The companys we buy from are not taking notice.

I think Ruth hits the nail on the head...

Where do you draw the line - so if you boycott Nestle do you boycott Tesco because they stock Nestle? There are more important things to get outraged about I would have thought.

But Tesco have never claimed to be ethical.
If we are going for analogies, for me it is like Divine chocolate, the pioneers of Fairtrade, deciding to go into partnership with a larger company for marketing purposes and choosing Nestle. Yes Nestle does have ONE Fairtrade product, so they could run a joint marketing campaign, but the chocolate that covers their hundreds of other products are produced by plantations that use child slaves (not to mention Nestle's track record in other areas). In my book, teaming up with a company like Nestle would seriously damage Divine's ethical credentials and so would make me reconsider buying their products.

As previously pointed out, just because a company is selling eco producta, doesn't make them ethical. But for those that DO claim to be, personally I think giving their money to Clarion Events damages their credibility. Clarion run baby shows, help weapon manufacturers equip our military... but also help those same manufacturers to connect with countries that have appalling human rights records. For me that is a step too far.

But Tesco have never claimed to be ethical.

As far as I am aware, the Babyshow has never claimed to be ethical, nor have the organisers?

But Tesco have never claimed to be ethical.

As far as I am aware, the Babyshow has never claimed to be ethical, nor have the organisers?

But if you read the rest of my post, I'm only talking about companies that DO claim to be ethical boycotting it.

But Tesco have never claimed to be ethical.

As far as I am aware, the Babyshow has never claimed to be ethical, nor have the organisers?

But if you read the rest of my post, I'm only talking about companies that DO claim to be ethical boycotting it.

well we don't know that the companies that were contacted do claim to be ethical, we are only told they are nappy companies which doesn't necessarily mean they share these ethical values.

But Tesco have never claimed to be ethical.

As far as I am aware, the Babyshow has never claimed to be ethical, nor have the organisers?

But if you read the rest of my post, I'm only talking about companies that DO claim to be ethical boycotting it.

But ethical manufacturers (ecover etc) don't boycott Tesco either.

Its a circular argument as far as I can see, you either think it's a direct support of the arms trade or you don't.

Obviously not ethical by the time the events organisers also run arms shows... saying they never claimed to be ethical is just looking the other way then and that ethical impartiality becomes an issue of ethics in itself. It's an indirect support and association with arms trade, but that doesn't make it right.

Ethics - its a very personal thing how *ethical* you are - how many of us can honestly say we only buy ethical items from ethical companies. Do you *know* that the fabrics and materials used in our cloth nappies are ethically produced, do you *know* that the clothes you buy, the food you eat, the day to day choices you make are completely ethical? Do any *ethical* big businesses really exist

Do we boycott every company who is advertising at the baby show - how many of us can say we havent bought anything from Mothercare, Next, Pregnacare, Persil, Bio Oil, Fisher Price - the list goes on - and by buying from them are we still indirectly supporting the arms trade?

By bringing cloth nappy retailers such as Tots Bots into the fair, in my opinion, its not promoting or supporting arms dealers - its bringing new information to customers, customers who may never have given cloth nappies or green issues a second thought before seeing a proper cloth nappy. There are plenty of us who have become much greener and much more ethical since we started using cloth nappies, this can only be a good thing. If these retailers were limited in attending smaller *ethical* fairs, that would limit their customer base, it wouldnt be bringing cloth into the mainstream - they have to be able to compete with the likes of p*mpers and unfortunately, this is how they have to do it.

Thats only my opinion - we are all different, all entitled to our own opinions, doesnt mean any of us are right or wrong

I think this has turned in to a good debate! Everyone has different opinions on ethics.

I'm not saying I have never bought anything from an unethical company, like some of you have said we can't always know.


At the time of the original post, I was abit annoyed and upset. These companys didn't respond at all to what people had asked them. A truley ethical company would be bothered about all this.


This has been a good read ladies