“Ethics is the study of moral values or principles that guide our behaviour and inform us whether actions are right or wrong.” So how do ethics affect businesses? Many corporations, such as hybrid vehicle producers, spend millions of dollars to convince potential buyers that hybrids save the environment, taking advantage of people’s desire to “go green.” They hope that they can sell their pricey (relative to the vehicles’ non-hybrid counterparts) semi-alternative fuel vehicle because people will feel it is more morally right to buy. Though other benefits exist, such as less time at the pump, if you ask a hybrid owner why they drive a hybrid, you will very likely hear, “I’m saving the environment. Oh, and saving money on gas.” Most people want to be seen as doing the right thing, and hybrid-producers give people, perhaps a somewhat false, reason to believe they are. Other examples of the ethics card in play lie with companies like EnergyStar and GreenWorks. If they offer a product of no superior value in terms of performance, they produce an equal, or near equal, alternative that gives the customer the ample satisfaction that they are not to blame should the world be sufficated by the hand of the human race. While I support green movement, I can’t help but sense businesses in this department are only there for the “green” it brings them, and the green they ”protect” is just a plastered false smile.

For example, if environment was a hybrid’s top priority, we’d know it. And it’s not. (See: http://easygrowhouseplants.blogspot.ca/2006/12/inventor-of-water-powered-car-murdered.html)