Ethical consumerism and world poverty

Speaker Jason Garman discusses and elaborates on the topic of ethical consumerism and the power of having a choice and a voice. Garman discussed this power and asks his audience “how will you use that power?” He argued the global food systems are plagued and broken, and there are still millions of peoples who were in the state of poverty and the most majority are farmers. (Garman, 2013). I would say the speaker’s point of view on the topic is biased.

It is obvious since he is one of the members of an organization that rated and research on major corporations of food-producing industries.

The ethical issues presented in talk are whether we as consumers are aware of where we get our food product from and who made them? In reality, major companies very often had a poor working environment, unequal salary, and rights for workers, and exploit child labor. For instance, Nestle is known as one of the largest and most recognizable consumer brands in the world.

However, this company continues to receive criticism for the ongoing employment abuse in its supply chain. Garman asks to use our voice and speak out loud against companies who have uncertain and doubtful supply chains.

I do believe world poverty issues have moral implications. For example, this was when he explained that women’s small-scale framers of coco do not have equal opportunities, rights, and pay. Another example is the International Labor Organization stated that small scale-farmers own just one percent of agricultural land, that is not equal at all.

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Garman urges us to look carefully at the way we spend. If we think about who gets the money, it can actually hurt the pockets of major corporations who allow social injustice to occur.

Overall, I agree with the speaker’s point of view and that we should our power and voice as consumers to make positive changes in the practices of major corporations. Small changes could make a big difference. There are many alternative ways to do so as he mentioned in the talk, the real question is, whether we want to do or not? It’s our choice. One way to deal with this is by practicing fair trade. Fairtrade aims to help disadvantaged people in the developing world by buying goods that are produced in beneficial and nonexploitative conditions (Mackinnon and Fiala 2018, page 561). I believe we should be aware and pay attention to exactly where we are getting our favorite food and products from. Our voice as an ethical consumer has the power change to transform major corporations’ ways of doing business from unethical to ethical.