A socially conscious consumer is defined as “A consumer who takes into account the public consequences of his or her private consumption or who attempts to use his or her purchasing power to bring about social change” (F.E. Webster, 1975) This definition is based upon the psychological construct of social involvement describing that the socially conscious consumer must be insightful of social problems, believe that he has the power to bring in difference and must be active in the community (F.E. Webster Jr., 1975).

 

“One who purchases products and services perceived to have a positive (or less negative) influence on the environment or who patronizes businesses that attempt to effect related positive social change” (J.A Roberts, 1995). The definition of consumption often means to consume, waste, squander or destroy (A. Francois-Lecompte, and J.A. Roberts, 2006). It reflects that the time is near when the word “consumption” will become synonymous with environmental damage in most parts of the World (W.T. Anderson and G.N. Challagalla, 1994).

 

Fresh Air, pure water, good jobs and bright future for our children; this is all we need and want. Unfortunately, our actions and buying habits do not propagate all this to manufacturers of consumer products when we shop in consumer markets. Instead, we encourage them to continue with same product offerings. For instance, when we buy paper and we encourage paper manufacturers to keep cutting down the forests. Message we give would have been different if we had chosen to buy only recycled paper. It gives signal to the manufacturers that they will have to go for forest friendly alternatives in order to sustain their businesses. This is the responsible consumption. Consumers usually do not think that they have incredible power over corporations. Corporations run their businesses with our money. We, the consumers, can change this world in the way we want. (Article: Becoming a green consumer, 2008)

 

 

History of recycled paper consumption was made when it was carried by few large stores on demand of aware consumers. Although the recycled paper was sold at the same price, it was discolored and it degraded faster but people purchased it anyway. The big companies noted and commenced working on their own versions. Thanks to competition, the price went down and the quality went up. Nowadays, recycled paper is pretty much indistinguishable from virgin paper, and you can find it almost everywhere. (RAN – Rainforest Action Network, 2010)

 

Use of recycled paper is just one of the many stories which have governed ethical behaviors in supply chains of producers. Spending only on locally cultivated vegetables and avoiding organically grown imported vegetables, shows patriotic intent of a consumer. It not only changes social and financial condition of the local peasants but also contribute towards development of a healthy economy. Behaviors and habits can move mountains and even a small behavioral change can translate into something unimaginably big. (Article: Becoming a green consumer, 2008)

 

“The love of money is the root of all evil”. No doubt money is really very important for all of us but its fair use can bring in healthy social changes in society. In the rough economic times all of us are very careful of how we spend our money and we give enough time for bargaining. But what finally makes us consume when we decide to buy and consume? Did we ever bother that what is behind the cheapest pair of shoes? Everything we buy has a social, economic or environmental impact, be it positive or negative. Unintentionally, you could be encouraging unnecessary animal testing by choosing a specific brand of cosmetics or leather products (Renata Allamandi, 2010). In contrast, the stationery someone bought this morning might be helping the poor students of rural areas of the country (T.L.P. Tang, 2002).#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#

 

改變消費(fèi)者的偏好—Changing Consumer Preferences

 

Nowadays there is an increasing trend of consciousness of consumers about the ethical standards in their purchase decisions. Price, quality, convenience and value emerge to be the most important buying criteria for a large segment of US consumers (J.A Roberts, 1995) and products with an environmental or social appeal have an added advantage if they meet other competitive requirements.

 

Do consumers trust and have confidence on the products which they buy repetitively? How that trust can be developed? The public has less confidence in big businesses than other institutions such as the military, the police, public schools, and newspapers (Gallup poll, 1997). There is growing pressure to provide money to charities, protect the environment, and help solve social problems in their communities, in other words, to behave in socially responsible ways. Many organizations do not realize what the consumers expect from them and this vague understanding gives significant impact on the sustainability of such organizations (Mohr, Lois A., Webb, Deborah J., 2001).

 

A socially responsible consumer avoids buying products from companies that harm society and actively seek out products from companies that help society. The importance of knowing about the consumer knowledge of social responsibility level of organizations and in what ways they want to behave responsible has increased a lot because giving back to the society together with price consciousness is becoming growing trend. Most consumers care enough about the environment and the community when making purchase decisions. A small but committed portion of consumers will even pay more for products that are produced with green or socially responsible practices. Those consumers who are willing to pay extra for products in line with their ethical concerns earn more money and are more brand-loyal than average. (Forrester Research, 2010).

