Consumer ethics is a label for describing, understanding and praising or criticising consumers, for consumer behavior as moral behavior.

Compared to other topics in the fields of business ethics and marketing ethics there are not many publications about consumer ethics (Brinkmann, 2004). In the past few years, there has been an increase in the ethical consumer, characterized by more reflexive values like solidarity, social responsibility, multiculturalism and ecology. This idea has found support in the appearance and development of proposals like fair trade, along with others, such as responsible consumption, the recycling business or sustainable development. The Sociology of Consumption has focused in the last few years on the emergence and development of a citizenship through consumption based on the adoption of ethical values as purchasing criteria. This would be one of the basic characteristics of the so-called ethical consumers. Consumer ethics, most seem to deal with consumers as the bad guys and clearly less with consumers as the potentially good guys. In order to understand the distinction one can put Consumer Dishonesty as a label for the former and Consumer Social Responsibility as a label for the latter research tradition. Within the latter tradition, a few empirical studies have dealt with consumer behavior as voting behavior or more generally with socially responsible consumer behavior in the meaning of consumer idealism (see e.g. van Kenhove et al., 2001). The academic literature has focused on issues related to Consumer dishonesty and Consumer Social Responsibility such as the willingness of consumers to benefit from questionable actions (Al-Khatib, Vitell and Rawwas 1997; Vitell 2003; Vitell and Paolillo 2003), consumer reaction to ethical transgressions by sellers (Whalen, Pitts and Wong 1991; Pitts, Wong and Whalen 1991), the perception of company ethics and product purchasing (Sen and Bhattacharya 2001), the willingness of consumers to pay for socially acceptable products (Auger, Burke, Devinney, and Louvier 2003, 2004a,b; Elliott and Freeman 2001), and the emergence of and reasons for consumer boycotts of business organizations (John and Klein 2003; Klein, Smith and John 2002) The definition given by Gabriel and Lang (1995) describes: a responsible consumer, a socially-aware consumer, a consumer who thinks ahead and tempers his or her desires by

social awareness, a consumer whose actions must be morally defensible and who must occasionally be prepared to sacrifice... People need to see themselves as consumer-citizens in a life long learning process, with "citizen" meaning a responsible, socially aware consumer willing to make reasoned judgments and sacrifices for the common good... If people were sensitized to see themselves as consumer-citizens, a sense of morality, ethics and community could emerge again in the world. The growing number of ethical and conscience consumers and changes in buying behavior which influence the strategic decisions made by commercial organizations in relation to product and service positioning, in the drive to becoming more socially responsible organizations. Consumer ethics is a growing area of research that needs to focus on ethical consumer behaviors to unethical consumer behaviors. The models that have been developed to describe consumer behaviour do not address unethical consumer behaviour. Thus, marketers adapted an existing framework for ethical decision making in marketing and applied to consumer ethcial decision making. In spite of studies made on consumer ethics in cross-country aspect there is dearth of a good research on consumer ethics especially in context of India and African countries which leaves a lot of scope for future research. The following sections will describe consumer ethics study in national and international contexts, consumer boycotts as a step of ethically oriented consumers and conflict upon it, and list of possible areas of future research.

Country Specific Consumer Ethics: national context Consumer Ethics studies also have been made in national context that is studying ethical patterns of consumers in one country on different aspects. The role of one countrys culture in shaping consumer ethics necessitates culturally specific studies, because we cannot assume that ethical issues that have been observed in specific cultural environments are generalizeable to other cultures. Developing a country-specific understanding of local ethical consumer issues is critical for devising consumer strategies that take advantage of business opportunities the country presents to national and international marketers. The impact of country-specific consumer ideologies on their ethical judgments of questionable behaviors is needed to be examined because such knowledge builds the foundation for the formulation of consumer policy and can inform consumer education in terms of preparing consumer to recognize the differences between consumer dishonesty and consumer social responsibility and their implications for consumer action in the marketplace. The studies from different countries across the world majorly concentrates around fair trade i.e. consumer social responsibility to decide ethical consumer behavior. However, few studies do consider consumer dishonesty especially in retail context and tries to explain environmental and individual factors relating to this. A few of major studies have been summarized below:

Ghana, West Africa The focus of this study is on ethical judgements of questionnable behavior and applied in exploring the ethical beliefs, ideologies and judgements of consumers in Ghana. African consumer have received very little attention with regard to their ethical and moral belief systems. In fact, no study could be identified that deals specifically with sub-Saharan African consumer. The neglect of Africa as a site for consumer research is an endemic problem in consumer research. However, with the growing importance of Africa as a consumer market (Chelariu et al., 2002), understanding African consumer ' ethical actions in relation to their dealings with businesses is becoming increasingly urgent.

