Whither Ethical Purchasing?

One of the questions of the day is whether rising food prices and a financially squeezed consumer will result in ethical purchase considerations taking second place to price. Not so far said the Institute of Grocery Distribution yesterday. Certainly the recent flight to free range/organic chicken seems to support their view, and it will be interesting to examine further data on ethical purchasing as it emerges.

It does seem as if food ethics are becoming top of mind for consumers.
The IGD has just done some research, and published figures on the interest levels which consumers have in various ethical product types.
%
Animal welfare (net) 69
Free range 59
Not tested on animals 35
High standards of animal welfare 34
Local/British (net) 55
British 49
Local regional 40
Environmentally friendly (net) 53
Minimum packaging 36
Recycled/biodegradable packaging 36
Sustainably managed sources 21
Committed to reducing carbon footprint 20
Not transported by air 11
Fair traded products 48
Organic products 32

The figures confirm the range of ethical worries facing the consumer. As the IGD points out, consumers also worry about the health implications of a purchase, and remain unprepared to accept low quality. Finally, these are interest levels, not what is actually purchased, which gets back to the need to translate interest into hard purchase.

But the most striking thing of all about these figures is how issues which are strongly branded, ie which stand for a clear simple message, receive the highest levels of purchase interest. Just look at free range, Fairtrade, and British. This need for a strong brand which captures the essence of an ethical issue is becoming vital. Consumers are definitely more interested in ethical products but along with the interest comes a whole new set of worries. Consumers are asking themselves whether it is ok to buy, say, string beans from Africa because they are Fairtrade, despite the food miles that might have been clocked up, and even though it means less veg bought from a local farmer. The dilemma is made worse as sophisticated marketing types fight to put ethical claims on to their products, and consumers try and decide which claim best fits their own view of what is right.

So. Should local foods be strongly branded, with a clear standards for what "local" means? Could the British brand be made stronger with standards that are more than just a baseline? What does environmentally friendly actually mean?

Food for thought perhaps.