The Socially Proactive Stamp

I just read Seth Godin's latest post about "green marketing," and how it stands to be misunderstood or abused. That is, until someone can put a number to it. Once you can see the impact of your choices on a scale from 1 to 100 you'll make better choices, and the companies that offer those choices will prosper.

It's like the "fairtrade" stamp. Before that stamp your average consumer had no way to verify whether workers were being paid enough for their work. Now, at least we know that someone is looking into it, even if we don't know all the criteria that the fairtrade stamp represents.

Same with the "organic" stamp. I don't know exactly what it takes to grow organic apples, nor do I know all the ways in which they are better for me and for the world than regular apples. But I know that someone knows, and that they stamped it.

As the practice of social business takes off, in all its various forms, there is going to be a lot of confusion. The mixed motives of profit and compassion make for murky mission statements. I've seen it myself in building Acholi Beads, my first socially proactive business. The models of non-profit and for-profit are so firmly entrenched in consumer mentalities that they will gladly buy from a company that makes no claims as to how it treats its workers, but will thumb their noses at one that promises great things for the poor. Because there is no stamp to prove it.

As with "green" marketing, there is ample opportunity for companies to neglect or abuse the concept of social business in order to make a buck. So if we are going to make this thing as powerful as it can be, we need to start working towards that stamp. People need that stamp, just like I need the organic stamp.

My friends Aaron, Daniel, Derek, Ben, Kevin and Clayton are all experimenting with socially proactive business models, and I know there are many more out there looking to do the same. Together we're going to learn how to do this right.