Ghana is one of the fastest-growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa, attracting significant foreign investments (ODriscoll et al., 2003). Ghana's main exports are gold and cocoa. This study undertook relativism and idealism scales. Relativism evaluates rightness or wrongness of a specific act according to the consequences it produces. Idealism, on the other hand, describes a position that assumes that the inherent rightness of the act itself always leads to a morally just and right outcome. For this study, 328 respondents registered in MBA and executive marketing courses at the University of Ghana. The findings showed that Ghanaian consumers value ethics norms, they are willing to ignore these norms if they can find justification for such violations in the circumstances around an action. This tendency to define ethical action on its context indicates elements of Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism is considered a personality trait and is defined as a process by which the manipulator gets more of some kind of reward than he [she] would have gotten without manipulating, while someone else gets less, at least within the immediate context.Ghanaian consumers rely predominantly on situational factors and their personal feelings in making ethical judgements of behaviour in the marketplace. Consumers ' claim that shoplifting was acceptable if the thief really needed the stolen item for survival, and that the retailer who lost the item was no poorer by reason of the shoplifter's action. From a managerial perspective, success in the Ghanaian marketplace requiresappreciation for the unique moral universe of Ghanaian relativism with its Robin Hood-type distributive justice The conclusion to be drawn from this study is that it is not always unethical for individuals to break standardized ethical codes. Any general theory of ethics of guidelines for ethical behaviour should, therefore, consider the diversity of judgements and beliefs about the marketplace, consumption and consumers. What constitutes unethical behaviour in one country may be acceptable in another. Indeed, the same person may deem a particular action unethical on one occasion and ethical on another.

US

The purpose of this study was to investigate university students' evaluations of consume behaviour scenarios (in relation to apparel retail) as ethical or unethical in relation to respondents' demographic characteristics. Retailers may lose profits as a result of shoplifting and other unethical consumer behaviour thus a research focusing on consumer ethical decision making is needed. Relationships between consumer ethical response scores and other demographic characteristics have been discussed under this study. This study also states about consumer ethical decision-making model developed by Ferrell and Gresham a descriptive contingency framework to reveal the determinants of ethical/unethical decision making of marketers. Figure 1 Descriptive contingency framework

A convenience sample of 1117 undergraduate students from universities within the US was obtained for this study and three consumer behavior scenarios were considered. Consumer Scenario One involved not reporting receipt of excess change in an apparel retail setting. Consumer Scenario Two involved not paying for accidental damage to apparel. Consumer Scenario Three involved purchasing a garment with specific intent to return it for a full refund after use. The demographic variable which was studied here was age while the other five demographic variables (age, year in school, employment status, previous employment by

apparel retailer and completion of an ethics course) were not included in the model because they were not found to be significantly associated with ethical responses to all three consumer behaviour scenarios and the total of the three consumer behaviour scenarios. When the three scenarios and the total of the three scenarios were assessed, the 'returned garment after use' scenario had the most demographic items significantly associated with evaluation of consumer behaviour as ethical or unethical. The unethical action in the 'returned garment after use' scenario was premeditated and deliberate on the part of the consumer. In the other two scenarios, the unethical actions were not premeditated, they happened by chance. Gender and consistency in practice of faith were found to be significantly associated with subjects' ethical response scores for all three scenarios and the total of the three scenarios. The information provided by this study would be useful to marketing managers when developing marketing strategies to promote ethical choices in the market place and when screening job applicants. The information provided in this study is also useful to educators who design courses with the intention of raising students' ethical awareness.

Belgium The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent consumers were willing to pay for the fair-trade attribute when buying coffee, and how consumers differed in terms of their willingness to pay. Coffee is, a relatively low-involvement good and buying a specific type of coffee is often a matter of habit. Fair trade within the context of ethical consumer behavior, "fair trade" can be described as an alternative approach to trading partnership that aims for sustainable development of excluded and/or disadvantaged producers. It seeks to do so by providing better trading conditions, raising awareness, and campaigning (Krier 2001). In the broadest sense, the concept incorporates environmental as well as social issues. In April 2000, after a yearlong campaign by the human rights organization Global Exchange, Starbucks decided to carry fair-trade coffee in its 2,300 stores (Straus 2000). Ethical consumption (Doane 2001) defined as the purchase of a product that concerns a certain ethical issue (human rights, labor conditions, animal well-being, environment, etc.)

