EXAMPLE NEWSLETTER - 27 MARCH 2006
Good Morning!
THANKS to opinion formers like YOU, ethical shopping is now a rapidly growing consumer and government procurement movement. Every day, the combined action of ethical purchasing across the globe makes a significant difference to the environment and also to product development in relation to animal welfare, human rights and the environment. And there is now a whole raft of progressive companies whose very mission is to make a positive impact - most are members of the Ethical Company Accreditation Scheme, to demonstrate, through independent verification, that they are in the 'premier league' of ethical companies.
5 years ago, when we published the first annual edition of The Good Shopping Guide, we set out to push ethical shopping into the mainstream - through our key target groups - ethical consumers, government, business buyers, NG0s and the media. The book looks at over 60 different product sectors - everything from coffee, to banks to butter to cleaning products.
Our full company screening approach enables us to show the way through the 'green wash' and report on ALL of a companies activities. By showing you the full positive and negative ethical records of the ultimate holding companies, our research tables and publications allow you to differentiate precisely between over 700 consumer brands. Today, for example, this will enable you to compare the overall ethicality of the different Fairtrade choices (eg Nestle Fairtrade v Cafedirect or Percol). Or now L'Oreal is buying Body Shop, you may be trying to decide whether you continue supporting Body Shop or not, and want to view L'Oreal's record in full (The Good Shopping Guide lists L'Oreal as having been involved in activities that appear to conflict with the core values of The Body Shop).
If you are interested in joining our huge network of book distributors or just want to link to our websites please contact us on getinvolved@ethical-company-organisation.org or on 0845 257 6850. And you can find out more about how to get bulk copies of The Good Shopping Guide at http://www.ethical-company-organisation.org.
By using these tools, you have the information you need to really help animal welfare, human rights and the environment - so please continue to spread our information amongst your friends and colleagues on which companies and brands to choose - those which do reach the Ethical Company Organisation benchmark.
Yours sincerely,
The Ethical Company Organisation
http://www.ethical-company-organisation.org
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SEE BELOW FOR MORE ABOUT THE ETHICAL COMPANY ORGANISATION
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The Ethical Company Organisation continues to provide information to buyers on which choices are the most ethical through the following key media channels:-
1. The Good Shopping Guide
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Work on Edition 5 of the UK's best-selling ethical shopping book is well underway. With publication planned for August 2006, the 350 page edition 5 will feature a whole new round of research and sections including Good Food & Drink, Good Money, Good Health & Beauty, Good Home & Office - plus Supermarkets, the Ethical Marketplace and Cars. See www.ethical-company-organisation.org to buy your copy or call 0207 229 2115 to request advertising or sponsorship information. And if you want to join our network of green fair, book shop, ethical fair and farmers market distributors, please do contact us.
2. GOOSHING
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Despite being only at beta stage, our free online ethical shopping tool has attracted 1 million (unique) users. It enables free ethical comparisons, price search, brochure views and purchasing on around 100,000 different online products. See http://www.gooshing.co.uk for more information. If you have a website, please post a link to GOOSHING to show you support ethical shopping - if you want to do more than a text link, you'll find special buttons/images for this on the site.
3. Special category publications
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eg 'The Good Shopping Guide to the Good Office' eg 'The Good shopping Guide to Renewable Energy'
Cafedirect, Brother and Good Energy recently sponsored another mini buyers guide from The Ethical Company Organisation. The Good Shopping Guide to the Good Office provides fresh research and ethical purchase recommendations for the office and home office. Everything from office supplies and waste to office hardware and paper is analysed in this 32 page guide. You can get a free copy by calling Brother UK on 0845 6060626 (or email goodofficeguide@brother-uk.com) Or link to http://www.ethical-company-organisation.org/the-book.htm for a free PDF copy. Call us on 0845 257 6818 if you have suggestions for any new special category publications.
4. Number 1 on GOOGLE, worldwide.
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Our websites continues to be ranked by Google as the world's most important ethical shopping websites. As a result, our site is served by Google right at the top of the 'ethical shopping' search results to everybody in the English speaking world.
5. CHINA
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We have published The Good Shopping Guide China at www.ethical-company-organisation.cn.
6. The Ethical Company Accreditation Scheme
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Most of the UK's leading ethical companies have now joined this scheme and we have thus recently researched several companies (many as part of the scheme) and can therefore recommend the following as some of the most ethical companies in their sectors:-
Brother UK (office equipment), Bahlsen (biscuits), Bhive, Brother UK, Burns Pet Nutrition, Cafédirect, Caurnie Soap Company, Ecology Building Society, Eskimo Media, Ethical Investments, Ethical Transport Association, Fishwalk, Fushi, Good Energy (100% renewable electricity), the Green Awards, Green Energy, Green Fibres, Green People (organic animal friendly health & beauty), The Green Shop, The Green Buildling Store, Green Stationary Company, Hemp Garden, Honesty Cosmetics (animal friendly cosmetics), Infinity Foods, Innocent Drinks, Investing Ethically, Jupiter Ecology Fund, Kawa Bean, The Mad Group (ethical exhibition company), Medivac, Mooncup (re-usable menstrual cup), Natural Collection, Natura Organics, Naturally So, Natural by Nature Oils, Natural Organic Soap, One Life Events Ltd, Organico, Plain Lazy (ethical clothing label), Redwood Wholefoods, Satellite Media (ethical communications agency), Shared Interest, Skiano Atmos, Second Nature, Siesta, Terramar Organic (clothing company), Tropical Wholefoods, T-Shirt & Sons, Unicorn IT and Via3 Office (ethical office services).
So please choose to purchase from these 'benchmark premier league' ethical companies whenever you can!
