'Ethics-washing' | Is there more pressure on 'ethical' companies to have good HR practices?

As far as a company’s brand goes, there are names we consider more ethical than others.

BP and Shell might conjure up images of oil rig leaks and fears of climate catastrophe, while the Co-op Group and Patagonia instil feelings of trust. There’s no escaping the fact that brands are bound by ethics, determined by their positive or negative impact on the world around them.

Psychologically, it’s difficult for society to get over it when a firm's actions don’t align with the brand they have put out into the world. Oatly, the oat drink that rose to fame during the veganism boom, faced immense backlash in 2020 after it was revealed the company was contributing to deforestation in the Amazon and sold shares to Blackstone, a private equity company chaired by Donald Trump. Much of the oat drink’s largely left-leaning consumer-base boycotted the business for ‘greenwashing’ and falsely advertising itself as a socially and environmentally conscious brand.

This level of disconnect between a product, its consumers and its stakeholders are rare. Despite this, the Oatly incident highlights the importance of cohesiveness when it comes to a brand’s image and its actions.