and is chosen freely by an individual consumer. There are several dimensions of ethical consumer behavior. Some forms of ethical consumption benefit the natural environment (e.g., environmentally friendly products, legally logged wood, animal well-being), while others benefit people (e.g., products free from child labor, fair-trade products). A U.S. or a European consumer fair-trade consumption means buying items for their positive quality of supporting people in faraway developing countries.On average, 46% of European consumers also claimed to be willing to pay substantially more for ethical products (MORI 2000). However, there are differences as to the reported willingness to pay a price premium for different types of ethical products. For instance, American consumers agreed with a price increase of 6.6% for green products ( The Roper Organization, Inc. 1990), while French consumers wanted to pay 10%25% more for apparel not made by children (CRC-Consommation 1998). Most of the ethical labeling initiatives with respect to, for instance, organic food, products free from child labor, legally logged wood, and fair-trade products, often have market shares of less than 1% (MacGillivray 2000). The reason for this discrepancy is attitude-behavior gap in which attitude can influence behavior but cannot predict buying behavior. Price, quality, convenience, and brand familiarity are often still the most important factors affecting the buying decision. Demographic characteristics are not sufficient to define and identify socially responsible consumers. People's values appear to have a significant impact on their ethical consumption behavior. Values are abstract principles that reflect an individual's selfconcept (Dickson 2000). In this study, instead of studying consumers attitudes or preferences, their willingness to pay was measured. A fair-trade coffee label implies additional costs and a price premium for the consumer. Based on the willingness to pay for this label, the size of the potential fair-trade coffeebuying population was estimated. This study is based on a sample of Belgian consumers, the Belgian consumer market has in many aspects a profile similar to that of the Europeon Union (EU). In this study, a survey of the total administrative and academic staff of Ghent University, which is one of the largest universities in Belgium (26,000 students) and one of the largest employers in the city of Ghent and the surrounding region has been done. The finding corroborated from an

exploratory survey of the market share of fair-trade coffee are: the 1% market share in Belgium is similar to the market share of fair-trade coffee in France (0.9%) and Germany (1%) and is midrange between the market share in Switzerland (5%), the Netherlands (3%), and Denmark (2.5%) on the one hand, and Norway (0.8%) and Finland (0.4%) on the other. This study included simultaneously all the relevant dimensions of coffee-buying intentions to determine the value of a fair-trade label, and hence the importance of ethics. The relevant coffee attributes are: Brand (manufacturer brand and private label), Blending, Flavor, Package ("warm" and "cold"), The presence or absence of a fair-trade label. The brand was the most important attribute of coffee, closely followed by flavor and fairtrade label in third. The willingness to pay for a fair-trade label on coffee of the respondents indicated that about 10% of the sample wanted to pay the current price premium of 27% in Belgium. Of the flavor lovers and the brand lovers, who account for 50% of the sample, only a small minority was prepared to pay the sample average price premium of 10% for fair-trade coffee. Although the fair-trade lovers are a considerable niche, the size of the fair-trade likers segment indicated an even larger market potential of fair-trade coffee. Fair-trade lovers and likers covered 50% of the consumers. These two groups could be convinced to buy fair-trade coffee if better informed and the right marketing efforts are pursued. The creation of a genuine fair-trade brand, instead of labeling other brands with fair-trade, may be a more efficient and credible alternative to promote the fair-trade idea to a broader audience

Spain The purpose of this paper is to show the ethical consumers, particularly the Spanish fair trade consumers, who could be characterized by another element that could be called global cognitive orientation. It can be said that a global cognitive enhancement concerns with the increasing solidarity and support of individuals in some ethnic conflicts, wars and violations of human rights that have aroused interest and global assistance. But it is also related to the topic of this research, the purchase of fair trade products. This paper examines the extent to which global orientation is also a characteristic of consumers of fair trade products. This study undertakes a two-phase exploratory study. The

