Patagonia Made $10 Million On Black Friday And Donated Every Cent To Save The Environment

Patagonia, a brand based upon its premium outdoor clothing and gear had projected that it would hit $2 million in sales on Black Friday, but instead made $10 million. The company has announced that they will donate 100% of this income to charity. Patagonia brands itself as an environmentally and socially responsible company, and in relation to this, it plans to donate to “hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations.” In the point of view of the typical business mindset of maximizing profit, this may seem to make entirely no sense. This raises the question of how Patagonia, a brand in a heavily competitive industry can stand its grounds with its competitors.  However, after close inspection of the core strength of Patagonia, that is, their strong branding, they are still relevant competitors seeking to maximize profit.

First off, a quick look at their website would lead you to two observations. First, their prices are insanely high in comparison to a cheaper brand of outdoor clothing. A standard shelled jacket that would cost ~$80 to $199 for reputable brands like Columbia Sportswear and Bench, goes for $529 by Patagonia. Secondly, you would notice that they are heavily rooted in their values to be environmentally and socially responsible. In fact, their mission statement is: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. This is where their strengths lie – to establish themselves as a socially and environmentally responsible brand to appeal to an array of customers that are willing to pay more for the brand. Because of their branding and amazing showing of business ethics, their products although priced considerably higher than its competitors are still in a competitive demand for profit. If not for this core strength, Patagonia would be guaranteed to make minimal sales if they were to stay at the prices they are now. Therefore, by donating 100% of their profits to charity they are reinforcing their strength in brand and purpose, making them more desirable in the eyes of consumers which allows Patagonia to raise their prices. One quick look at the opinion of the people of reddit can affirm this. User monsieurpommefrites states ‘An company with actual integrity. In the year of our lord 2016. Consider me a future customer.’

Of course, it is foolish to say that Patagonia only instills their values of being a socially and environmentally friendly business to maximize profit. Instead, it should be viewed as a wonderful business plan and strategy that maximizes both business ethics and profit at the same time.

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Capitalism has allowed businesses to have immense power and influence over the lives of citizens globally. In fact, business now plays a significantly larger role in our daily lives than does government. Not only that, but in upholding business ethics, businesses are maintaining trust from the public which is an important factor for shareholders and investors. Therefore, business ethics, known as the moral code that all businesses should follow, must be held in upmost importance. Otherwise, not only will major detrimental effects ensue in society, but the trust that will be broken between the consumer and business will take a big toll on the profits of the business itself. The effects of Mylan’s absurd raise in the price of the Epi-pen showcases this well. Epi-pen, which is owned by the company Mylan, is a life-saving medication used when someone is experiencing a severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis. With at least 1.6 percent of Americans… suffering from anaphylaxis it is a widely necessary medical product. However, Mylan increased the price of the Epi-pen by 400 percent over the past decade, causing it to be 600$ for a two-pack. As a result, many people have been suffering. For example, Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist that mentions: “Not only have I seen it save lives, but I’ve seen the opposite happen, of when an EpiPen wasn’t available and both children and adults passed away.”. Outrageously, pharmaceutical industry experts estimate that [EpiPen]… cost around $30 to produce.

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What Mylan has done with the Epi-pen pricing is against the principal of business ethics, and the price Mylan has been paying outlines the importance of following it. First, Mylan has gotten an enormous amount of negative exposure over the past few years. This negative exposure has given Mylan a bad reputation, even to the point where politicians such as Hillary Clinton have commented on their malice. For this reason, stockholders for Mylan have been wary and Mylan’s shares have decreased immensely in value. In it’s efforts to maximize profits by going against ethics, Mylan has achieved the opposite effect. Furthermore, the amount of suffering that people have gone through because of Mylan cannot be understated. As said by Dr.Purvi Parikh, there have been deaths of those without an Epi-pen, which could have been prevented if Mylan had raised their product to absurd costs. Human beings are priceless, yet, the breach of business ethics has caused money to be valued over humans which is completely absurd.

Mylan’s blunder in breaching business ethics has displayed the importance of maintaining the moral code, not only for themselves as a company seeking to maximize profits, but for the well-being of consumers who are priceless human beings.