杏吧原创

HARDCORE 鈥済reens鈥� are the only consumers who stick to their guns when it
comes to boycotting ethically dubious foods. Outside this extremely committed
core of individuals, most boycotters who claim to be green relapse into their
former buying habits once an issue fades from the headlines.

鈥淭hese fads tend to be short-lived, and people just drift back into buying
whatever they were boycotting,鈥� says Lynda Morris of the Leatherhead Food
Research Association, who has investigated the behaviour of consumers with a
conscience. She quizzed some forty people who described themselves as 鈥渆thical鈥�
consumers.

She found that people fell into three categories. 鈥淐onfirmed鈥�, or hardcore,
ethical shoppers were typically vegetarians who bought free-range eggs and
organic produce, and belonged to environmental or animal welfare groups. Less
committed were the 鈥渃ost-conscious鈥� ethical shoppers who allowed their
conscience to influence their buying habits when they could afford it or during
scares about food safety. The least committed were the 鈥渃ouch thinkers鈥�, who
sympathised with ethical causes but were too apathetic to make a personal
stand.

Most of those interviewe during Morris鈥檚 survey had at some time boycotted
food products, particularly tuna that was not certified as 鈥渄olphin friendly鈥�.
French products such as wine and Golden Delicious apples were widely targeted
too, most recently in protest at the country鈥檚 nuclear tests in the Pacific.
Other boycotts included those of South African produce during the apartheid
years, Argentinian corned beef during the Falklands War, and produce from Norway
in protest against that country鈥檚 refusal to stop whaling.

Concern about animal welfare was the most common reason for boycotting
products, particularly veal, after the wide media coverage of protests against
veal crates, and Canadian fish, in protest at seal clubbing. Other issues, such
as political oppression or pollution of the environment, had less impact on
consumers鈥� choice of food.

Nor were people prepared to take a sustained moral stand on exploitation of
cheap labour in developing countries, although there was general awareness that
the wages of workers on coffee plantations were low, for example. Very few
people had heard of Caf茅 Direct or Traidcraft coffee, brands from sources
where workers are paid fair wages.

In ratings of companies, Nestl茅, the Swiss-based food giant, came in
for particular criticism because of reports that it discouraged breastfeeding in
the developing world by aggressively promoting its milk products. By almost
every measure of ethical practice, the Linda McCartney food company was most
highly rated.

Morris says that in the light of the findings, companies should try to steer
clear of unethical practices that could unleash a consumer backlash. But, given
the fickleness of most boycotters, 鈥渇irms shouldn鈥檛 lose sleep over it鈥�, she
says.