We’ve spent our careers trying to create companies and laws that truly protect our families and future. But in the last year we’ve seen more damage done to the basic protections provided for our kids than ever before. Our federal government, along with many state governments, are not acting in our best interest when it comes to the safety of the products we use in our homes, or the quality of the air we breath and water we drink. Nor are they working to keep things affordable or improve the lives of working people.

Sadly, we’ve also seen some companies voluntarily retreat from their efforts to go beyond the basics when it comes to our health and the health of our planet. Many large corporations like Amazon are among the worst performers when it comes to respecting their workers and sharing their financial success with the people who make it possible through their hard work.    

Compounding these issues is the fact that modern consumption is manipulating you into bad choices and undermining your role as a citizen. Here’s how:

• Social media platforms are hazardous products: They are designed to distort your perceptions about who buys what and manipulate your purchasing decisions
• Reviews are often rigged: The way products and companies are reviewed is a rigged system dominated by paid reviews, bots, and sites designed to profit from links that sell to you
• AI undercuts reality: By pretending to be people, AI run by big tech is flooding the internet with misinformation and slop distributed through fake social media accounts, reviews, and hallucinating chatbots all designed to drive profits for a few people at the top

There are a number of root causes for the issues working against the interests of our families, workers, and our shared planet. These include unlimited corporate and billionaire money in our politics, and increasing market concentration that leads to fewer choices, more expensive choices, and greater economic inequality. These factors are the same ones who help punch major holes in the laws we rely on to protect the health of our families and the environment and increasingly force consumers to shoulder the burden while profits soar.

While it’s becoming harder, we still have the power to do something about it. We can buy less and buy better, focusing on purchasing things our family NEED rather than the things we are told to want. When it comes to buying better, we can seek out trustworthy information when we do choose to buy something we need and use that information as one of the factors that influence the companies we choose to invite into our homes. Scientific research shows that we can reduce the burden our bodies face, and the potential health impacts linked to the harmful ingredients and toxic chemicals, by choosing products with safer ingredients and materials.

Consumer demand plays an important role in the decisions companies make. If consumers want to buy products from companies that align with their values related to ingredient safety, sustainability, and accountability then they will respond by operating in more ethical ways. That’s particularly true when consumers clearly and consistently choose to support those companies and choose their products.

We know that finding information you can trust is difficult. Perhaps more difficult than it's ever been. That’s why Hilde is dedicated to providing trustworthy ratings so families can more easily align their values with their purchases. Our ratings are completed for companies rather than individual products so you can more easily make purchasing decisions. If a company receives a “Recommend” or even a “Consider” rating from us, you can feel better about any products you buy from that company or the brands they own. Our criteria are tough, we dig deep, and we’re experts. Hilde never uses AI to do company evaluations or generate content.

Buying better and supporting companies who are better aligned with your values is a relatively simple and quick way to protect your family and shape business decisions. There are a number of ways that people looking to take the next step can amplify their impact when it comes to protecting our future.  

Next step: Strengthening social norms by sharing with your friends and family

It’s critically important to share key elements about your rationale for making purchasing decisions (i.e. safer ingredients, more sustainable company, better worker treatment, etc.) because it helps strengthen other people’s perceptions about our social norms. The more people who think that it’s common for other people to care about these issues and shop their values, the more it encourages other people to take similar actions.

Next step: Engaging in corporate consumer activism

Making your voice heard with companies you do and do not choose to do business with via multiple channels like customer service forms, personal emails, leaving reviews, and posting on social media can have an outsized impact among leaders and employees at that company. As people who have worked on the inside to try and drive more ethical and sustainable practices, these kinds of messages are worth their weight in gold because they are persuasive with decision-makers.

Next step: Engaging in public policy advocacy

Smart laws at the state and local levels create a baseline for ethical business across our economy. New laws help change behavior by all companies and are an important part of how we can transform the systems that help us meet the needs of our families. Changing and improving public policies are how we move the needle with the laggards in an industry. Unlike consumer activism, public policy advocacy requires more time and resources, and more voices over the course of years rather than months. But the impact we have on the system can be much larger.