Is it Enough to Have an 'Ethical Product' Label?: the Effects of Brand Reputation and Perceived Ethicality on Ethical Consumers’ Choice

Consumers' favorable attitude toward ethical brands, and the rise of ethical consumers, is a recent global trend. Nevertheless, prior studies have emerged that favoring ethical products does not necessarily lead to consumers' purchase. Focusing on this, authors attempted to explore what perceptions of the brand lead to purchase behavior. Three experiments were conducted for this purpose. Results are as follows. First, even in ethical products, consumers choose the product when it is perceived as more ethical. This tendency has been shown for both eco-friendly type and donation type products. Second, when there was no noticeable difference in ethicality, ethical consumers consider brand reputation as an important factor in choice. Third, results remains regardless of consumer individual characteristics (consumer altruism, conspicuousness). Note that, unexpectedly, the underdog effect was not observed among altruistic consumers. Several implications, limitations of research, and suggestions for future research were discussed.