the ethical move.
We believe the way we sell will change the world.
Small businesses are the largest growing sector of our global economy; how we operate will inform policy. There are a lot of us, we are courageous and adaptable — which makes us uniquely qualified to change the status quo.
It makes us responsible for changing it.
Currently, our global economy only benefits a small part of the world, and an even smaller fraction within that. We are facing a massive humanitarian, health, and climate crisis, a growing wealth gap, incredible amounts of waste, discrimination, exploitation, displacement, and fear.
At the core sits an economy that relies on our insatiable appetite for more.
Psychological tactics are designed to create false demand by feeding the fear that there will not be enough. This fear has us trapped in a cycle of consumption that is uninspired, unethical, and supremely harmful to the planet and its inhabitants.
But we have no need to continue using methods from the last century to generate wealth. We know better now, so let’s use the power we hold as the ‘New Economy’.
It’s time to break the rules and make the ethical choice for the good of all – not just a select few.
We are the movement for ethical marketing.
And we are making the first move.
We are calling psychological manipulation unethical.
To abolish these tactics for good, we are creating an ethical marketing standard to live alongside Organic, Fair Trade, and B-Corp — starting with a pledge and a badge.
We are a new and evolving movement, learning as we go, in collaboration with you.
Please send us an email if you have feedback to improve our approach!
what to expect from us
Ethical marketing isn’t just about a list of tactics, it’s inextricably linked with how we treat each other, how we support each other, and how willing we are to acknowledge the underlying oppressive systems and how much work we still have to do.
We are actively working on making the movement a safe space for Black, Brown, Indigenous, Minority Ethnic, and People of Colour, inclusive for all Queer communities and folks with disabilities or neurodivergencies.
Learn more about our anti-racist commitment, and our code of conduct.
about the pledge
The ethical move pledge is a place to rally, to take direct action, and with it spread the word. It is meant to challenge assumptions, to create conversation, to connect us with others who want to break the cycle.
It was created through years of research and months of collaboration by the members of our team. We chose the tactics that –to our minds– are most blatantly interfering with the ways small online business owners are communicating with their people, and that could be easily adapted to a more ethical approach. We wrote each word together, in many, many Zoom calls.
We are always in conversation about how it can be improved, and how we can better stay true to our intention of giving you ideas for a different way to market. We will share a timeline soon to give you more in-depth knowledge of how it came into existence.
Our pledge is for you, so use it, challenge it, tell us what to improve on – and with your engagement, make it better for your peers.
where we’re at
- Solidifying our team structure and working towards our goals for 2021.
- Building our social presence and newsletters – by using our own best practices and without adding to the noise.
- Deepening our understanding of the bigger picture of ethical marketing with a new content series called ‘Decolonizing Marketing’.
- Creating an online community to open the conversation to everyone.
- Continuously sourcing contributors for our Medium publication to dissect the giant grey zone that is manipulation in marketing.
- Researching tactics, manipulation, ethics, and deepening our understanding of what ethical marketing really is.
- Bringing our team’s expertise into teachable materials on how to be ethical in our marketing.
where we’re headed
- Creating an independent study on psychological tactics in marketing.
- Collaboration with ISEAL / studying their Codes of Good Practice.
- Creating an Ethical Marketing Standard (in conversation with B-Corp, Fair Trade + other ethical standards).
- Become part of the B-Corp assessment once the standard is fleshed out.
…and of course breaking consumerism + eliminating the wealth gap.
make your move.
We need help bringing this into the world – learn more about how you can get involved.