Ethical Consumer is more than just a magazine. We are the only place where you can find transparent and reliable ethical rankings of companies and products. On our site there are detailed ethical ratings of 1000's of brands which help consumers make the right choices, help campaigners challenge corporate power and help businesses do the right thing.
In an era governed by global supply chains, corporate consolidation, and pressing environmental crises, Ethical Consumer stands as one of the world's most enduring independent research, publishing, and campaigning co-operatives. Operating out of Manchester, UK, since 1989, the Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) has spent over three decades acting as an independent watchdog over corporate behavior.
The core philosophy of Ethical Consumer is rooted in the concept of the "economic vote". In a world where individuals often feel politically disempowered and where multinational corporations exert influence rivaling that of sovereign governments, daily purchasing decisions become a direct form of political participation. By equipping citizens, institutions, and policymakers with transparent, rigorously researched data on corporate social and environmental records, Ethical Consumer transforms everyday shopping into an active tool for systemic accountability.
At its core, Ethical Consumer operates on a multi-tiered mission designed to challenge corporate hegemony, democratize market choices, and drive regulatory change.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ETHICAL CONSUMER CORE MISSION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1. Challenge Corporate Power ──► Leverage consumer spending as a vote │
│ 2. Democratize Markets ──► Make corporate supply chains transparent │
│ 3. Maintain Research Integrity ──► Reject corporate sponsorship & greenwash │
│ 4. Facilitate Direct Action ──► Enable buycotts, boycotts, and emails │
│ 5. Advocate Regulatory Change ──► Drive legislation alongside civil action │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Challenging Corporate Power: Tracking corporate behavior on a daily basis so consumers and institutional buyers can assert their ethical values in the marketplace.
Democratizing the Market: Exposing the complex web of parent companies and subsidiaries behind everyday brand names, presenting data in accessible rating tables.
Transparency of Research: Utilizing verifiable, published sources—such as NGO reports, primary research, corporate disclosures, and court records—to compile clear, objective rating metrics.
Direct Consumer Communication: Facilitating direct communication between consumers and brands, encouraging citizens to inform companies why they are purchasing or boycotting their products.
Wider Political Action: Emphasizing that ethical purchasing is an addition to, not a replacement for, structural political campaigning, trade union activism, and regulatory reform.
Founded in 1989 by Rob Harrison and Jane Turner in Hulme, Manchester, Ethical Consumer pioneered the modern ethical rating system. During a political climate defined by deregulation and rapid market globalization, the organization emerged to provide a logical, criteria-based framework to guide consumer purchasing.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ HISTORICAL MILESTONES & EVOLUTION │
├──────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1989 │ Founded as a worker co-operative in Manchester, UK; launches │
│ │ the bi-monthly print title "Ethical Consumer Magazine." │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1990s │ Expands research scope to cover building materials, banking, │
│ │ and food industries; publishes the Green Building Handbooks. │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2009 │ Restructures into a multi-stakeholder co-operative (workers │
│ │ and investor/subscriber members) to deepen democracy. │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2012 │ Partners with Lush Cosmetics to establish the biennial Lush │
│ │ Prize (£250,000 fund supporting non-animal testing research).│
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Present │ Maintains a database covering 40,000+ brands and companies; │
│ │ publishes the annual UK Ethical Consumer Markets Report. │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Ethical Consumer practices the organizational ethics it preaches. Originally structured as a worker co-operative, it transitioned in 2009 into a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder co-operative (an Industrial and Provident Society).
Worker Members: Staff members who run daily operations, research, and publishing hold democratic voting rights.
Subscriber/Investor Members: Readers and users who hold community shares or annual subscriptions participate in governance decisions, ensuring the co-op remains accountable to its audience rather than corporate investors.
Financial Independence: To avoid conflicts of interest, Ethical Consumer accepts no corporate advertising in its magazine or on its website. Its funding relies entirely on reader subscriptions, research consultancy for non-profits, and community share offerings.
The cornerstone of Ethical Consumer’s research is its proprietary, sophisticated scoring matrix. Every brand rated on the platform is assigned an overall Ethical Score (E-Score) out of 100, calculated by evaluating company performance across dozens of distinct categories organized into primary categories.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ETHICAL CONSUMER SCORING MATRIX │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────┬───────────────┼───────────────┬──────────────────┐
│ │ │ │ │
┌───────▼────────┐ ┌───────▼────────┐ ┌────▼────────┐ ┌─────▼────────┐ ┌──────▼───────┐
│ Climate & │ │ Human Rights │ │ Animal │ │ Political │ │ Product- │
│ Environment │ │ & Workers │ │ Rights │ │ Conduct │ │ Specific │
└────────────────┘ └────────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘
| Primary Category | Specific Criteria Evaluated | Negative Impact Triggers |
| Environment | Climate Change, Pollution & Toxics, Habitats & Biodiversity, Nuclear Power | Heavy carbon footprints, fracking, toxic chemical discharge, deforestation, plastic pollution. |
| Human Rights | Human Rights Violations, Workers' Rights, Supply Chain Management | Operating in oppressive regimes, forced labor, denial of trade unions, unsafe factory conditions. |
| Animal Rights | Animal Testing, Factory Farming, Other Animal Rights (e.g., fur, leather) | Vivisection, intensive confinement farming, commercial exploitation of wildlife. |
| Politics | Political Activity, Anti-Social Finance, Tax Avoidance, Excessive Executive Pay | Corporate lobbying, campaign donations, off-shore tax havens, CEO-to-worker pay gaps > 20:1. |
| Product Extras | Positive Product Features | Organic certification, Fairtrade, vegan/vegetarian options, recycled/upcycled composition. |
Ownership Traceability: The system evaluates the ultimate parent company, not just the brand name. If a small, eco-friendly brand is acquired by a multinational conglomerate with a poor ethical record, the sub-brand's score reflects the parent company's practices.
