Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Editorial: Buyers can sway opinion

By Mark Dawson
Editor·Bay of Plenty Times·
6 Sep, 2016 06:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

People's purchasing power is a mighty weapon, says Mark Dawson.

People's purchasing power is a mighty weapon, says Mark Dawson.

A couple of weeks ago, I chastised the Talley group and particularly their local industries - Affco Imlay, Land Meats and Open Country Dairy - for lack of community consciousness.

I was, in turn, chastised for my views, making me wonder whether I was being unfair.

Perhaps it is not the role of businesses to have a moral compass, to feel any compulsion to put anything back into the community other than the wages they pay to local workers. It was, I am sure, a complete coincidence that a week after that editorial hundreds of Kiwis stumped up the money to pay for a crowd-sourced advertisement in the Nelson Mail newspaper calling on Talleys to negotiate fairly with its employees. Talleys' treatment of workers has gained some notoriety. The Nelson Mail is the local paper of Sir Peter Talley.

The advert may not have any impact on life at the meatworks, but it was an interesting way to give voice to a community, and is in keeping with a growing trend of public pressure on companies to do the right thing - even if it may not, at first glance, seem to be the most profitable thing.

Earlier this month, such pressure from conservationists prompted Fonterra to agree to use only responsibly-produced palm oil products. The palm oil industry has resulted in mass rainforest destruction and, as a Greenpeace spokesman said: "People don't want to be consuming products linked to the destruction of the world's last remaining rainforests."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Meanwhile, demands from customers have helped persuade Countdown supermarkets to phase out eggs from battery-caged hens.

People's purchasing power is a mighty weapon if enough get together and vote with their wallets, and - if the moral argument doesn't do the trick - it can present companies with a compelling economic argument to behave responsibly.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Premium
Bay of Plenty TimesUpdated

'A sad loss': Why this prostate cancer treatment is 'disappearing' in NZ

10 Jul 06:00 PM
live
Bay of Plenty Times

Fresh flood threat as heavy rain, thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for new deluge

10 Jul 05:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

10 Jul 06:13 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Premium
'A sad loss': Why this prostate cancer treatment is 'disappearing' in NZ

'A sad loss': Why this prostate cancer treatment is 'disappearing' in NZ

10 Jul 06:00 PM

'It’s not the treatment that’s the problem,' a urologist says.

Fresh flood threat as heavy rain, thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for new deluge
live

Fresh flood threat as heavy rain, thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for new deluge

10 Jul 05:00 PM
'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

10 Jul 06:13 AM
Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

10 Jul 06:03 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP