Consumers

The ‘red thread’ running through several of the news items in this section is that consumer behaviour is changing – albeit slowly. For many years we have seen survey after survey suggesting that people would like to buy socially and environmentally friendly goods and services.

However, until relatively recently there has been a huge gap between such statements and actual behaviour. It now seems that consumers’ positive attitudes are translating into real purchasing decisions.
Ironically, it may not be just consumers who are behaving differently. Much of the pressure for change has come from the big retailers who are driven by media interest and NGO activity to alter their practices. Many of the UK’s big supermarkets are demanding that suppliers provide products that meet stricter social, ethical and environmental criteria.

In this instance, it is a case of increased supply creating its own demand. As more fair trade, organic and environmentally sound products become available – and at attractive prices – so increasing numbers of consumers are voting with their wallets and choosing those brands that can demonstrate they are taking their responsibilities seriously.

Commission’s provisional findings

The Competition Commission released the preliminary findings of its investigation into the groceries market on October 31.

The commission found that the “UK grocery market is delivering a good deal for consumers” but expresses concern over a lack of competition in “certain local markets” as well as “some retailer land holdings” and adds that it is also concerned about the ability of some retailers to transfer risk and costs to their suppliers through various purchasing practices. In a statement on its website, the Commission says that it “will now consider a range of measures to address these concerns before deciding on its final remedies”. In particular it calls for greater weight on competition and choice when it comes to land holdings and the planning system as well changes to the Supermarkets Code of Practice, which regulates retailer-supplier relationships. The inquiry looks at the increasing dominance of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons in the grocery sector.

Contact Competition Commission 020 7271 0100 www.competition-commission.org.uk

Better consumer choice

Supermarkets can do a lot more to help consumers make environmentally friendly choices according to the annual supermarkets survey by the National Consumer Council. The NCC found that, since last year, retailers had improved across a range of environmental indicators such as climate change, waste and recycling, sustainable fish and sustainable farming. Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose are the leading retailers with a score of B, with Tesco and Asda following with a score of C. The Co-op, Morrisons and Somerfield all scored a D. This is an improvement on the 2006 scores when only Waitrose received a B score and Morrisons and Somerfield both came in with an E. However, no retailer was rated as A as “no retailer did well across every indicator”. The NCC calls for supermarkets to set more “challenging targets on green issues” and for annual reports regarding these.

The report – Green Grocers: How supermarkets can help make greener shopping easier – makes a number of specific recommendations with regard to climate change, waste, sustainable fish and sustainable farming. The survey was carried out by Sustain, the farming and agricultural alliance, on behalf of the NCC.

Contact NCC 020 7730 3469 www.ncc.org.uk

Rainforest Alliance sales soar

Sales of Rainforest Alliance Certified products were more than £54.7m in 2006 and are projected to exceed £91m in 2007 according to an announcement by the organisation on October 4. The growth is down to increasing consumer demand for sustainable bananas, coffee and chocolate and highlights of the past year include McDonald’s restaurants switching to Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee and Unilever announcing that it has plans to source all its tea from certified sustainable sources.

The certification is an external, third-party, voluntary system and works with a network of non-profit sustainable agriculture organisations – the Sustainable Agriculture Network – to create independent standards for environmental and social sustainability. Chris Wille, chief executive of Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture programme, described the work of the organisation as a catalyst for “cooperation between former adversaries: environmentalists and big business” and went on to say that “we’ve encouraged the emergence of a more environmentally and socially responsible corporate culture, which in turn is helping tip global markets towards sustainable practices”.

Contact Rainforest Alliance 001 212 677 1900 www.rainforest-alliance.org

The issue of tissue

Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group, has placed Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s at the top of a tissue product league table that considered where a retailer’s tissue paper comes from and whether it contains recycled paper or paper that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Waitrose and Boots were placed bottom of the table with Proctor & Gamble failing to respond to Greenpeace’s requests for information. Greenpeace has now published a tissue product guide, which aims to provide consumers with information regarding the sourcing of toilet roll, kitchen towel and tissues.

