Introduction
Consumer behaviour studies how an individual or group of individuals preferences, attitudes, and emotions when buying, using, and disposing of products or services (Mothersbaugh & Hawkins, 2016). There are various dependent and independent factors that define consumer behaviour, including behavioural, economic, sociological, and psychoanalytic factors. Consumers tend to make choices rather than behave differently to meet their needs and satisfy their desires, which are driven by internal and external forces. Manufacturers, producers, and marketers delve into understanding consumer behaviour to identify new and better advertising techniques to maximise sales and, thus, higher profit margins. Consumers have desires which they satisfy after getting what they want. However, the processes involved until the final product reaches the consumer vary and incorporate various methodologies that are unethical. Unethical consumption is defined as the process of using products that involves aspects such as hoarding, dishonest acts, corruption, cheating or other activities that may cause harm or loss of finance in the production, marketing, transportation and usage of goods and services (LeBaron, 2021).
Statement of Main Argument
The production incorporates guidelines set by legal, social, economic, and political relevant bodies and creates a huge barrier toward achieving transparency and ethical production, thus leading to ethical consumption. Consumption involves utilising products that undergo unacceptable channels or modes of production and marketing, and this makes it hard for consumption to be ethical (Nadeem et al., 2020). It is with no doubt that consumption can never be completely ethical. In addition, individuals use unauthorised means to acquire products, which also results in unethical consumption. Some factors hinder achieving ethical consumption, and they include production and supply complexity, as well as environmental and social or human rights. This factor contributes to deeming consumption as unethical. Stakeholders, advertising agencies, environmental impacts, and individual limitations, among others, support the argument that consumption can never be completely ethical.
Body
Production and Supply Chain Complexity
Production and supply chain complexity entail the most elements that make consumption unethical. These two factors, production and supply, play the greatest part in ensuring that consumers get what they desire and, thus, the highest percentage of unethical practices. Production defines the process of making final products from raw materials. The very first step of production, which is the acquisition of raw products, can result in unethical consumption if they are illegally acquired. Many companies scout for the cheapest raw materials to maximise profits, while others pay for illegally acquired products to make final products and satisfy the demand. Additionally, manufacturers such as General Motors was found guilty of selling inferior products to their clients (“GM hit with $102.6 million”). It was noted that the company knowingly ignored the faulty elements and assured the market that vehicles were perfect when they were not. This is a real-world example that shows that consumption can be extremely unethical.
Advertising
Businesses use advertising agencies to improve their sales performance by attracting new customers and retaining existing customers. Through advertising, manufacturers and producers make ethical consumption hard to achieve. Advertising employs manipulative techniques that affect consumers’ psychology and emotions, thus making irrational purchasing decisions (Sutherland, 2020). Most manipulative techniques, such as “buy one get one free” (BOGO), intend to create impulse buying even when a customer does need two similar products. False or misleading claims not only exaggerate the benefits of products but also hide some or all side effects of products, especially in healthcare settings. Most advertisements lead to unethical consumption because they fail to observe transparency. The use of stereotypes in media advertising violates moral, ethical, and social obligations since stereotyping is not inclusive, and the excluded individuals feel discriminated against or even stigmatised (Arsel et al., 2018).
The promotion of overconsumption is a subtly identified advertising practice by civilians. It is unethical to encourage the overconsumption of products while hiding the effects of these products. The main companies involved in such behaviours are the gaming and social media industries. These two have the highest addiction since they are legal and widely available to use (Vanden Abeele & Mohr, 2021). For instance, the UK creative industries, as of 2018, were led by IT, software and gaming, followed by film and TV. These industries provide information that matches their users’ preferences and thus the higher levels of addiction and unethical consumption.
Social and Human Rights
Manufacturing and production go through different phases that include human resources and animal contributions in some events, especially in sectors that involve product testing before making it available to consumers. Human rights organisations and workers’ unions state working conditions and provide several guidelines that manage the relationship between employers and workers. Some of the guidelines include better working conditions, better salaries and wages, health insurance, unlawful deductions of wages, paid holidays, and length of working breaks, among others (Salguero-Caparros et al., 2020). Workers are prone to health and safety injuries and death sometimes when the working environments do not meet the required conditions. UK Health and Safety Executive claims that the country had approximately 123 deaths, 565,000, and 61,713 self-reported and employer-reported non-fatal injuries at work. In addition, 1.8 million had work-related health concerns (Kennedy, 2022). Consumption of products that lead to either death or injuries of the workers is considered unethical.
