Will you be buying so-called ‘ethical’ gifts for loved ones this Christmas? The range of goods competing for the shoppers’ conscience has never been greater. Take the charity Oxfam, for example. For a tenner you can buy ‘hygiene hints’ for people in developing countries. For £13, you can buy a ‘rubbish job’, teaching slum dwellers how to make money from recycling rubbish. And for £25 there’s the ‘best seller’ – the Goat (and, for ‘a limited time only’, a Sheep too).
>From Fairtrade logos on Dairy Milk bars, to Rainforest Alliance symbols on
Kenco coffee pots, having a stamp that declares a product is ‘ethical’ has
become a regular part of high street and online branding. By making the
‘right’ moral choices about what you put in your shopping trolley, it is
suggested that you will not only have a guilt-free shopping experience, but
you will also be helping millions escape poverty and to save the planet. We
are told that such ethical products allow us, as shoppers, to both express
our political opinions and make a change in the world for the better every
time we choose to put them in our trolleys.
This is simply nonsense. The whole emphasis on consumption is based on a fallacy that through the very act of consuming, we can all make an impact.
read more at http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/12/22/ethical-gifts-for-christmas-no-thanks/