Contact Greenpeace UK 020 7865 8100 www.greenpeace.org.uk

Certification of air-freighted organic food

The Soil Association has ruled that imported organic food will only be certified as organic if it can prove it is also Fairtrade. The announcement came on October 25 after consultation with 200 organisations including the World Trade Organisation, UN bodies as well as governments.

The association rejected calls from various stakeholders and members of the public to implement a blanket ban on labelling any imported food as organic, recognising the importance of the organic foods trade for developing countries. The association remains clear however that its long-term aim is to minimise air-freighted goods.

Contact Soil Association 0117 914 2400 www.soilassociation.org

FDF commits to environmental plan

Members of the Food and Drink Federation have committed to send zero food and packaging waste to landfill by 2015 according to a new environmental plan. The plan targets another 4 areas, where the FDF aims to:

• achieve a 20% absolute reduction on carbon emissions by 2010 in comparison to 1990, and a 30% reduction by 2020;
• reduce the level of packaging reaching households and to provide more consumer advice on how to recycle or recover used packaging;
• reduce water use and to contribute to an industry-wide absolute reduction of 20% by 2020 compared to 2007;
• embed environmental standards in transport practices and also to “contribute to an absolute target for the food chain to reduce its environmental and social impacts by 20% by 2012 compared to 2002”.
  

The five-fold environmental plan was launched by the FDF on October 25 in London. The FDF represents food and drink manufacturers in the UK and members include Unilever UK, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott Laboratories, Cadbury Schweppes and Cafédirect.

Contact FDF 020 7836 2460 www.fdf.org.uk

Sainsbury’s goes Fairtrade

Sainsbury’s announced on October 10 that it plans to source all of its own-brand tea as well as roast and ground coffee from Fairtrade plantations. The move to 100% Fairtrade for these products will take place over the next three years with Sainsbury’s Red Label Tea planned to be the first brand to carry the certification. This new policy is expected to increase returns for developing countries by about £2m annually and will make Sainsbury’s the biggest Fairtrade retailer of tea and coffee in the UK.

Contact Sainsbury’s 020 7695 6000 www.jsainsburys.co.uk

Back up science claims

Companies are not basing their marketing campaigns on scientific fact according to a report by Sense About Science, a UK-based NGO that promotes better public understanding of science. There Goes The Science Bit, published in October, includes a number of transcripts of telephone interviews with staff at businesses such as Sainsbury’s, Nestlé, Prêt à Manger, Co-op and Clarins. Scientists question the companies and found that, overall, those interviewed could not sufficiently back up scientific claims made in the marketing of ‘healthy’ products. The report calls for closer scrutiny of what it calls ‘pseudoscience’ and that misinformation should be exposed and that businesses should be held accountable for misleading the public.

Contact Sense About Science 020 7478 4380 www.senseaboutscience.org.uk

Bad Products Awards 2007

The pharmaceutical industry fared the worst in the 2007 Bad Product Awards staged by Consumers International, the world federation for consumer groups, with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a Japanese firm, winning the overall prize for Bad Drug Promotion. The firm was accused to promoting sleeping pills for children despite health warnings. The award of Bad Drinks Marketing went to drinks company Coca-Cola for misleading advertising campaigns of its water product, Dasani, and the Bad Toys award was given to Mattel, the toy manufacturer, for the recall of over 21m toys globally this year. Consumers International announced the winners of the International Bad Products Awards 2007 in Sydney. The purpose of the awards was to highlight internationally recognised brands that fail to act responsibly and abuse consumers trust.

Consumers International 020 7226 6663 www.consumersinternational.org

In brief

• 44% of the public and 66% of MPs think that corporate social responsibility is mainly about image according to a study by BPRI and BMRB, research consultancies. The majority also believe that companies have corporate responsibility initiatives to gain positive media coverage. The survey involved 100 MPs and 1,017 members of the public. Contact BPRI www.bpri.co.uk; BMRB www.bmrb.co.uk