 

“Consumers are ready to reward pro-environmental corporate brands at the check outline.” (Tanberg Research, 2007). Products and services from an organization with a well-built environmental repute are favored to buy by more than half of global consumers (53 percent/representing 1.1 billion people) According to Tanberg Research, over 16,000 consumers in 15 Countries are willing to pay more to save the environment of this World; these 80% people desire to be a part of Green Companies who are committed to operate environmentally friendly. And 60% of them have made at least some effort to bring down the outcomes of atmospheric variations. Facts and figures of that research reveal that Chinese are the most environmentally responsive individuals and stand at first out of the fifteen countries, Australians follows them and stand at second, Holland stays at tenth of fifteen and Germans situate at the last i.e. fifteenth out of fifteen (Tanberg Research, 2007).

 

The attractive part of the research is that French, American, Japanese and Canadian are not good responsible consumers compared to Mexicans, Indians, Brazilians and Chinese. Question comes in mind how these developing nations are more responsible? The very plain fact found from that research is that the most responsible consumers are those with the least ability to buy. If one gets chance to visit Beijing, will find roads full of bicycles, even the lanes are assigned for bicycle riders on the roads. Have you ever thought about the long lives of Chinese? If not, just think about those advantages of good health and no air pollution are the returns of bicycle riding (Greendex, National Geographic).

 

But this doesn’t mean that U.S. and European individuals are not aware of sustainable environment, there are differences of lifestyles as they are developed nations, have good purchasing power and they prefer to travel in luxurious car. They behave in a highly responsible manner in other areas. “The 67% of consumers in the US and Europe claim to have boycotted a food, drinks or personal care company’s goods on ethical grounds” (Datamonitor Survey, 2005). Seventy-one percent of French consumers said they would choose child-labor-free products even if the prices were higher (Garone, 1999). Seventy five (75) percent of European consumers indicated that they would alter their consumption behavior to aid social causes (Capron and Quairel-Lanoizelee, 2004). As discussed about the life styles of Americans that they prefer luxury items a survey showed that “Americans were considerably less animal-friendly, with 61 percent supporting the wearing of fur and 57 percent supporting animal testing for medicine (Gallup Survey).

 

In 2007 Australia became the first country to ban incandescent light bulbs for which it received significant press coverage. This was achieved when Sydney pulled the plug on a light bulb give away scheme. Household consumers were given energy savers at reasonable prices. Unfortunately, it was found that almost half of the free energy savers were not utilized. It was a reflection of public failure to respond positively to the energy saving light bulbs even though they could be bought at very cheap prices (Warren, 2006).

 

消費(fèi)的影響—Effects of Consumption

 

Consumer lifestyles are directly linked and accountable for many environmental problems. More sustainable lifestyles cannot be achieved without marking changes in consumer attitudes and behavior (F. Olander and J. Thogersen, 1995) “We live in a global village and can ill afford the negative legacy of consumption”. (W.T. Anderson and G.N. Challagalla, 1994) We know that the misuse of money brings in many social and environmental problems and it is not wrong that there is a major and direct impact of one’s money on immoral behaviors.

 

The measurement of the demand of mankind on the ecology of the Earth is called the ecological footprint .It evaluates the ability of the Earth’s ecological system to regenerate and matches it with the requirements of mankind. It shows the quantity of sea area and biologically prolific land for the restoration of resources required for the consumption of human population and to absorb and leave safe equivalent waste. With this evaluation, it is possible to approximate that if all the people lived a given lifestyle, how many number of planets would be required for the sustainability of mankind. The recent estimation shows that the total ecological foot print of this mankind is 1.4 planet Earths i.e. the rate of ecological service required by the humanity is 1.4 times as rapid as Earth can renew them (Global Footprint Network, 2010).