first phase, of a quantitative nature, showed the greater global orientation of Spanish consumers of fair trade products, and it obtained a typology of them. The subsequent qualitative study examined the components of this global orientation in each of the three clusters where the consumption of fair trade products was the highest. The main characteristic of this ethical consumer is the inclusion of different values of a more reflexive nature, such as solidarity, multiculturalism and ecology, in the process of constructing their identity. Ethical consumers behave in a more reflexive way, showing greater self-control, as citizen consumers. This citizen-consumer model is independent from any radical political transformation project, as well as from the legitimization of a consumer society, about which these consumers are already very critical. Quantitative analysis The data used were extracted from a study carried out by the CIS that focused on finding out the opinions and attitudes of Spanish people about international NGOs and fair trade, among other topics. The study was based on the results of a survey consisting of 2493 interviews with a Spanish population of both genders, 18 years or older. A multistage sampling was used, stratified in clusters with selections of primary sampling units (towns), secondary units (sections), in a proportional and random way, and the final sampling units (individuals), according to random assignment and gender and age quotas. A factorial analysis of main components was applied to eight variables related to knowledge about and assessment of international NGOs, economic donations made due to international solidarity, interest in the production process of consumer goods, opinions about the benefits of aid to third-world countries, and opinions about the need for NGOs in the modern world. Findings showed that regarding knowledge about fair trade, 35.9% of the Spanish people interviewed answered that they knew about or had heard about fair trade as a consumer alternative. Regarding to the purchase of fair trade products, 44.9% of the people who had heard about fair trade had bought this type of product. Regarding the entire Spanish population over 18 years old, the number of people who had bought fair trade products was 16.1%. When asked about the likely development of fair trade, 5.6% of respondents said it would become the basis of international trade, 48.5% thought it would be another type of

consumer behaviour, and 11.6% said it was just a fashion that would fade away. The remaining 34.3% did not know what to answer when questioned. The respondents who thought that fair trade would be the basis of international trade obtained higher scores on trust in NGOs and economic donations factors. However, economic donations were only relevant with those who thought it would become the basis for world trade and those who thought it would become another type of consumer behaviour. While the global cognitive orientation factor was relevant to the segment of the population without an opinion about the future of fair trade with any of the other possible answers. Typology of the population based on the three factors 1) Economic collaborators: they make up 29.8% of the Spanish population, and obtained the highest scores on the economic donations factor. 2) Locally orientated: this group makes up 15.9% of the Spanish population. Its characteristic is the lowest scores on the global cognitive orientation factor, in the case of trust in NGOs, the scores were positive, and with regard to economic donations, they were negative. The locally oriented cluster shows the lowest scores on knowledge about, purchase of and preference for fair trade products. 3) Globally orientated: this cluster represents 32.8% of the population, and shows the lowest scores on the economic donations factor and the highest on the trust in NGOs and global cognitive orientation factors. 4) Distrustful: they make up 21.5% of the population, and they obtained negative scores on trust in NGOs, while on global cognitive orientation and economic donations they are in the average range. This exploratory study has shown that, although the consumers of fair trade products have a greater global cognitive orientation than the rest of the population, this is not the only, or even the most important, factor explaining the preference for this consumption alternative. The study revealed the importance of two other elements that, in combination with the global cognitive orientation factor, influence the consumption of fair trade products: a sense of social responsibility and trust in the NGOs. In the cluster of economic collaborators, the three elements were situated at a high level, which produced a higher rate of consumption of fair trade products. In the globally oriented and the distrustful,

this rate was lower (albeit much higher than that obtained for the locally oriented). In the first case, this result was due to the fact that the sense of social responsibility was lower. In the second, it was because there was considerably less trust in NGOs.

France The study highlights the implications for both sustaining and developing the market for fair trade products and labelling in the future. This research examines consumer intention to purchase fair trade grocery products in order to explain the pertinent decision-making criteria in the French market where fair trade remains marginal but is experiencing growth. Reports reveal that France has one of the lowest per capita sales of fair trade goods in Europe (Beji-Becheur et al., 2005; Ozcaglar-Toulouse, 2005) but also having the highest percentage growth in the fair trade market among its European counterparts for the period 19992001 (235%) (Giovannucci and Koekoek, 2003). French political culture is rooted in French republicanism characterized by dependence on a powerful and centralized state (Sancjes. 2005) making the response of government critical to the further development of fair trade. In France consumer confusion regarding labelling schemes has already been considered a barrier to fair trade purchase behavior (Giovannucci and Koekoek, 2003; BejiBecheur et at., 2005). While consumer awareness of fair trade is increasing in France, where market research published in 2005 revealed that 74% of people stated (56% in 2004) that they had heard about fair trade (Ipsos, 2005), there are still barriers to purchase. Fair trade has recently become part of the corporate responsibility strategies of large market players including, Auchan, Carrefour and Monoprix. French coffee firms believe such labelling schemes will lead to a high level of consumer confusion, particularly where confusion already exists between organic and fair trade certifications (Beji-Becheur et al., 2005). In France some of the supermarkets have failed to fully embrace the certification standards identified by Fair Trade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), favouring private labelling schemes. The current study gains insight into the drivers of growth in fair trade as well as potential barriers to purchase. This study explains consumer intention to purchase fair trade grocery

