10 Point Plan: 07 The Power of the Consumer

7. The Power of the Consumer

Don’t buy from unecological companies.

You have the power to change something. Your purchasing decisions as a consumer has a decisive influence on world affairs.
You can decide whether your money goes to companies that use up resources ruthlessly, or to companies that operate sustainably and innovatively so that the world’s resources remain in sufficient abundance for both animals and humans for a long time to come.

Companies adapt to your needs. If you don’t buy something from a company, it won’t make a profit and the company can’t survive over time. So, the more people make the right purchasing decisions, the more companies are encouraged to make their production more sustainable and offer more environmentally friendly products. From furniture to paper, look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label.
If you need a new washing machine, computer or refrigerator, choose the most energy-efficient model! When shopping or in the restaurant, ask for regional, seasonal and organic products. And for fish: Please purchase only MSC certified seafood (Marine Stewardship Council) ¹.
Entrepreneurs are, of course, careful not to make bad headlines and so many scandals often do not come to light and are unknown to consumers. Here are a few examples of things you might not have known before:

Fifa

People the world over love football (soccer) and it is also one of the most popular sports in the world. But did you know that FIFA has been increasingly accused of illegal tricks, corruption and inhumane working conditions? Rightly so, because when one stadium was built for the 2014 World Cup, countless Brazilians had to work so hard under slave-like working conditions that three people died.

And that’s not all! During construction of the stadium in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, as many as 1,200 people have died working under inhumane conditions and at temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius. By 2022, the number of estimated deaths is 4,000 people. 4,000 dead for a football stadium², that will thrill fans – no problem for FIFA!

Coca Cola

Coca Cola is one of the largest and richest companies in the world and operates in 200 different countries. What few people know is that Coca Cola was already very popular in the German Third Reich and, according to the British newspaper The Independent, even employed forced laborers in Germany. Unfortunately, this dark history of Coca Cola³ has not remained a thing of the past⁴.
As the website killercoke.org⁵ or the film "The Coca Cola Case" document, Coca Cola disregards the human rights of its employees worldwide, and if they protest, the company resorts to violence. Twelve hours of work every day, without a break for a starvation wage are not uncommon. The fact that this behavior violates national and human rights seems to hardly concern the company, and anyone who dares to join a trade union or want to change these conditions is silenced. Whether in China, India, Mexico, El Salvador or Turkey - the stories are the same. The people who fight for your rights face threats, violence, and even murder.
And that’s not all. The Coca Cola bottling plants⁶ in India, for example, pump out thousands of liters of groundwater and dry out entire tracks of arable land. The people who live there, who depend on this groundwater for their survival, are left – literally – high and dry.
The same crimes have been documented in Africa. Coca Cola is no lamb of innocence, and we should not be fooled by its great advertising campaigns, because the list of accusations against Coca Cola is long... Abuse of workers in China, promotion of child labor in El Salvador, or the murder of workers’ representatives in Guatemala... Only we, as consumers, can make a difference and bring about a change.

Nestlé

With 486 factories in 194 countries, Nestlé is also a world monopoly and owns more than 6,000 product brands worldwide such as Vittel, Mövenpick, Nescafé, Nesquik, or Maggi. Every month, more than a billion people buy Nestlé products. But as early as 1974, there were headlines such as "Nestlé kills babies" when Nestlé began marketing milk powder for infant nutrition in Third World countries that actually addicted the infants there, and because mothers could not afford the powder for their addicted children for years on end or the powder was mixed with contaminated water, 10,000 babies died as a result of the promotion and spread of Nestlé products⁷.
That’s not all. Films such as "Tapped" and "Bottled Life" show how Nestlé buys water licenses in countries like Pakistan or South Africa, pumps out water and sells it at a high price. Here, too, entire areas are drying up because people no longer have access to groundwater, and the total water table is falling to such an extent that this problem extends far beyond the licenses sold. Residents often have no choice but to drink from contaminated rivers. This leads to the spread of Typhus and other infectious diseases⁸ and many people die.
In 2010, Nestlé also came under criticism for collecting data for children’s market research purposes⁹ in order to bind consumers directly to the company from an early age. But here, too, the list does not stop, even today, Nestlé continues with animal experiments in the USA and child labor in the Ivory Coast¹⁰, and this company has also been associated with the mysterious murders of union members in Colombia¹¹. On its website, Nestlé advertises environmental and human rights projects, but the authors of "Bottled Life" who investigated these projects have found that many of these projects never existed or no longer exist.

Dogguan Shinyang Electronics (Samsung)

This Chinese company produces smartphone parts for Samsung, and again, child laborers between the ages of 14 and 15 are the rule rather than the exception. Among other things, these youths work 11-hour night shifts and receive only about a third of the standard wage. The company also prohibits regular workers from taking safety training and wearing protective clothing, despite working with hazardous chemicals. In addition, the employees work around 120 hours of overtime per month (36 are legally allowed in China)¹². Compared to Nestlé and Coca Cola, this still seems almost harmless, but with every Samsung smartphone you buy you support this company.
No laws, no human rights and no suffering seems to be able to stop the ecologically irresponsible enterprises of this world. There is only one thing that all these companies really cannot afford: declines in profit. It is up to us, the consumer, to take on responsibility and bring about change.

Your Tasks:

Inform yourself about the dark side of the world’s companies and watch movies like "The Coca Cola Case" or "Bottled Life".
Buy products from regional companies and certified brands that are committed to fair trade and fair conditions.
Join in the fight against enterprises and organizations such as FIFA.
Don’t be fooled by "greenwashing" PR methods designed to give a company an environmentally friendly and responsible image! (For an example, see Nestlé’s website)

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