 

The population of World is around 6 billion and every move of the population has great importance. Buying is voting, whatever consumer buys is his/her vote for what he thinks. It can be true that, two products give same satisfaction to the consumer but it is not necessary that both products have same social and ecological impact. The consumer's shopping generates profits for firms and help manufacturers sustain, approve their employees working environment, support production modes and encourage firm's environmental concerns, if it has any. What if consumers boycott non-environmental friendly and socially non-compliant products? "6 billion little actions will make the difference". Awareness is the finest way to do something in a responsible way. Numerous initiatives for responsible consumption have emerged in the last decade, such as it is more respectful to the environment to get the products from the organic farms which guarantee that the products are produced without pesticides. The application of responsible consumption should be in all areas. In transportation industry cars are accountable for major greenhouse gases emission. Consumer contribution in fighting against environmental damages can be commuting through public transport which offers one third of the pollution emitted by cars (measured by unit travel per person). It is the fact that four hundred liters of water are contaminated by the mercury of a single battery while a rechargeable battery lasts four years. Consumers are aware that tobacco is injurious to health but normally don't have awareness that to dry tobacco 5 million hectares are used every year. Smoking is not only damaging the human health but also damaging the environment. Cigarettes are produced with the dried tobacco plant leaves. To dry leaves most of the countries burn wood to provide heat i.e. to dry every hectare of tobacco one hectare of forest is required. Every year 600 million trees i.e. around 5 million hectares of forest are destroyed for this purpose. (‘Smarter than Smoking’ fact sheet, 2005). In short, responsible consumption is not like that to go back and live in the Stone Age, but rather as Gandhi used to say to live in a simple way so that others can live simply (Young reporters for the environment).

 

More and more scientists have joined heads to discover some solution. The resources consumption due to current lifestyle of the residents of Earth is exceeding global resources, putting the life at risk. Mankind consumed 1.2 planets in 2002, if no measures are taken by 2050; three more such planets will be required (Alan Callot and Jamie Bull, 2007). The three quarters of the World’s resources were consumed by the one quarter of the World’s most affluent nations. Absurdly, in a tropical country of Thailand, a golf course’s annual consumption of pesticides is 1500 kg and water utilization is equivalent to the water requirement of a village of 60,000 people. Interestingly, in this age of growing industrialization where firms hire numerous people and produce capital, level of poverty is boosting side by side. In US, 12% of population lives below the poverty line and around one quarter of the total food produced in the country is wasted.

 

One used plastic bag thrown in the nature takes 200 years to perish. France is the country where there is a practice of annual free of cost distribution of 14 billion plastic bags. Likewise, travelling by plane 700 kilometers adds 150 kg of greenhouse gases in the environment, whereas only 3kg are emitted if commuting by train. Similarly, the emission of CO2 from a single car into the atmosphere is 3 times more compared to a bus for each commuting person. On the other hand, watching television 3 hours consumes 240W and the consumption of set left on hold 21 hours consumes 315W.  Same is the case for computer. (RAC - Resau Action Climate France, 2010).

 

Selections are important because including ethical values in your buying decisions will eventually create this World a better and sustainable place to live and you will become a responsible consumer. Why not to stick to seasonal fruits that are available in your local market, produced at a reasonable distance, offering finest quality and nutritional value? Why to go for half ripe Mangoes in Winters that had to fly thousands of carbon-emitting miles to reach your shopping basket? Similarly if you talk about meat, have you ever thought about reducing meat consumption? Meat production is liable for one fifth of the world’s green gas emissions (recent UN Survey). Weekly one meat free day can save this earth from enormous amount of pollution.

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發(fā)展中國家的情況—Situation in Developing Countries

 

In the developing countries the trend of responsible consumption is still new and most of the countries are in the first phase of responsible competitiveness. A shift from antagonistic activism to positive engagement in between organizations and stakeholders has been observed in the last decade. Joined actions for debating and forming CSR policies and strategies to attain a competitive advantage at a national level and to progress towards the next wave of future focused, innovative and sustainable responsible competitiveness are taken by organizations together with their stakeholders. (Ambreen Wahid, 2005)

 

Majority of the Asia-Pacific countries are involved in the efficiency-oriented and market focused CSR activities, which is the second wave of CSR. These countries have clear concept of CSR and are now focused to clear the hurdles to achieve its execution. In Pakistan, the concept is relatively new. It can inarguably be termed as the first wave of CSR i.e. of philanthropy and legal compliance which are based on societal and governmental considerations (Ambreen Wahid, 2005)

 

India and Sri Lanka have achieved competitive advantage in conducting business responsibly during the last decade because of their proactive approach and future market centered policies. Whereas, after picking up in apparel and leather exports, Pakistan has lost the momentum due to a number of issues such as the renowned Sialkot Child Labor Crisis hit. This crisis in the sports goods industry dented investment opportunities in the other industries. Pakistan is one of the famous textile hubs of the world but the social non-compliance is one of the major hurdles in the progress of this industry as the international market has banned entry of socially non-compliant products. Marketing a CSR strategy could be an opportunity to attract more international buyers. The revival of the credibility is possible if Pakistan sets in a national CSR strategy that gives assurance to the international socially responsible buyers. In that way Pakistan may become a socially responsible supplier country. (Ambreen Wahid, 2005)