products utilizing the following independent variables: (1) attitudes towards the identified behaviour; (2) perception that important others think they should behave in a certain way, and desire to comply with these important others; (3) perceptions of control over the identified behaviour; (4) perceptions that performing the behaviour is a ethical obligation; and (5) self-identification with ethical issues. 560 respondents were selected with different demographic characterstics and divided into two distinct groupings, namely, those ethical consumers who purchase fair trade regularly and those who purchase rarely or never. Examination of respondents' intention to purchase fair trade grocery products reveals that the level of intention, hence motivation, varies not only across the two groups as expected, but also to a large extent within each group. The figures also reveal that intention to purchase fair trade grocery products to be much lower for those respondents who never/rarely made purchases of fair trade before. The significant role of ethical obligation in addition to subjective norm for those who never/rarely purchase fair trade grocery products reveals that decision making in this context is more emotive and reflective than rational economic approaches. As such, the utilization of labelling which seeks to connect the consumer to the producer through product labelling and advertising, as can often be seen in fair trade promotion (Goodman, 2004; Beji-Becheur et al., 2005), should continue to develop the 'human' and 'social' connection between producer and consumer. For those consumers who regularly purchase fair trade grocery products the significant drivers to behavioural intention were attitude, perceived behavioural control and self-identity. Unlike the never/rarely purchasing consumer group, this group have established an attitude about fair trade beyond their purchasing being influenced by significant others. They benefit from a support network of others who support their beliefs and purchasing in this context. In this research the role of information and emotive connections to fair trade in communicating with concerned consumers has been deemed critical to market development.

Consumer Ethics Across Countries: International context Ethical consumer choices can involve purchasing from firms and nations whose behaviors and products are deemed ethical, as well as avoiding patronizing those deemed to engage in unethical practices. Ethical issues can involve worker treatment; fair-trade food, genetically modified food, environmental concerns, human rights, anti-competitive practices, racial or gender discrimination, and other such issues (Michletti 2003). There are very few multi-cultural or international studies on consumer ethics. In fact, many used a very limited sample such as students (De Paulo, 1987) or housewives (Wilkes, 1978). To gain a better understanding of the universality of the consumers ethical philosophies and beliefs, research is needed that studies a broader multi-cultural and crossnational of population.

Consumer Ethics Across Cultures Ethics are a part of culture, to study ethical choices without explicitly considering the cultural context is not realistic. There are cultural differences in social roles, gender roles, institutional structures, welfare expectations, laws, and traditional rights, privileges, and obligations. This study tries to understand consumer ethics in broader context by undertaking consumers of eight countries: China, India, Turkey, Australia, the USA, Germany, Sweden and Spain. This span of countries represents a wide variation in terms of level of economic development and cultural orientation. Globalization is taking center stage in the business world, thus increase the need to understand how ethical interpretations and behavior may differ in various consumer markets around the world. A host of studies have examined the impact of culture on ethical positioning; most of these studies have focused on attitudinal or intention to purchase differences. Ger and Belk (1999) studied perceptions of and behaviors regarding materialism in the U.S., Turkey, Romania, and Western Europe and the results showed Americans felt they deserved more because of their hard work and cleverness. Romanians also felt they deserved more, but based more on their relative deprivation under years of Communism. Although some older Turks felt they couldnt realistically desire anything materially, most felt they needed more and justified it as being for their children and family. And Western Europeans condemned gadget loving. This study has employed employ interpretive methods as a means of decomposing the meaning and influence of ethics in consumption choices. Interpretive methods are capable of uncovering paradoxes in thoughts and behavior, and revealing the nature and structure of consumer rationales and justifications (e.g., Ger and Belk 1999). Respondents were presented with three scenarios each, addressing qualitatively different consumer ethics situations. One scenario involves the ethicality of purchasing counterfeit products, one involves purchase of a popular athletic shoe manufactured under conditions of worker exploitation, and the final scenario involves the ethicality and purchase behavior for a product that is potentially harmful to the environment or that uses animal by-products and animal testing. Manipulations in the scenarios involve: (1) the type of ethical breach

environmental or animal related, (2) male or female worker-related, and (3) trademark infringement on either a big ticket or small ticket item. The findings suggest that some consumers do bring ethical concerns into their product choices, but most would rather have a good product at a good price, regardless of who makes it, the conditions of workers, the uses made of animals, or issues of copyright versus counterfeit. Some consumers, from both more affluent and less affluent countries, also claimed that the prices charged by companies like Nike and Louis Vuitton are immoral. Informants from the more affluent world often offered an additional justification for their attitudes and behavior by saying that the problems that exist in the less affluent world are far away from them and their lives. The middle class informants studied, even those in less affluent countries where worker abuse is more likely are also not very upset by the ethical issues raised in the scenarios. The findings also suggest that better ethical behavior on the part of business can influence ethical behavior on the part of consumers. In sum, the results have highlighted the importance of consumer rationales as realized in an epic fashion for understanding the reasons behind disconnect between the peoples ethical thought processes and their consumption behavior.

