Sex vs Ethics

No guilt: one good deed = many bad

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kay, I have to admit that I tend to be a bit of a cynic, so when I saw the link in one of my business feeds to the article entitled Sex vs Ethics it didn’t take too long before I double-clicked to see what it was all about.  All, of course, in the name of research.  The article turned out to be worth the read - not so much for the insight into American Apparel, but for the rationale behind why they use sex to sell their products rather than good labour practices.

Prior to this I knew nothing about American Apparel other than that they seemed somewhat out-of-place in my local neighborhood strip of eclectic stores.  It turns out they do engage in good labour practices - not shipping manufacturing offshore but actually producing its goods in North America, paying its workers between $12 and $13 per hour and providing medical benefits.  But apparently the ‘ethical sell’ doesn’t work particularly well … it is, believe it or not, “limiting.”

What’s up with that?  Non-sweat shop labour is a limiting marketing strategy?  I thought we were all looking out for the good choices these days.  Think green.  Environment.  Fair labour practice.  Isn’t this the stuff that is supposed to saddle us all with guilt and motivate us to the high road?  So why wouldn’t it work for a store that sells trendy clothes to a generation of kids who take this stuff seriously?

Well, according to this article, it has a lot to do with the fact that as long as we engage in some aspect of altruism, the rest really doesn’t matter.  One of those groups that studies such things (the Yale Center for Customer Insights) has concluded that if we do some ‘good,’ we’re not encumbered with guilt at all about splurging afterward.  Donate to charity.  Tick.  Head out for a nice meal.  Tick.  Buy a box of phosphate free, biodegradable cleaning product.  Tick.  Get in my SUV to drive the five-minute journey home.  Tick.

And the scary part is that I think they’re on to something with their conclusion.

What do you think … does sitting in the pew assuage that altruistic need and clear our conscience so we can just take care of good ol’ number one for the rest of the week?  Or can we splurge in that niche market?  I’ve heard there’s a great frequent visitor plan…

Writer: Sharon Jones-Ryan works by day as a consultant in management & organizational ethics for The Salvation Army’s Ethics Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, and by night as wife to a writer and mother to three great kids.  She’s been doing the first for 14 years, and plans to keep the others for life … it’s way too much fun to give up.

1 Comment to Sex vs Ethics

1. Sharon:

   You too are on to something. I wish that marketers would see airbrushing, hair perfection that is not known in nature, poorly designed and executed products, styles that don’t work past thirty (neither for men nor women) as “limiting” but they don’t, sadly.

   However, churches can’t take getting people into the pews for granted like they used to, possibly because it doesn’t so much assuage guilt as stoke it. If only we could get ourselves to act on guilt!!!

   Thanks,

   Andrea
Andrea614Regent on July 4th, 2008

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