our stand.

We believe the way we sell can change the world.

How we sell has us trapped in consumerism, creating a cycle that is uninspired, unethical, and harmful to the planet and its inhabitants.

Our global economy only benefits a small part of the world, and an even smaller fraction within that. We are facing a growing wealth gap, exploitation, displacement, fear, incredible amounts of waste, climate change, ...all we need to do is follow the money to find the source of it.

And, we have an incredible opportunity. 

Small businesses are the largest growing sector of our global economy - we are even called the 'New Economy'. We have no need to continue with the same methods used to generate demand. We can create anything. This is our chance to break the rules, to change the status quo, to make the ethical choice for the good of all - not just a select few.

The ethical move is setting out to shed light on marketing tactics, and to start a conversation on how we can - and should - sell ethically so as to break the cycle of consumerism.

We are a new and evolving movement, learning as we go, in collaboration with you. Please connect if you have feedback to improve our approach!

where we're at

• Gathering allies for the movement & building awareness.

• Deciding on our next pledge!

• Creating resources and guidelines for businesses to market ethically.

• Segmenting you, our wonderful audience, into three distinct groups to better serve you: marketers, business owners, and consumers.

• Building our social presence and newsletters - by using our own best practices & without adding to the noise.

• Creating a publication on Medium with incredible contributors to start dissecting the giant grey zone that is manipulation in marketing.

where we're headed

• Building an online community to open the conversation to everyone.

• Starting a Patreon page to keep the movement alive and growing.

• Collaboration with ISEAL / studying their Codes of Good Practice.

• Creating an Ethical Marketing Standard by 2020 based on our pledges (in conversation with B-Corp, Fair Trade & other ethical standards).

• Become part of the B-Corp assessment reel once the standard is fleshed out.

...and of course breaking consumerism + eliminating the wealth gap.

who we are.

Alice Karolina, founder of the ethical move.

At 18 I was confronted with inequality in the most literal sense. I lived in a rich, gated community in La Paz (Bolivia) - separated from the slum a few hundred meters down the road by a piece of wood and an armed guard. Almost every night, people would die from mudslides because the houses of the rich were crammed onto the hill above.

Returning from Bolivia, my life was never the same. After a decade and a half of research into all possible avenues of relief work, I conceded that 'relief' would not come from a fix: a new well, a new school or a new community centre in an impoverished nation.

The only thing to do to create lasting change, is to look for the source of the inequality and break the system that creates the need for relief.

Unsurprisingly, the source is us - and our insatiable hunger for more. Try as we might to fight the urge ...we were born addicted. Raised to want. Because being satisfied with what is right in front of us doesn't generate profit.

And greener pastures are so easy to conjure. A dash of envy and a bit of urgency and voilà: a willing subject ready to eat out of our hands. If we listen to the chatter online; the better we are at hacking the minds of your people, the better we are at doing business.

But we lose sight of what is infinitely more important than profit: integrity, trust, creativity, community, our health, and the health of others. We forget that there is fallout to our insatiability - and we desperately need to remember for us to build an equal society.

I created the ethical move because I truly believe we can break consumerism. Even if not in my lifetime.

alicekarolina.com

Jessica Lohmann

I felt out of place during my marketing management career in the corporate world. It wasn't until I got out of the rat race in 2013 and founded Ethical Brand Marketing later in 2018 that I realized why I never fit in.

The reason was because my own values weren't aligned with those of my former bosses. My vision and the way I feel about and work with sales and marketing is completely different.

My Vision

I want to live in a world that only offers healthy choices and opportunities for all animals, humans included. A world with no more child labor, sweatshops, animal abuse and testing, pesticides, GMOs and harmful chemicals on the foods, clothes, cosmetics, meds and other products we consume. And a world without greed, poverty and war. Do I believe in fairy dust? Absolutely!

Why I'm Here

Consumers want fast and cheap, but usually only until they find out how stuff is made and the damage that is being done. I truly believe that the more transparent we are about how we sell, the more we can change the way people shop. The industries will start to change their harmful ways because people will no longer demand fast and cheap. Instead, they'll demand ethical production processes and with it, ethical marketing of those products.

Ethical marketing will have a huge ripple effect on personal growth. People will be less teased with CBD (compulsive buying disorder) and will learn to value relationships and experiences more than material things making them feel grateful and genuinely happier.

That's all I want, a happy and healthy environment for every living being.

jesslohmann.com

Katie Emslie

Coming Soon

youbykatie.com

Melissa Lamoureux

Like so many others who have a dream to make an impact in the world, I have been on the receiving end of manipulative marketing tactics that have left me with a pit in my stomach, feeling anxiety for not 'buying now', or like a loser for not fitting the mould of ‘success’ that was fed to me through picture-perfect-posturing lifestyles.

Like so many others who see their craft as a means of uplifting others and serving our global community, I have been on the giving end of the mainstay methods of traditional marketing, where I felt the only way to succeed in business was to manipulate, control, and coerce others into buying decisions.

I am part of the ethical move because I will no longer stand for being manipulated into buying decisions as the norm.

I am a part of the ethical move because as a business owner, I no longer want to participate in traditional marketing practices that encourage trading my integrity, honesty and transparency for a sale. I am part of the ethical move because I truly believe it’s time for a collective change.

melissalamoureux.com

Sabine Harnau

Teaching language and literature in Scotland and Germany, I found that I naturally gravitated towards topics such as media literacy, the social psychology of fashion and the inner workings of marketing & advertising.

With no voice of their own and no obvious ethical marketing codex, teenagers were so vulnerable to the images thrown at them — with consequences ranging from eating disorders to blackmail, from shoplifting to depression.

In 2012, I started and led the global copy team at LEGO Customer Service. I’ll forever be grateful for the opportunity to work as part of a team with a strong ethical stance and a conviction that we need to do the right thing. It was a great honour being able to pour that spirit and mindset into tone of voice guides, copywriting and advisor training. And success proved us right: some LEGO customer service emails went viral.

I then spent a few years at a London-based consultancy, writing for over 70 iconic brands — some of which promoted values that I don’t share.

It was really during that time that I could no longer ignore the fact that people and planet will soon go to **** if we don't get our act together.

• If we want to make sustainability the norm, we need sustainable communication.

• If we want people to take more responsibility, we need responsible communication.

• If we want to break down the barriers that keep us from working together, we need communication that connects — not divides.

That's why I started my own copywriting practice, and why I joined the ethical move.

Because to stop climate change, save species from dying and make society more humane, we need a radical rethink.

We need to stand together.

And we need to get heard.

from-scratch.net

Become a contributor!

We need help bringing this into the world - learn more about how you can contribute here.