Ethical Consumer Reviews 243

If you want great, independently researched information about how ethical a particular product is, this is the place to go. Each product is rated across a range of criteria including impact on the environment, employment practices, links to weapon manuafacture or sales, etc. As a member you are able to drill down on each item in the product reviews, and create your own filters. The magazine is also fabulous because as well as reviewing a set of products, there are articles on a range of ethical issues such as tax evasion, employment welfare etc., and links to petitions you can sign. I've been a member for a few years now.

I am a new subscriber to Ethical Consumer and i have found the research both eye-opening and compelling, my only regret is that i had not discovered this organization and their brilliant work earlier in my life.

What an amazing discovery has Ethical Consumer been in this challenging 2025! Thanks to Ethical Consumer I've changed my energy provider and my bank account, and I've started the research to change my private pension provider and my cash ISA.
I attended their annual conference which has been very informative, particularly on AI.
Thank you Ethical Consumer!

This is my go-to site for ethical shopping, their research is very thorough and their ratings make it easy to decide where to spend my money ethically. One article looked back at the impact we can have as consumers. It is amazing just how much power we have when the media gives the impression we have none. Highly recommended for anyone who cares about the world we live in more than the profits of the billionaires.

The detailed research done into a wide variety of aspects of out daily lives is done with care, and shines a light on important facts about our society. I find it really useful to have this information for making choices and for understanding how things work. I think it's excellent, thank you.

I have subscribed to Ethical consumer for about the last 25 years and it has been providing evidence backed insights into companies behaviour that has let me make informed decisions about my purchases. It has also made me aware of new companies providing more ethical and sustainable products across a wide range of areas I might not have otherwise found. There are always thought provoking articles on wider topics too. Always a good read.

Excellently researched recommendations on what to purchase, or not, and who from. If you care about the environment, the working conditions of those in the supply chain, animal welfare and many other ethical considerations then this is the publication for you.

Their customer service is also excellent, speedy and very flexible. Nothing is too much trouble.

A wealth of useful information about ways to ethically spend your money! Pity there's no equivalent organisation for Belgium, as it mostly reviews products and companies available in UK.

The Ethical Consumer website makes it so easy to make a more informed decision about where I am spending by time and money. Very helpful.

I have subscribed to EC for a number of years. The information they provide has helped me to break through the nonsense of corporate marketing to make more informed ethical comsumer decisions. Inevitably, there will be differences of opinion from time to time and I accept that, as a small team, EC cannot cover everything but, thanks to them, I am a much more conscientious consumer. Thank you.

Ethical Consumer are one of the few organisations that are trying to help people make decisions that are as fair as possible for the planet and the people that live on it. When the prevailing economic system is one of inherent inequality, it is vital to highlight which organisations and businesses are trying to buck the trend and allow consumers to vote with the main thing corporate interests will take notice of; their wallets. The website is easy to use and is a vast repository of knowledge, which is being updated all the time. I cannot think of another database for consumers which takes into consideration so many aspects of a product or service and allows readers to make an informed choice.

I am a subscriber and many times in the magazines and online I am told which companies and banks have connections with Israel and should therefore be boycotted.

I am opposed to the misogyny, homophobia and theocracy of hard-line Muslim states. I would like similar advice about companies with connections to these autocratic regimes, where women live a Handmaid's Tale existence. I have raised the issue with Ethical Consumer and on each occasion I am given a woolly response and am told they are following BDS campaign guidelines.

The general public needs information to make ethical choices. Only highlighting one side for political reasons is unacceptable. As a member of the LGB community I want to know my money isn't going to countries where my sexuality would be illegal. Israel is NOT such a country.

UPDATE: 15 May 2025.

The response from Ethical Consumer is:

"We believe there is good reason to give more focus to Israel"

They say that Israel is under investigation for genocide and apartheid but clearly they feel the way women and members of the LGBT community in many Muslim countries is acceptable and they are not prepared to change their exclusively anti-Israel position. Shame on them.

UPDATE: Ater the latest comment from Ethical Consumer where they say:

"we believe these are good reasons for the research we do on companies and their links to Israel. We have seen a great increase in civil society wanting to learn about these topics, which we are responding to."

Given there is a conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (and Islam) it is incumbent on Ethical Consumer to present both sides, or neither - otherwise how can 'civil society' learn about these topics? Just to target Israel is unacceptable.

UPDATE: In the Jul/Aug magazine they're at it again. One-sided journalism as its worst. I am given no advice as to how I can avoid using companies which support or invest in misogynistic, homophobic dictatorships. I am a gay man and Ethical Consumer does not provide me with any information to ensure my money does not help these theocratic regimes. Absolutely appalling journalism. The Jul/Aug issue is full to the brim with antisemitic sentiment. They bash Israel at every opportunity. I don’t know how anyone with ethics could support countries with the homophobic and misogynistic policies of the Axis of Evil - yet EC clearly does.

Shocking and EC’s vitriol is getting worse.

Allows me to make informed choices before making purchases (particularly big purchases) and looks beneath the veneer and corporate bullshit that many (particularly large) companies spout about themselves, or that conform to poor quality 'ethical" bodies, which are often created by the industries themselves. Really makes a difference for those prepared to make the effort to be ethical.

Some useful information, but the scoring can take a very limited perspective. For example in the energy issue, it seems truly bizarre to rank energy suppliers without calculating and discussing the carbon content of the electricity they supply.
In discussions on food, whether the food is ultraprocessed (and hence unhealthy) is not considered.
Finally, if an organisation collects my subscription by direct debit I expect an annual reminder before the subscription renews - not just a reminder after the first year.

Wish there were more online resources like this one.

This is to endorse the poor reviews posted previously by J.B. and Thomas.
Although I have been buying the EC magazine since a year or two after it was extablished, I have had issues with its ranking system. My partner and I have written to the magazine a few times, highlighting glaring discrepancies, but neither of us has ever received any reply.
I think my last email was regarding their top-rated investment funds, which also held shares in one of the companies that they had rightly ranked very poorly.
As another example, Lily's Kitchen Ltd organic pet food company is a certified B Corp, but because it was purchased by Nestle three years ago, EC magazine has given it a ZERO score out of 20! This is despite the fact that Lily's Kitchen works at arm's length of Nestle, is still run by its old CEO, and still employs ethical processes for its function. How buying ethically-sourced, organic, palm-free ingredients from a B Corp company with good credentials can be more damaging and should rate below buying goods from another company that mistreats animals, the environment, its workers etc is simply beyond comprehension. Under Lily's Kitchen Ltd company profile, EC states the same negatve credentials as those of Nestle's. To say, for example, that Lily's Kitchen is responsible for water extraction in California is beyond ludicrous.
As mentioned in the beginning, others have outlined similar issues. Far more care is required by EC's staff in ranking products and companies. In short, EC seriously ought to revisit and overhaul their scoring system.

Thanks to Ethical Consumer I’ve found a lot of help to find ethical alternatives to my way of consumption

I subscribed to Ethical Consumer earlier in the year and I am finding the print magazine and online review tools very useful in my decision making for all manner of purchases.

I recommend to anyone seeking to buy better where they can whether it's in your supermarket, renewing an insurance policy or buying a new tshirt as examples.

Essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the impact of your shopping choices on society and the environment.

I have been subscribing for a few years and have been really happy and appreciative with all the information provided. I do feel like they need to update more frequently, not only on reports they've done in the past but adding to the companies they have reviewed. I'm more and more often surprised and disappointed that they don't have any information on a company I search for on their site. It seems like they had a first push of reports, mainly the big and obvious companies, then stopped.