ABSTRACT
Consumers are key to the development and use of a social label. Fundamental to the theme of this special issue is the assumption that by accessing and acting on information provided on a social label, consumers will seek out and support businesses that ensure that workers’ rights are upheld in the production of their goods. A long history of scholarship and activism supports this assumption (Dickinson and Carsky 2005, Lang and Gabriel 2005). Powell (1969) equated consumers with voters, saying that ‘Everyone who goes into a shop and chooses one article over another is casting a vote in the economic ballot box’ (33). Closely related is the concept of consumer sovereignty, which addresses the idea that, through their purchases, consumers decide what products and services are available in the market— those that are made in sweatshops or those made with respect to workers’ rights. Consumers do this by either rewarding companies and purchasing the goods of apparel brands and retailers that act socially responsible or punishing companies by withholding purchasing, sometimes due to organized boycotts (Dickinson and Carsky 2005). These are compelling ideas, but Ross, in Chapter 2, raised questions about whether the concept plays out as assumed, and evidence from research with consumers suggests that a majority of consumers are not putting theory into action in ways that those advocating for social labels would hope.
