In the last decade, many of the businesses which make the largest turnover and are the wealthiest in the world, have been exposed for their questionable business ethics. A recent conducted survey showed that 68% of people take into account a company’s standards and morals before shopping there. However, companies that have recently been proven to exploit both workers and their resources such as Apple or Amazon are still some of the richest international companies in the world.  

 

Nike is an extremely popular clothing and lifestyle brand that in 2021,had a global revenue which amounted to about 44.54 billion U.S. dollars. It was 30 years ago in 1991 that Nike experienced it’s first scandal, regarding the labour conditions in its supply chain. Then again 10 years later, Nike was exposed for the mistreatment of workers who were facing poverty, harassment and in some cases violent intimidation. Still many years later, it is being accused of multiple unethical practices and not changing their actions as much as is necessary. Yet, after being exposed many times regarding their actions, it is still turning over a multi billion dollar profit each year. Nike also is most definitely not the only corporation in the fashion industry that has had its misconducts revealed. It was discovered that ethically made clothing only makes up a minuscule 1% of the overall one billion dollar fashion industry. Examples of Multinational Companies that have been exposed to multiple unethical practices are Victoria's Secret, GAP, Fashion Nova, Uniqlo, Forever 21, Adidas, and H&M, all of which still are extremely popular across the globe. 

 

Moreover, Amazon has experienced a large amount of scandals in the last few decades, these include claims of tax evasion, exploitation of workers and detrimental effects on the enviroment. However, it is worth over $1.7 trillion, making it the second most valuable company in the US, trailing only Apple. Moreover, in the first six months of 2021, Amazon reported a worldwide revenue of $221.60 billion. A report carried out by a UK based campaign group claims that Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Netflix have collectively avoided a total of £75 million in tax globally over the last 10 years and Amazon is singled out as the worst offender. 

 

All of the scandals of the many unethical businesses such as Apple, Amazon, Nike and Facebook have been broadcasted far and wide so a majority of people do know about their unethical business methods. In addition, there are multiple other alternatives to these companies but they are still used globally and by many so they are able to continue with their arguably unmoral ways of conducting their business. So as more companies begin to be exposed and for worse actions will it lead to people stopping using them or will they just ignore and continue as they always have?