The most recent UK firms with health and safety fines include Northern Gas Networks Limited, Boulby Mine, Cleveland Bridge UK Limited, and Dyson Technology Limited, among others (Chazal, 2022). Suppression of workers, forced child labour, labour exploitation, and carrying production activities on grabbed land greatly affect the authenticity of products. Production of goods and services can be genuine, but this changes in the event when the quality of life (QoL) of consumers changes because of the consumption of the product. The affected consumer incurs unplanned healthcare bills, proving how hard it is to achieve ethical consumption completely.
Environmental Degradation
Most manufacturing and production industries fail to achieve environmental sustainability as their operations result in environmental degradation through pollution, leading to climate change (Zhang et al., 2021). Climate change may identify adverse effects on living organisms. Goods and services such as mining and transportation that result in environmental degradation prove the impossibility of having ethical consumption.
Individual Constraints and Limitations
The individual self plays the greatest role in defining and demanding ethically produced products. However, individual constraints and limitations affect the identification, purchasing, consumption, and disposal of products. The first sub-element in this contributor to the existence of unethical consumption is the lack of knowledge of the market and factors that play within it. This is a result of limited time or a need for more curiosity about how products are made. Most products explain the surface processes of production, and intelligent individuals can determine whether the product observes all protocols to make it genuine. A product researcher can use product reviews and advertising techniques for a specific product to get an overview of whether the product is ethically produced. Consumers and potential buyers without the will or adequate skills to research end up purchasing products that violate workers’ rights or other socially, economically, or politically acceptable considerations. On another scope, individuals’ financial status and the market value of products make buyers use corrupt or illegal ways to acquire goods or services at lower prices. This is unethical, and it affects a business’s profit margin.
Refutations
Transparency and Accountability
Consumption can indeed be completely achieved as opposed to the claims above. Producers and manufacturers need to play the greatest role in ensuring that consumption can be completely ethical. Transparency and accountability need to be improved in the production, manufacturing, and advertising sectors. Advancements in technology help identify better ways to improve the missing parts, attain total authenticity in the firms, and produce effective goods and services that highlight side effects where necessary. Elimination of manipulative and false advertising would help educate and inform users about the products and let them decide whether to continue using the products or not (Gurrieri et al., 2022). Suppose a certain company engages in unethical practices. In that case, sales will decrease, forcing the company to apply acceptable practices such as ethical sourcing, improved working conditions, better pay, and environmental sustainability, among other positive changes. This helps in achieving complete ethical consumption.
Consumer Activism and Empowerment
Consumer activism and empowerment have powerful forces for change in the marketplace. Consumer activism refers to individuals or movements that engage in activities that promote the interests, consciousness, and rights of consumers (Parsons et al., 2017). Consumer activism also aims to impact changes in consumption and marketing behaviours that producers and manufacturers practice. On the other hand, consumer empowerment is giving products’ accurate information to customers so they can make sound purchasing decisions. These movements protest unethically produced goods and engage in several ways, such as anti-consumption, boycotting, boycotting, and digital activism. These activities are effective in changing production models as consumers resist buying the highlighted products and impact the rapid decline of sale records (Makarem & Jae, 2016). As producers’ countermeasures, they start considering ethical factors. Continuous use of consumer activism and empowerment leads to the elimination of the notion that consumption can never be completely ethical. Consumption can be completely ethical by using collective actions and behaviours such as anti-consumption, non-consumption, buycott, and buycott.
Conclusion
Consumption refers to the utilisation of available resources, which is usually based on preferences, attitudes, emotions, and affordability. The existence of many players in the marketplace creates huge competition that leads to unhealthy competition, illegal outsourcing, poor working conditions, and operations that degrade the environment. These factors make it hard to achieve complete ethical consumption. The leading factors hindering the achievement of ethical consumption are production and supply chain complexity, social and human rights violations, environmental degradation, and individual constraints and limitations. This proves that consumers can never be completely ethical.
References
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