Table 1. Respondent details Country Cities used within country Australia Sydney China Beijing and Shanghai Germany Hamburg India Mumbai and Hyderabad Spain Madrid Sweden Gteborg Turkey Istanbul and Ankara USA Salt Lake City Note: In countries with two cities, each city had 10 respondents each. In countries with one city, all twenty respondents came from that city. The two distinct cultures of Egypt and the USA

The cross-cultural study of consumers from the two distinct cultures of Egypt and the USA investigates consumer judgments about a variety of consumer situations involving ethical issues such as changing price-tags on merchandise in a store, and also selected personality characteristics related to the individuals general moral philosophy such as the degree of Machiavellianism exhibited. This study will go beyond the previous research of Wilkes (1978) and examines personality factors such as ethical ideologies and Machiavellianism in addition to attitudes towards potentially unethical consumer practices. In addition, this study expands previous research (i.e. Muncy and Vitell, 1992; Vitell et al., 1991) and examines the consumers ethical beliefs in a less developed country (Egypt) as compared to those of consumers in a more developed country (USA). Various personality characteristics were examined in this study. Forsyth (1980) developed a classification system, based on this idealism/relativism dichotomy, in which he divides people into four different ethical types using his two scales. When combined, these two scales generate the following ethical types: situationists, absolutists, subjectivists and exceptionists. Situationists are those who reject moral rules while asking if their actions yield the best possible outcomes given the situation. These individuals would use deception if it yielded the best possible outcome in a situation. Thus, these individuals are essentially following a teleological perspective. Absolutists believe that their actions are moral only if they yield positive consequences through conformity to moral absolutes. They believe that deception is always wrong since it violates fundamental moral principles. Therefore, the absolutists are strict deontologists. The present study has the following specific research objectives: To examine the difference between Egyptian and US consumers with regard to their perceptions of various potentially unethical consumer situations. (This is an extension of the work of Wilkes (1978), and Muncy and Vitell (1992) to a crosscultural setting.) To examine the difference between Egyptian and US consumers with regard to the extent of Machiavellianism and their preferred ethical ideology. (This is an extension of the work of Vitell et al. (1991) to a cross-cultural setting.)

To develop an ethical profile of Egyptian and US consumers based on ethical beliefs preferred ethical ideology, and the degree of Machiavellianism.

The sample used to conduct this study consists of two sub samples, one from the US population and one from Egypt. For the US a sub sample of 1,600 consumers of a large Southeastern metropolitan area was taken. A convenience sample of 500 Egyptian consumers living in a major Egyptian city was utilized for the Egyptian sub sample. In the findings no significant difference was found between the two groups (US and Egyptian) regarding passively benefiting at the expense of others. While US consumers considered actively benefiting from questionable but not necessarily illegal actions to be clearly unethical, Egyptian consumers seemed to be less sure about the unethicality of these activities. Additionally, US consumers were somewhat neutral in their beliefs about whether actions included in the no harm/no foul dimension were ethical or unethical. However, the average Egyptian consumer tended to believe that such behaviours were somewhat acceptable. Overall, it appeared that US consumers were inclined to view all types of questionable actions as more unethical than Egyptian consumers. US consumers were less likely to accept the absolutism of idealism. While both Egyptian and US consumers generally believed that morally right behaviour leads to good or positive consequences (idealism scale), Egyptian consumers were more idealistic in their beliefs. Finally, there was virtually no difference between the US consumers and the Egyptian consumers in terms of their acceptance or rejection of Machiavellianism. These differences between Egyptian and US consumers might be attributed to various factors. For example, differences in terms of consumer awareness and education in the US as compared to Egypt could be a factor. Another factor that could explain the difference in ethical beliefs between the two consumer groups is cultural values. While the capitalist philosophy is dominant in the USA and is built on values such as materialism, individualism, equality, efficiency and practicality that are conducive to consumer activism, Egyptian culture is built on values such as fatalism, collectivism, passivism and submission to authority (Akaah, 1990). A limitation to the present study is the fact that the study was conducted in a single Middle Eastern country (Egypt) that is currently experiencing economic, political and social

