“Consumers can spot the garbage!” OK, quite right, that’s often untrue.

“ethics means doing what one feels is RIGHT.” I have to say that I’m appalled at this one, though. Ethics has nothing to do with what one FEELS is right. Feelings change within one person, as well as among people. I’m sure that serial murderers FEEL right. No, ethics is doing what IS right, no matter how you feel at the moment.

One accepts that by choosing an ethical business model one will probably not see the sorts of wild financial returns that other businesses do. However, I am content to make less money but also enjoy the many intangible benefits of being a trusted service provider in my community. It is possible to succeed as an ethical business–it greatly depends on how one defines “success,” though.

As for Whole Foods, I’ve never bought their “healthy/sustainable/good citizen” image; anyone who has ever looked carefully at their product lines and marketing can see that it’s a fake. As marketing guru (and theatre manager) Edward Francis Albee said in the early 1900s, “Never give a sucker an even break;” John Mackey just figured out that there are lots of rich liberal suckers, not just the poor rubes who made up Albee’s audiences.

Freddy’s Comment: Hey, Elizabeth, thanks for the comment — I always love hearing from you! I should have pointed out that the definition of authenticity I’m using is one that’s being bandied about by various marketers, including Christopher Rosica in his book “The Authentic Brand.” Ethics are only part of it. Most of this authenticity movement has to do with avoiding contrivance and artifice, to the point of not even having a creative name for your company. (Extreme authenticity advocates think all companies should be eponymous.) The Twitter post I quoted on authentic content is what drove me to this rant.

Great post Freddy.