Degree of disclosure of information; promotion of women; testing of animals; Third World policies; South African involvement; political donations; manufacturing of alcohol, tobacco, military products, or involvement in gambling.
So, for instance, a shopper considering buying Birds Eye frozen fish can see at a glance that it is manufactured by Unilever, who are displayed as being reasonably socially responsible in all the above categories, except that they test new products on animals, they have heavy involvement in South Africa and they have a brewery operation in Nigeria and minor involvement in tobacco sales in West Africa.
Steven Burkeman of York writes: 'This radical approach could work in the UK, where there are signs that more and more consumers do care about such things as the environmental impact of the products they buy, or the political and economic conditions in the country of origin. There is every prospect that effectively organised socially responsible purchasing will affect the behaviour of companies.'
'Shopping for a Better World' published by Kogan Page, L4-99, ISBN 0 7494 0483 3.