Increasing transparency is one of the most powerful ways to drive positive change.
When information is readily available, easily accessible, and trustworthy, we’re more likely to make informed decisions and hold those in power accountable.
“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants”
Louis Brandeis
Through the pressure of more and more people pressuring more and more companies, we are keeping pressure on the flywheel of progress.
Through Impact Consumerism we pressure companies to increase transparency and promote sustainability.
#DemandTransparency
Consumers have the power to demand transparency from corporations regarding their political spending and lobbying activities. With the help of social media, consumers can easily apply pressure on companies that are not acting in the public’s best interest. By shedding light on these activities, consumers can hold corporations accountable for their impact on the government and make well-informed decisions about which companies to support.
Consumers can demand transparency from companies by asking them to disclose their political spending and lobbying activities. Social media makes it easy to pressure companies when they are not acting in the public interest.
Here are some specific things that consumers can do to demand transparency from companies:
- Contact companies directly – Send emails, letters, or make phone calls to companies and ask them to disclose their political spending and lobbying activities.
- Use social media to raise awareness – Share information about companies’ political spending and lobbying activities on social media. Use hashtags like #DemandTransparency and #CorporateAccountability to help spread the word.
- Support organizations that are working for transparency – Many organizations are working to hold companies accountable for their political spending and lobbying activities. Support these organizations by donating money or time.
By demanding transparency from companies, consumers can help to ensure that corporations are acting in the public interest.
It’s Time To Ask Hard Questions
We need to demand more information from corporations about things like
- How they treat their employees including pay structure and racial and gender representation
- Political affiliations and contributions
- Their impact on the environment and sustainability practices
- Charitable giving and causes they support
- How much they paid in taxes
- Into their supply chains, raw material sourcing, and working conditions at their suppliers’ factories
- Their support for local communities
- The media companies they support with their advertising dollars
In short, more transparency into their overall impact on society.
What is the real impact of their business?
Do they put out blanket platitudes about unity and working together, or are they having a positive impact? How do they measure their impact?
Make them use some of the money they spend on advertising to educate us about how they think about and understand their full societal impact.
Instead of supporting divisive media with their marketing dollars, they can spend it on figuring out how to talk about their impact on society at large.
There’s value in being seen as a leader in this field.
Transparency is Powerful
By being transparent corporations can help us lower the cost of health care.
We don’t know what procedures cost, what we pay for, what the alternative is, what medication is going to cost, or the actual costs of things, not what’s negotiated with insurance companies in the dark. In short, health care costs too damn much. Lowering the cost of health care will drastically reduce spending by the federal government, helping to lower the deficit.
Lower health care costs give people more money.
More money for the middle class means less concentration at the top.
Transparency into gender and racial employment statistics can help reduce division and deal with racism.
Transparency helps reform the media. By asking companies not to reward media figures that work to divide and not unite us, we can help reduce polarization.
Reforming the media helps strengthen communities by giving more attention to local issues.
Perhaps the best thing about transparency is that it breeds more transparency.
We’re helping to propel the virtuous cycle of transparency.
Hoarding Information Is No Longer an Option
The stakes are too high.
“Knowledge is no guarantee of good behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior”
-Martha Nussman
Despite the clear benefits of transparency, many organizations still operate in a very opaque manner. This can be due to a variety of reasons, such as a lack of understanding of the benefits of transparency or a fear of revealing too much information.
There is too much at stake and if corporations aren’t honest about their impact on society they risk a powerful consumer backlash.
As consumers, we need to keep the pressure on corporations and governments to continue to be more and more transparent.
It’s Easy as ABC
- Always
- Be
- Championing Transparency
It’s vital to increase transparency wherever possible to ensure that organizations are operating fairly and responsibly.
We can’t move forward if we don’t know what’s going on!
Transparency is good for democracy and the economy. We need to demand more transparency in all aspects of society. It’s the only way we can make progress and move forward.
The strategy is simple: more information is better.
By promoting transparent practices among corporations and demanding more information from our leaders, we can reduce corruption and shape the world for the better.
With so much at stake, it’s time for all of us to demand transparency now.
