Ethics can be defined as “moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity.” Some scholars define the concept as “rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad.” In my opinion, being ethical for an individual means being fully acknowledged by its withholder to be judged and evaluated. I believe the ethical nature of each person is shaped as they go through various life experiences and face different circumstances. The decision-making abilities and their actions and behaviors in those certain circumstances lead to the modeling of a certain individual’s specific moral compass. It may be a byproduct of personal beliefs, religious convictions, experience, or understanding of the situation and factors responsible for it. Henceforth, it would be safe to declare that one’s ethical conduct results from self-reflection. Through an in-depth evaluation of an individual’s moral strengths and weaknesses, a person can ensure personal integrity; hence, it serves as a parameter to ensure every person’s social consciousness and ethical conduct.
In that lieu, one of the ethical dilemmas I came across recently, was highlighted in a documentary called “The True Cost”. The documentary gives an overview of how ethical dimensions revolve around the economic, social, and political problems that we observe in our society today, along with the grave outputs of our obsession with fast-moving fashion trends. The film features immense corporate greed and its downtrodden results on the environment. The director, Andrew Morgan, accurately portrays what a mere $15 or $ 20$ shirt may have underlying. The author gives a detailed analysis of the real story, i.e., the low-cost manufacturers of these garments. For this purpose, Mr. Morgan goes to the clothing sweatshops in Cambodia and Bangladesh and the cotton grounds in India. He then interlinks the deteriorating environmental and well-being catastrophes from extensive pesticide use to get better yields. The documentary then describes the most tragic incident in the history of garment industries: the breakdown of 8 floored Rana Plaza buildings in 2013. The accident caused more than 1,000 bereavements who suffered only due to the political agenda of the industry owners. The proprietors defended themselves by saying they must force their workers if they were being forced by their retailers for greater productivity at lower costs which was an ethical dilemma for them.
The documentary also highlighted the massive land waste in Haiti due to the discarded clothes that came out of fashion. Millions of thrown clothes now fill landfills, destroying the local apparel business and killing the economy.
Accompanying the storyline along with the footage of Black Friday bargain-hunting insurgencies and the famous outfit haul videos — “The True Cost” aims to wake people up from their sleep of ignorance, making them aware of what the real cost behind their clothing fascinations and shopping sprees may be. The issues raised by the documentary further assert how almost all the social, political, and economic problems worldwide are due to the unjust spread of resources and distribution of wealth. The statement Pope highlighting ‘idolatry of money as a foundational cause of the ethics problem” holds true worldwide henceforth, suggesting the need for a moral and ethical dilemma in the legislating bodies and governing systems.
The documentary showed at the end how the situation was being dealt with internationally, as the companies have set some guidelines for corporate social responsibility to cater to the interior and outside forces at work. This code of conduct is based on the universal ideologies that show the core ethics of the business. Increasing globalization means innovation in all areas of commerce, hence the ways of conducting businesses have improved as well. Therefore, the textile industry is improving its CSR strategy to meet the improving standards.
