Co-op, Body Shop and M&S Top Ethical Poll

Readers of my Sustainable Business Blog will have seen this before, but I thought it was very relevant to Eco-living as well.

In a recent survey green/ethical brands, this time of 3000 UK adults by GfK NOP, the Co-op, Body Shop and M&S held onto the top three spots, but Sainsbury's lost out to Tesco at the foot of the table.

Rank 2008 Rank 2007

1 Co-op 1 Co-op

2 Body Shop 2 Body Shop

3 M&S 3 M&S

4 Green & Blacks 4 Traidcraft

5 Ecover 5 Cafédirect

6 Traidcraft 6 Ecover

7 Cafédirect 7= Green & Blacks & Tesco

8 Innocent

9 Divine 9 Oxfam

10 Tesco 10 Sainsbury’s

The surprises for me are:

1. The Body Shop's brand has survived the loss of founder Anita Roddick, who, even though she had sold the organisation to l'Oreal, was still associated with it in the press.

2. The position of Tesco on the table given the recent controversies over landbanking, competition and treatment of suppliers by the Big Four supermarkets. I wonder how much their position relates to their huge market share of the retail sector - does anyone want to admit they shop at an unethical store?