A Rotisserie Chicken Illuminates Why Businesses Doing Good Must Keep Doing Better
by Molly Gaines
I'm a Costco fan. I admire the company as a socially conscious business and one I've always felt good supporting. I love that I can buy large, less expensive quantities of some of our family's favorite organic foods —avocado oil, apple chips, almond butter — for a fraction of the cost compared to my local grocer.
"Sustainability to us is remaining a profitable business, while doing the right thing," Costco states on their website.
So, when I recently read Nicholas Kristof's opinion piece in the New York Times, "The Ugly Secrets Behind the Costco Chicken," I felt duped.
I don't buy Costco's $4.99 rotisserie chicken because I don't like how most conventionally grown meats are produced. Yet, I didn't think the company would intentionally create an industrialized system to raise millions of birds as cheaply as possible in inhumane, filthy conditions.
That doesn't feel like "doing the right thing" to me. It's a breach in the trust I have in the Costco brand.
Today — perhaps more than ever before in our history — U.S. businesses such as Costco have the opportunity and challenge to be a powerful force for good.
A Nov. 19, 2019 survey conducted by Sprout Social asked 1,500 U.S. consumers about their views on corporate responsibility, and 70% said it’s important for brands to take a stand on public issues — up from 64% in 2017.
At the same time, 53% believe brands take a stand solely for PR and marketing purposes, versus a true commitment to the cause.
When asked about their questionable chicken raising practices, John Sullivan, general counsel for Costco said, “No system is foolproof when you are raising 18 million broilers at any given time.”
Yikes. This is why companies shouldn't use their attorneys as spokespeople. I wish Costco had said something like this:
"We know the living conditions in which our chickens are raised need improvement. We are looking for ways to create a better living environment for our birds, while juggling the incredible demand Costco customers have for a rotisserie chicken that tastes great and can be purchased for a reasonable price. We remain dedicated to doing the right thing, which means evolving our operations to create a more humane, sustainable model for raising our chickens."
Imagine if Costco decides to respond to Kristof's story by not going back to business as usual, but instead looking more critically at its chicken operation and how it contradicts the company's value to "do the right thing." Perhaps Costco could create a more humane chicken operation, while raising their prices a little, since its rotisserie chickens have been sold for $4.99 since 2009.
Even if it's progress, not perfection, the effort would send a strong message about an authentic commitment to the sustainability standards they promote.
That said, perhaps Costco has never been a company truly aligned with my values. After reading Kristof's article, I'm left feeling unsure.
“Consumer skepticism is high as the social and political landscape is increasingly saturated with brands taking a stand," said Jamie Gilpin, chief marketing officer at Sprout Social, "making it more important than ever for brands to be authentic in their approach and ensure their stances are aligned with the values their customers have come to expect.”
I hope Costco finds a way to do the right thing; to do better.
In our age of brand activism and consumer expectations for companies to declare their values and stand by them, businesses that demonstrate this integrity across all areas of their business will be celebrated and rewarded with brand loyalty and financial success.
Companies like Costco, with a history of doing good, will eventually be forgiven for missteps if they are authentic, transparent and show exactly how they are more closely aligning with the values they declare.
With attention and commitment to a shared set of values, all businesses and their customers can push each other to not only do good, but to keep doing better.
Working together, we can co-create the seismic shifts — environmentally, socially, politically and culturally — that this unique moment in history demands from us all.
Sources:
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/brand-activism-accountability/
https://www.costco.com/sustainability-introduction.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/06/opinion/sunday/costco-chicken-animal-welfare.html