Used By Dr. Bronner’s
The unconventional behavior of this brand’s founder is one thing that makes it stand out. Without Bronner’s “moral ABCs,” it is unlikely that the brand will still be in existence or stand out from the competition.
Dr. Bronner continues to leverage on its unconventional founding and founder’s philosophy of the “moral ABCs” Furthermore, dr. Bronner’s is designed as a benefit corporation. It isn’t just to make profits, it must also seek to have a positive effect on society.
The brand has been performing excellently in this regard. Examples include a fair wage ratio between executive and lower-level employees. It also includes creating awareness on social and environmental issues as well as using fair trade ingredients where necessary.
3. Everlane
One of the most controversial industries globally is the clothing industry and there are few ethical clothing brands in this industry. Following the death of almost 120 persons in a popular Bangladeshi garment manufacturing company, there has been more focus on the process of making our clothes and where they are made.
This became more important since the factory mentioned above was known to supply cloths to us eCommerce giants such as Walmart and sears. Everlane was founded eleven years ago and remains committed to ethical standards for the cloth manufacturing process and its employees.
Ethical Marketing Used By Everlane
Everlane doesn’t just tell you that they manufacture and sell their clothes ethically, they demonstrate it. They provide you with an elaborate breakdown of each aspect of each clothing item. Such details include excise duties and taxes, costs of materials, labor, transport, zippers, and buttons.
Everyone demonstrates itself as an example of one of the top sustainable clothing brands. Everlane’s transparency is rare in an industry where clothing brands will jealously guard their production costs. Hence, they attract and sustain their customers.
4. TOMS
Values and brand are a major part of TOMS’ corporate philanthropy. When Blake Mycoskie visited Argentina in 2006 and saw how most of her citizens
couldn’t afford to protect their feet with good shoes, he made it a personal challenge to provide succor for these people through his TOMS shoes.
Apart from donating over 61 million shoe pairs to the needy globally for more than 15 years since it was established, it has also provided over 420,000 glass pairs to those lacking ophthalmological care.
TOMS has also expanded to other niches such as the provision of clean water, and all essential needs for expectant mothers. So far, it has donated over 26,000 of such needs for the safe delivery of expecting mothers.
Ethical Marketing Used By TOMS
Each aspect of TOMS branding involves a showcase of its social and environmental philanthropy. Hence, potential clients have an idea of the brand’s values and those values are reinforced into them since these values remain consistent across various channels.
For instance, TOMS reveals that a portion of each shoe sale goes to someone in need. The company emphasizes this mission across all its social media accounts and website. Each of the company’s webpage indicates exactly how the company helps the needy globally. Thus, whenever you think about the TOMS brand, your mind goes to its philanthropic projects as well.
5. Conscious Coffees
It is estimated that at least 121 million people earn their living through coffee production and selling. However, if there aren’t any significant changes to
climate change between now and the next thirty years, there might be no more coffee farmland by that year.
Hence, Conscious Coffees is one of the many companies providing help for coffee farmers globally. Established by mark and melissa Glenn in 1996, conscious coffees is now owned by Craig Lamberty who bought it early last year.
Ethical Marketing Used By Conscious Coffees
The company’s ethics are embedded in its logo and mission and have been so ingrained that it’s no longer an ethical marketing approach but a philosophical principle by the brand. The brand is also involved in several community projects.
They provides training, support, and guidance to various coffee business owners in developing economies (such as El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Mexico) through its cafe livelihood initiative. They also supports cycling competitions in Boulder, Colorado (the location of its headquarters) with coffee, repairs, and maintenance. Conscious coffee is a company that uses and embodies ethical advertising as a brand.
Conclusion – Important Points
Companies must use ethical marketing to create trust with their userbase.
They can accomplish this through transparency, social awareness, and embodying the change they desire in their industry. No customer won’t be attracted to a company that exudes trust in terms of morality, decisions, and engaging in life-changing projects.
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