MyNewMoney

The fact is that there is no single, overall body that sets definitive legal rules and regulations for ethical trading for Promotional Merchandise or any other Marketplace.

Every nation has their own employment and trading laws but as can be seen on a daily basis many countries ignore these laws and even turn a blind eye to appalling practices within their own borders. Corruption is endemic in many places around the globe and not just in underdeveloped nations, ethical trading is not confined to the factories and sweatshops where Promotional Clothing is often manufactured, there is as much of it going on in the boardrooms and offices as there is on the factory floor.

A company that decides to pay a bribe to win a promotional Gift contract is as unethical as the workshop owner who employs child labour to make Corporate Clothing. In general it is fair to say that the more developed a nation is, the more likely it is that their standards in relation to working practices will be higher. Although it is certainly not unheard of for stories to appear from some very developed nations in relation to poor working conditions. There is also the question of the degree of ethics. Is it fair to impose the rules and regulations of developed nations onto those countries who cannot ever hope to attain the standards and wealth that other countries enjoy?

In the 1990’s a story broke regarding the manufacture of leather footballs used as Promotional Items in India where young children were found to be stitching footballs in their village homes. The world’s press descended upon the region and within days all production had stopped with orders cancelled and manufacturers shut down. Whilst all the developing nations went home patting themselves on the back for doing such a great job the families whose entire livelihood depended upon this work began to starve. Even today some 10 years after this event there are still stories in the press relating to the same Promotional Gifts in the same regions. This perfectly demonstrates the need for co ordinated action to be taken to help factory and farm owners in assisting them towards improving the conditions under which workers carry out their duties rather than depriving them of an income.

Currently there are not many good sources of information relating to Ethical trading. Organisations such as the Economic & Social Research Society have been awarded grants to research the subject and some investment companies now offer clients the opportunity to invest in what they terms as Ethical Funds. Apart from the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) there are virtually no other authoritative sources of information for organisations that wish to begin the process of trading ethically.