Make The Ethical Move.

How we sell matters.

The world is shaped by how we buy and sell: we are trapped in an endless loop of wanting and buying more.

Currently, the weight rests on the shoulders of the buyer to break out of this hamster wheel — to ‘vote with their dollar’, to make the ethical choice.

But we are missing half of the equation.

It’s high time we, as sellers of goods and services, take responsibility for the part we play in the cycle of consumerism. The way we sell right now uses the same rules handed to us by advertising executives of the 1950s — scare tactics and manipulation — and they are keeping our buyers weak and insatiable.

The ethical move is setting out to break this cycle and empower conscious consumers and business owners by creating a new standard for marketing based on trust and honesty.

We are here to shed light on psychological tactics, and to start a conversation on how we can sell ethically.

Our conversation starts with psychological manipulation being unethical. Period.

We are not looking to coddle the topic or try to convince you why we need ethics in marketing. We are challenging the line between a good piece of advertising, straight forward messaging, and dehumanising tactics. We’d rather cross the line than not take a stand.

Going all the way means starting right here.

Our vision for the ethical move is to create a new, collective, ethical market place. And that starts with challenging the status quo.

Right now, the ones calling the shots in our global economy — the ones it was designed for and by — have upset the balance of supply and demand by creating false scarcity to land more profit.

This happens if the seller has no connection to the product, the people making it, or the people buying it.

As a result of this, the system only benefits a small part of the world, and an even smaller fraction within that. We are facing a massive health, social justice, and climate crisis, a growing wealth gap, incredible amounts of waste, exploitation, displacement, fear, ..the list goes on.

And, we have an incredible opportunity.

Small businesses are the largest growing sector of our global economy — we are even called the ‘New Economy’.

We have no need to continue with the same methods used to generate demand. We can create anything — so why not new methods in marketing?

This is our chance to break the rules, to change the status quo, to make the ethical choice for the good of all, not just a select few.

So we are making the first move.

We are calling psychological manipulation unethical.

When we remove manipulation and pressure from our marketing, we create space for trust to emerge between the sellers and buyers. A space where a business owner no longer has to resort to manipulation to get a sale, and their customer is empowered to make purchasing decisions that are in alignment with their needs.

Communication that is clear, direct, honest, and transparent benefits everyone involved. It will require us to think new, be more creative, build real relationships — and keep the global community in mind.

We believe the way we sell can change the world.

What’s your move?

Pledge here and take a stand with us for an ethical marketplace.