Reflection on Week 4: PRODUCERS’ PRACTICES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

As explained in the previous chapter, as a company that provides products and services, it is important for stakeholders in a company to instill ethical values in its corporate governance. But besides that, a consumer is also required to instill ethical values in him. There are three categorizations in the ethical values of a consumer.

The first is positive ethical purchase behavior. For example, a consumer is required to buy something with ethical characteristics, such as when we come to a supermarket to buy an item, then what the consumer should do is pay first for the item before he is allowed to use or enjoy the item, unless there are items that really can be tried first. There have been several instances where a consumer bought a snack at a supermarket but he had opened and tasted the food before paying. Even though this is legal, because in the end he will pay for the food he buys, but the food that has not been paid for is still categorized as unlawful food and has not been allowed to be eaten, therefore it is important for a consumer to pay for his food first then he enjoyed the food.

Talking about positive ethical purchase behavior, there is a hadith that is very important for traders to understand, namely about the prohibition of selling an item when the item is in the bidding stage with other people. "...and let no one buy (bid) something that is being bought (bargained) by his brother, nor should he propose to (a woman) who is being proposed by his brother..." (HR. Muslim).

The second consumer ethical issue is negative ethical purchase behavior. This is an unethical act in consumer behavior when buying a product which in the end can hurt the image of a brand and can even disrupt the company's finances. For example, boycotts or avoiding products with unethical characteristics. Boycotting without a clear and concrete reason is not good because it will harm the brand and the company. However, in some cases, boycotts are indeed carried out by consumers because the company has injured its relationship with consumers, as experienced by Uniqlo workers in Indonesia, where Uniqlo employs Indonesian workers without paying them properly. This was so outrageous that in the end consumerism activists found out about this and spread the news to boycott Uniqlo for the unethical things they did. In this case, negative ethical purchase behavior is considered legitimate, because consumers or the public must know and stop unethical actions taken by Uniqlo.

The last ethical consumerism is consumer action, such as lobbying and direct action. This is often experienced when there is a mistake made by a company and it is bad for consumers. As a consumers, they have the right to convey their voice either through lobbying or direct action such as a demonstration. It is hoped that these things can rectify the mistakes that occurred so that there will be transparency between the two parties, and there will be no miscommunication and misconceptions between the two parties.

Next is consumer behavior. In seeing how the behavior of a consumer in determining the purchase of a product or service, there are several factors that become determinants. The first is marketing stimuli such as products and services, price, distribution, and communication. By introducing products to the public and using good marketing techniques, people will know and understand what products we sell to the public. The second is other stimuli, which are closely related to external things such as personal economic conditions or the economic conditions of a country, a person's technological issues, political situations and conditions in a country, and a person's background culture. This is very crucial, for example, countries that are fairly conservative, such as countries in the Middle East, prohibit the marketing of clothes that display genitalia to be displayed in public because political and ideological conditions prohibit this. Therefore, as a company that focuses on selling these goods, they must adjust how they market their products so that they can still get consumers but do not violate the regulations that have been made by the country's government.

Based on these things, later on, consumer psychology and consumer characteristics will be formed, from which a brand can set a target market and a suitable marketing strategy to use. If later a brand or company can properly implement a good marketing strategy, then consumers will also dwell on the buying decision process which includes problem recognition, product research, and others. If the consumer feels it is suitable and worthy to buy the item, then he will enter the final stage of consumer behavior, namely the purchase decision, in which there is a product choice, purchase amount, and others. The end of this journey will end whether the goods sold by a brand satisfy consumer expectations so that consumers buy the product or do not buy because the goods offered by the company do not satisfy consumer expectations.

Besides knowing the ethical values of companies and consumers, there are also ethical issues in advertising which are important for consumers to know. An example of ethical issues carried out by companies in advertising their products is deceptive advertising. Deceptive advertising is advertising that has a different appearance from what is actually being sold. An example that looks very significant is food, especially burgers. If we look at the burgers at fast food outlets like McDonald's, then we see that the special Big Mac burgers displayed by McDonald's are very thick and filling so they seem very filling and appetizing, but in reality the Big Macs do not match the expectations shown in the advertisements. Its Big Macs in reality are small, thin, and less filling. This is an example of deceptive advertising, where the advertisements displayed by advertisements seem more appetizing than what is presented in reality.

The last thing that is important to understand is consumer protection. This is in line with what has been discussed regarding consumer rights, that it is very important both for companies and consumers to protect all safety and consumer rights as well as consumers have the right to fight for their safety and rights. This can be achieved by several things, one example of which is responsible business conduct which means by setting out an expectation that all businesses regardless of their legal status, size, ownership or sector avoid and address negative impacts of their operations, while contributing to sustainable development in the countries where they operate.