problems, all of which may affect the mood of the consumers and the direction of their responses. Examination of attitudes towards aberrant consumer behaviour in the marketplace: USA, New Zealand and Singapore This study begins by comparing the ethical predisposition of business students in New Zealand and Singapore to their US counterparts. A sample of 373 students indicated that the students in the three countries generally hold high expectations for the behaviour of consumers. The overall predisposition of the three groups as measured by the grand mean of the responses was virtually identical. The specific objectives of this study include: Evaluation of the samples ethical predisposition regarding potentially questionable consumer practices; and Identification of differences between the New Zealand, Singapore and US strata. In findings students from New Zealand expressed greater tolerance for questionable consumer action while US students expressed greater concern in regard to the other two. Singapores situation was somewhat in the middle. The results indicate that a global measure of ethical predisposition may be misleading and that ethical attitudes may be situational. Marketers must consider the characteristics of each country when assessing risk. The three samples were taken by distributing the self-administered survey to students enrolled in basic marketing and some other classes at Eastern Michigan University, USA, the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, and the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The survey was administered in January 1996 in New Zealand, March 1996 in the USA and in July 1996 in Singapore. The rationale for using the introductory marketing class is that it is required of all business majors and would provide a reasonable cross-representation of the students from the various fields of study. As indicated by this study, ethical predisposition is mediated by ones country of residence. The difference is not universal, however, and could best be described as situational. The fact that the observed differences between the three countries were not statistically significant for at least ten of the 14 items (Table 2) would seem to indicate that there are more similarities than differences between the three. Yet, the documented differences for

the four scenarios indicate that marketers who operate in several countries face various and different risks from one country to another. Such differences may be attributed to a multitude of factors such as moral standards, cultural influence, economic sufficiency, religious tenets, personal experiences, attitudes towards business, and a myriad other reasons. An analysis of the three countries indicates that while they are similar in most respects, there are some differences in ethical predisposition. It is also likely that differences and similarities documented in this study might not be duplicated in studies, which include additional countries.

Table 2 List of Ethical Scenarios Action Inflate insurance claim Misrepresent age senior discount Coupons for items not purchased Keep extra change Less than truth on survey Return merchandise to different store Misrepresent childs age discount

Exaggerate quality at garage sale Returned worn clothing Sold frequent flyer ticket Purchased mismarked item Quoted cheaper price to negotiate deal Repeated visit to buy limited quantity Information from retailer

There are few other studies also on cross-country context for comparing different cultures such as Gender and Cultural Differences in Consumer Ethics in a Consumer-Retailer Interaction Context In this study, consumer ethics between two contrasting cultures that of the U.S. and Kuwait has been compared. The study provided limited support to gender differences in the U.S. However, in Kuwait gender differences were more pronounced. There were significant differences in between the U.S. and Kuwait in terms of culture. The study reveals that marketers to inhibit consumer unethical behavior in advanced countries as compared to less advanced countries should adopt different approaches. All these studies are still not enough to explain Consumer ethics in depth. Thus it leaves a scope for future research in this area of consumer behavior. A lot of research can be done in country-specific and international context to develop better marketing strategies and get benefit out of them. Consumer Boycotts: Consumer Social Responsibility for Fair trade Fair trade marked products are now available in 17 countries generating around 500m worth of sales worldwide per year (Young and Utting, 2005). Fair trade sales in the major markets of the UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands accounted for around 80% of all European fair trade sales during 200102 (Traidcraft Market Access Centre, 2004). Although the UK and Switzerland are the most important markets in terms of sale volume, the fastest growing markets for the period 200203 were Belgium, France, Italy and the US (Network of European Worlshops, 2005).

One would like to think that being a good company would attract consumers to products, while unethical behaviour would see customers boycotting the products of the offender. Marketers are encouraged to behave in an ethical manner because information about a firms ethical behaviours is thought to influence product sales and consumers image of the company (Mascarenhas, 1995). It seems obvious that consumers hold more positive attitudes towards companies that behave than companies, which behave unethically (Folkes and Kamins, 1999). Today there is a more concerted attack from well-organised activists/lobbyists in the form of protest groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth or the UK Consumers Association. The Internet has opened up a route for international groups of consumers and interested bodies to co-ordinate their activity globally, and this can be seen in Web sites such as www.saigon.com/nike, the homepage of the Boycott Nike campaign, or www.mcspotlight.org the homepage of the McDonalds boycott. In response, large organisations that had previously believed themselves immune from such activity find themselves now having to defend themselves against their global critics on their own company Web sites. Conflict on boycotts One might expect consumers to punish unethical behaviour, but not necessarily reward ethical behaviour. It has been suggested that many people believe there is a responsibility not to do harm (e.g. not to use child labour), but do not automatically believe that others have a right to be helped (e.g. provide education for under-age workers) (Folkes and Kamins, 1999; Spranca et al., 1991). Consumers aware of information on a firms unethical behaviour should boycott their products, while knowing about a firms ethical behaviour would not necessarily persuade a consumer to buy their products. Creyer and Ross (1997) found that a companys level of ethical behaviour is an important consideration during the purchase decision; in the USA consumers expect ethical behaviour from companies and they were willing to pay higher prices and reward ethical behaviour. Creyer and Ross (1997) did discover that consumers would still buy products from unethical firms, but only at a lower price the cost of poor ethics.