 

Although international companies practice CSR but many of these companies are not always concerned about their supply chains and try to get cost advantage by buying from the third world countries. Sialkot has been one of the largest soccer balls producers for decades. World's international brands like Nike and Adidas source exclusively from Sialkot. These are some facts of Sialkot’s soccer ball producers; the number of workers employed for stitching in this industry vary from 30,000 (International Monitoring Association for Child Labor (IMAC, 2003) to a maximum of 65,000 (Awan, 1996). Workers are not paid on the hourly (time) basis but on per piece basis i.e. agreed amount per soccer ball. The labor use to work at their homes and their children support them. An International Labor Organization estimates that there are 15,000 children working in this industry (Husselbee, 2001, ILO 1999). The trend of work in this industry is that a complex chain of subcontractors are used to supply balls for stitches to around 16,000 villages in the surrounding areas of Sialkot where people stitch soccer balls at their own homes. When the attention of the World was directed by the mass media towards the child labor in the soccer ball industry, the credibility of the great entrepreneur was badly affected. Nike took a strategic move and re-built its image by getting involved in CSR activities; it started an initiative in shape of child-liberation and represented itself as a mother of third World. The Child labor crisis started in April 1995, when CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System, US radio and TV network) on-aired a short documentary film focused on the manufacturing industry of soccer ball in Sialkot, Pakistan named `Children at Work’ (CBS transcripts, 1995). The story presented by the CBS in this documentary powerfully highlighted the upsetting sarcasm of poor children at work producing soccer balls for affluent American children. This story was picked up by many international channels resulting international media firestorm, directed towards the ethical fine to the global soccer ball industry involved in child labor.

 

Bonded labor is one of the teething issues of Pakistan’s society where millions of children are being suffered. Bonded labor is mainly found in brick kilns, power looms, carpet industries, fisheries, agriculture, stone/brick crushing, shoe-making, and refuse sorting (Social and Labor Bulletin, 1992). According to the approximation of The Bonded Labor Liberation Front, there are eight million bonded children in Pakistan, (Child Workers in Asia, 1992-93). Almost 0.5 million children are bonded allegedly in the carpet industry only. Reportedly some children are from Afghanistan and Bangladesh. (Ehsan Ullah Khan, Bonded Labor Liberation Front, n.d.).

 

Most of the people in Pakistan have low awareness of responsible consumption and the people who have knowledge are not really bothered as social forces in this context are too weak to compel them to behave responsibly. People are more concerned to get everything at the cheapest possible price. For instance, people who see the child labor at the automobile workshops do not take initiative to help them in a way or the other. In Pakistan, we see many children working at automobile workshops handed by their families to the workshop owner due to poverty. Most of the children are bonded workers who usually cannot even claim money for their work and they get just food and shelter from their employers in return. (Jamil Bhatti, Zeeshan Niazi, 2010).

 

Statistics (The Survey of All Pakistan Labor Force, 2007-2008) show that the number of labor children in the age bracket of 10 to 14 is over 21 million, in which boys are 73% of the total and the remaining 27% are girls. This figure is twice the estimate given by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 2005 (Jamil Bhatti, Zeeshan Niazi, 2010).

 

Coca-Cola, Kodak, Philips, BP, Nike, Disney, L'Oreal are all renowned brands. The growing trend of globalization has favored the growth of multinational giants. The number of multinational firms has reached to 63,000 in 1999 compared to 6,000 in 1967. This expansion in World trade has enormous effects on environment. For the trade of products, polluting transportation is used and held responsible for climate changes like greenhouse effects. For manufacturing products, enormous amount of natural resources are being exhausted. In 1999, a brown cloud was seen for the first time over the Asian region. Its development is linked with the development of Asian giants like China, India and four dragons Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan and is expected to cover the whole Asia continent. Its thickness is now reached to 3 kilometers and area becomes twenty times as large as France. What if all the countries will reach to that level of mass consumption? What is the responsibility of consumers? How they should act? These are the questions that should now come in the minds of consumers at this stage to control the environmental damages and for the sustainability of this beautiful World (Young reporters for the environment).