Consumer International and Social Responsibility

Consumer International and Social Responsibility

Consumer International (CI) is "The Global Voice for Consumers". It is a corporation made up of consumers groups whose ultimate goal is to preserve the rights of the consumer. A non-profit organization founded in 1960 whose motivation is to ensure a "fair, safe and sustainable future for all consumers". The CIs vision is and always has been to put the rights of the consumer first; to make it the first and last consideration in all terms of decision making.

The CIs principles are based on The Consumer Bill of Rights established by former President John F. Kennedy. These rights include:

* The right of satisfaction of basic needs

* The right to safety

* The right to be informed

* The right to choose

* The right to be heard

* The right to redress

These rights remained intact and were later adopted and expanded on by the United Nations (UN). The UN added two more rights to the list: The right to consumer education and the right to healthy environment. When establishing the Bill of Consumer Rights President Kennedy said it best by stating "Consumers by definition, include us all", "They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group whose views are often not heard." The CI protects his vision as well as the rights and provides the protection the consumer deserves.

The CI is the consumer's neighborhood watch program. It lobbies against wrongful behavior that puts the consumer at risk. They fight to hold corporations accountable for consumer wrong doing. They seek justice for the group, as Kennedy stated is the most important, but the least recognized. They assist corporations in establishing what they call "house skills". House skills are basically policies and procedures in place within a corporation that protects the same rights as the CI does. It helps incorporate these rights within the framework of the corporation while assisting them in becoming a better consumer business.

One of the issues the CI focuses on is Social Responsibility. The CI fights on many fronts to guarantee that the government and corporations account for social and environmental standards. That they ensure these issues are constantly being reviewed and upheld. The text defines Social Responsibility as "the adoption by a business of a strategic focus for fulfilling the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities expected of it by its stakeholders." (Thorne, p. 7) In layman's terms Social Responsibility is business ethics.