A study by Boulstridge and Carrigan (2000) investigated that most consumers lacked information to distinguish whether a company had or had not behaved ethically which means consumer social responsibility was not high on purchasing agenda. The most important purchasing criteria were price, value, quality and brand familiarity; consumers bought for personal reasons rather than societal ones. If they liked and regularly bought a product they would find it hard to boycott over unethical behaviour. Examples: Shell Boycott of Shell products by consumers in Europe stands out as a unique example. In June 1997, the Shell Oil Company, backed by the British government, had planned to dispose off an old oil drill rig. Brent Spar in the North Sea. This would have led to severe pollution, while upsetting the delicate marine ecosystem. The resultant public protest and mass boycott of shell petrol stations in Europe forced it to abandon its plan of dumping Brent Spar in the North Sea Nike A worldwide boycott against Nike shoes has been made because of prevailing inhuman conditions in its factories in Vietnam and China. In South East Asia Women workers are required to work long hours to manufacture Nike athletic shoes in those factories where working conditions are unsafe for workers. Nestle Nestle has often faced consumer boycotts because of its malpractice in marketing of breastmilk substitutes Adidas Using kangaroo skin to make some types of football boots. Ciba-Geigy The pharmaceutical giant Ciba-Geigy faced a mass boycott of its medicines in Sweden for continuing to produce harmful oral drug oxiquinoline. The sales of the company fell drastically. In the end Ciba-Geigy was forced to take corrective measurers.

British beef Consumers in various countries similarly boycotted British beef exports when the scare of the mad-cow-disease spread. L'Oreal Naturewatch has a long-standing boycott of L'Oreal due to its continued use of animal testing for cosmetics. The French multinational uses ingredients that have been tested on animals, despite public statements to the contrary. It has also been criticised for lobbying against an EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics. Coca Cola In India, Coca Cola has caused severe water shortages, polluted groundwater and soil around its bottling plant, distributed its toxic waste as "fertiliser" to local farmers and sold drinks with extremely high levels of pesticides and for its repression of trade union activity in Colombia. Unilever Testing of household products and their ingredients on animals Procter and Gamble Continued use of animal testing for cosmetics, household products and pet food. Brands made by P&G include Always, Ariel, Bold, Camay, Clearasil, Crest, Daz, Dreft, Fairy, Flash, Head and Shoulders, Insignia, Milton, Napisan, Oil of Ulay, Old Spice, Pampers, Sinex, Tide, Viakal, Vidal Sassoon, Vortex and Zest. DeBeers Supporting the Botswanan governments efforts to forcibly remove Bushmen from their ancestral lands to resettlement camps. Barclays a boycott of Barclays due to its financing of the Narmada Dam in India (and the Trans Thai-Malaysia gas pipeline). The Narmada dam (or rather a series of 30 large dams) would flood one of India's most productive agricultural regions and forcibly displace two million people.

Conclusion There are signs that ethics are no longer languishing on the fringes of marketing activity. In the UK advertisers and print media have had to face responsibility for their role in promoting glamorous anorexic body images (e.g. the Accurist put some weight on campaign; UK government anti-drug advertisements); food manufacturers and marketers have had defend and amend the nutritional content of their products (e.g. McDonalds, Sunny Delight); cigarette firms have had to admit the carcinogenic qualities of their products (e.g. Phillip Morris). Scholarly journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics and Marketing and Public Policy are dedicated to disseminating research on the subject of social responsibility in marketing; universities are developing courses in societal marketing and ethics (e.g. London Business School; Colorado States Online Business Ethics Certificate Program, www.e-business.com). Most major multinational firms have published codes of conduct to demonstrate their commitment to better business behaviour (e.g. Levi Strauss, The Body Shop), as have professional marketing organisations such as the Market Research Society or the American Marketing Association. Globally, there have been hundreds of organisations and institutes established to research and promote ethical business behaviour (e.g European Business Ethics Network, Hong Kong Ethics Development Centre), and marketing ethics/societal marketing are key tracks at marketing conferences, as well as being priority topics for research.