Standardized Deductions: Companies start with a top score, and points are deducted based on verified infractions gathered from NGO databases, court documents, regulatory fines, and investigative news reports.
The "Best Buy" Designation: Brands that score highly across all categories—and demonstrate structural commitment to sustainability (e.g., B Corp status, worker co-ops, organic supply chains)—are awarded Ethical Consumer Best Buy Label status.
Ethical Consumer publishes detailed product guides covering virtually every aspect of consumer spending.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CORE RESEARCH SECTORS │
├──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Sector │ Key Issues & Research Targets │
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Food & Drink │ Ultra-processed foods, palm oil supply chains,│
│ │ pesticide use, factory farming, fair trade. │
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Money & Banking │ Fossil fuel financing, weapon investment, │
│ │ offshore tax havens, executive bonus structures.│
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Energy & Home │ Greenwashing energy suppliers, renewable grid│
│ │ origin certificates, heat pump supply chains.│
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Technology & Electronics │ Conflict minerals (cobalt/tantalum), e-waste,│
│ │ planned obsolescence, right-to-repair access.│
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Fashion & Clothing │ Fast fashion exploitation, living wages in │
│ │ garment factories, microplastic shedding. │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘
Ethical Finance: Ethical Consumer evaluates banks, building societies, and pension funds on whether they invest depositors' capital in fossil fuel extraction, armament manufacturers, or tobacco companies.
Technology & Electronics: By assessing supply chain audits for conflict minerals and analyzing device repairability scores, the co-op helps consumers navigate complex tech ecosystems without contributing to human rights abuses or electronic waste.
Energy Suppliers: In energy sector guides, researchers distinguish between true renewable generators (companies that build or purchase directly from solar/wind assets) and companies using greenwashing accounting tricks (purchasing cheap REGO certificates without supporting green generation).
Ethical Consumer goes beyond rating products; it coordinates direct activist campaigns and structural boycotts to force corporate behavior change.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CAMPAIGNING & ACTION MECHANISMS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ [ Research & Investigations ] ──► Expose tax havens or worker abuse │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ [ Consumer Mobilization ] ──► Launch target boycotts (e.g., Amazon) │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ [ Regulatory Advocacy ] ──► Lobby for modern slavery & import laws │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The Amazon Tax Avoidance Boycott: Ethical Consumer has spearheaded long-running campaigns urging consumers and institutional buyers to boycott Amazon over its tax avoidance strategies, treatment of warehouse workers, and impact on independent high-street retailers.
Migrant Agricultural Worker Rights: Research campaigns exposing the precarious conditions and poverty wages experienced by seasonal migrant farm workers across Southern Europe and the UK.
The Lush Prize for Alternative Testing: In partnership with Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Ethical Consumer co-hosts and manages the Lush Prize—a £250,000 biennial award fund supporting scientists, researchers, and campaigners working to eliminate animal testing in safety science.
UK Ethical Consumer Markets Report: Published annually (historically alongside partners like The Co-operative Bank), this landmark report tracks the financial growth of green, organic, fair trade, and ethical market sectors across the United Kingdom.
Ethical Consumer acts as an essential bridge between academic social science research, civil society campaigning, and everyday public consumption habits.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ACADEMIC & CIVIC ECOSYSTEM │
├──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Domain │ How Ethical Consumer Contributes │
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Higher Education │ Used widely as primary course literature in │
│ │ business ethics, sociology, and economics. │
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Policy Advisory │ Advises governmental agencies globally on │
│ │ green procurement and sustainable commerce. │
├──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ NGO Partnerships │ Provides research data to Oxfam, Greenpeace, │
│ │ Friends of the Earth, and Amnesty. │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘
By archiving three decades of corporate behavior data, the organization provides researchers with empirical evidence showing how consumer buycotts and targeted boycotts can pressure global supply chains to improve labor conditions and reduce environmental damage.
Ethical Consumer (ethicalconsumer.org) remains the UK’s leading independent cooperative resource for ethical market research, corporate profiling, and sustainable consumer activism.
Founded in 1989: Decades of uninterrupted, independent publishing and corporate watchdog research based in Manchester.
Multi-Stakeholder Co-op: Democratically governed by worker members and reader-investors, maintaining total independence from corporate advertising.
Comprehensive E-Score Matrix: Evaluates parent companies across environment, human rights, animal welfare, tax transparency, and political conduct.
Action-Oriented: Coordinates active consumer boycotts, supports the Lush Prize, and publishes the UK Ethical Consumer Markets Report.
Bridge to Policy Change: Proves that while buying ethically is vital, combining economic voting with structural regulatory reform is essential for true sustainability.
Photo: Ethical Consumer, magazine samples
Ethical Consumer's information and analysis helps you choose the most ethical products and services whenever you need them and wherever you are. From bread to banks, use our product guides to check what to purchase and what to avoid.