What Are Exploitative Products?
Most products and services that don’t offer any kind of ethical certification tend to be exploitative in some way. Ethical Consumer magazine use an extensive score rating to class products. Included are factors such as:
- Exploitation of human rights anywhere in the supply chain. This could be anything from zero hour contracts here in the UK to slave labour and harmful working conditions in ‘poorer’ countries around the world
- Environmental exploitation such as use of toxics, high pollution levels, destruction of habitats and failure to act within climate change recommendations.
- Pollution
- Arms and military support
- Irresponsible marketing
- Animal exploitation such as testing on animals/factory farming
- Political Lobbying
- Anti-social Financing
- Lack of credible company ethos
- Unsustainable produce
These factors are all used in Ethical Consumer Magazine’s product score ratings, which is widely accepted as the mark of ethical goods and services.