Preparation Outline: Hahn, Becoming a Socially Conscious Consumer

Jacob Hahn, Becoming a Socially Conscious Consumer

1. Gain attention: Explain what happened when the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed.
2. Establish credibility: Quote BBC (2013) and Huffington Post (2013) articles to explain the seriousness of this issue and its global importance to workers abroad and consumers at home.
3. Connect to listeners' interests: This is an issue that affects us every day, every time we get dressed. Bangladesh may seem far away, but it also exists in our closets
4. IV. Speech Thesis: What if, by purchasing the products these companies make, individuals such as you and me are also somewhat responsible for what happened?
5. Preview main points: 1. Worker safety isn't someone else's problem. Everyone—consumers and companies—have a stake in ensuring it happens. 2. Socially conscious consumers can make a difference in how goods are produced. 3. It is time for us all to force companies to adopt ethical manufacturing standards.

1. Unethical standards exist due to relationship between profit margins and production costs. [Need Step]
   1. Cheap production equals more money for corporation.
   2. Consumers want low price products and rarely think about how they are made and the conditions under which the workers work.
2. Consumers must be willing to step up and take action. [Satisfaction Step]
   1. Taking an interest and putting pressure on companies to improve working conditions.
   2. Paying fairer prices for goods usually means higher prices. In this case, that higher price includes peace of mind.
3. When consumers are willing to pay more for fairly made products and companies market specifically to them, it is called “cause-related marketing.”
   1. Provide official definition from Financial Times: “cause-related marketing is when a company and a charity (or a consumer group) tackle a social or an environmental problem and create business value for the company at the same time.”
   2. Recent studies from Nielsen (2012) have shown that people want to know that the companies they support also support causes and communities they care about. Key findings from the study:
      1. 2/3 of consumers prefer to buy products and services from companies that give back to society.
      2. Nearly 50 percent said “willing to pay more for goods and services from companies that are giving back,” (Nielsen, 2012).
   3. When consumers start to care and pay attention to this issues surrounding fair labor practices, companies pay attention. This can lead to companies specifically marketing to this group—appealing to their morals while charging more for the products.
4. Movements like this have already changed fair trade standards in other industries, most notably coffee but some inroads into apparel have been made too. Best known organization promoting this cause is Fair Trade USA. [Visualization Step]
   1. Fair Trade USA. Web site quote “to inspire the rise of the [socially] Conscious Consumer and eliminate exploitation” worldwide.
   2. Fair Trade logo symbolizes that the workers were given a fair compensation and treated well as dictated by a set of international standards. Fair trade products, therefore, are trustworthy to buy.
   3. Fair Trade USA made its mark by improving coffee production in third-world nations. You can now easily buy such products at popular retailers like Starbucks and Whole Foods.
   4. By appealing to the high ethical standards of socially conscious consumers, they will pay more for your product.
5. When consumers push for high ethical standards in their purchases, they can force companies to change their practices.
6. For example, there was a ton of criticism from the press and regular citizens after the Bangladesh factory collapse. Most of the concerns focused on the poor working conditions which resulted in the high number of deaths.
7. In response, some companies are improving their standards in order to appeal to socially conscious consumers concerned about this cause.
8. An article in the Guardian (2013) newspaper listed some companies that have already pledged to make changes. These include H&M, Zara, C&A, Tesco, and Primark. According to the article, they will “finance fire safety and building improvements in the factories they use in Bangladesh.”

1. How can you help? Two easy steps can put you on the path to becoming a socially conscious consumer: [Action Step]
   1. Become informed.
      1. Learn more about the fair trade movement and ethical labor from Web sites such as: fairtradeusa.org, thirdworldtraveler.com, and tenthousandvillages.com.
      2. When you support ethical companies, you start to become a socially conscious consumer.
   2. Ask questions of retailers before making a purchase.
   3. Ask them: Where are your products made? Do you have proof of fair-trade practices? Where can I find this information before I make my purchase?
   4. Asking these questions—and finding out whether the answers are acceptable—ensure that you do not contribute to unsafe and unfair labor practices like what happened in Bangladesh.
2. Become a socially conscious consumer. “By being informed and asking questions, you, too, can make a difference in the lives of workers around the world.”