On May 4, 2023, presenter Neeru Paharia gave the lecture “The Ethics of Consumer Choice” The lecture was moderated by Vivek Astvansh.
Below you will find the Q&A from the seminar:
[1] I’m thinking of Shein clothes. Dresses are $7. This is a fast production company that has labor and environmentally issues. My students say they care. But when students and the poor can only afford a $7 dress, they do what they can afford. So, Dr. Paharia’s question has been: why do consumers not care? or why do they care? They care, but it may simply be a question of can they afford. Perhaps consumers should be encouraged to recycly more and buy a used $7 dress from a Goodwill store.
I would ask the question back, would you hire an American worker and pay them $7 to make your dress? Let’s assume you would also have to enforce the labor conditions that Shein employs – it’s hard to know for sure, but let’s say they are less favorable than for any American worker. The reason we don’t care more is that the system is set up in such a way that production is far away, and we are not responsible for any negative consequences.
[2] Regarding the divergence of willingness to pay more for sustainable products on surveys from consumers’ actual consumption behavior, and your point of “chicken-and-egg” problem, why haven’t companies produced more sustainable goods to meet the impliced demand from surveys (such as a cerfified suit)?
I think a few things are going on here. One is that people say they would spend more for sustainability but when it comes down to it, they are not willing to pay more.
The second is that the status-quo is easier.
[3] How would you go about marketing ‘contentment’
This is a good question. We are social creatures and marketing definitely amps up the need to keep up with our peers. That said, there are some voluntary simplicity movements, and the minimalism movement. I think an awareness of how needs are sometimes manufactured can help people think more carefully about what they really want and need.
[4] Do you feel that there is a stronger human will to goodness, kindness and compassion than ‘greed’-hence the need for ‘marketing’. Second, is it possible there a mental abnormality present in those who are driven to make enormous profits at the cost of environmental and ethical social responsibility?
I’m not sure about the nature of humanity! But I do feel that our wants and needs are easily influenced, and our views are very much impacted by our peers. I think in general it’s hard to balance our short-term survival (profit), with long-term costs (environmental harm), because the short-term concerns are so emotional and the long-term costs are so abstract. So that means we tend to focus on the short-term survival goals.
[5] Surprised you don’t bring up secondhand/reuse related sustainable consumption… what are your thoughts on the news around that secondhand market booming but NOT actually reducing firsthand consumption, so therefore no net positive (climate wise)
You bring up a great point that I should have discussed. It seems like the data here are unclear. This study suggests secondhand consumption can reduce first-hand consumption. https://fashionista.com/2020/06/secondhand-shopping-displace-new-purchases-farfetch-report
[6] Can influencer marketing help in promoting contentment?
I suppose it can, but I’m not sure!
Neeru Paharia is professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business. She conducts research on consumer behavior, branding, sustainability, and political consumption. Prior to joining ASU, Paharia was on the faculty at Georgetown University, and was the research director for the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. She spent three years on the founding team at Creative Commons serving as assistant and executive director, after working at McKinsey as an associate consultant. She has cofounded several community-oriented social networking sites in education, research, and music including Peer 2 Peer University (p2pu.org), Acawiki.org, and ccmixter.org. Paharia holds a doctorate in marketing from Harvard Business School, a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Davis.
For further information on the webinar please contact Professor Jun Yang, Director of the Institute for Corporate Governance at icg@indiana.edu.
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