[Ethical Consumption Research Group] Second "Ethical Actuality Survey": Recognition of "ethical" in Japan will reach 30% in 2022

2022.03.16 Press Releases
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.

-Ethical areas of interest are "reducing food waste" and "reducing excessive packaging"-

CCC Marketing Inc. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kazuhiko Kitamura) will be announcing the results of its second "Ethical Reality Survey" at the "Ethical Consumption Study Group," which conducts research and development from various perspectives on ethical consumption among consumers, mainly in the area of food, and publishes the results of its research.

The Ethical Consumption Study Group is a research group within CCC Marketing's co-creation platform, "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab." Its purpose is to conduct research on ethical consumption among consumers, focusing on the area of food, through collaboration with a wide range of parties, including companies, educational institutions, and local governments. The Ethical Consumption Study Group conducts annual regular surveys to understand the current state of ethical consumption in Japan, and this is the second Ethical Consumption Survey.

The second "Survey on the Actual State of Ethics" was conducted via an online questionnaire targeting 3,000 men and women aged 16 to 69, asking about their awareness, practices, issues of interest, shopping habits, and other topics related to ethics, ethical consumption, and ethical food.

■The current state of "ethical" in Japan in 2022
First, let's look at how widespread the concept of "ethical" is as of February 2022. When asked about their awareness of "ethical," 7.2% said they "know what it means," and 25.7% said they "have heard of it but don't really understand what it means."
The combined recognition rate for both is 32.9%. The recognition rate of related words ("know the content" + "have heard of it but don't really understand it") was, in order of highest recognition rate, "SDGs" 82.8%, "ecology" 78.1%, "sustainable" 66.5%, "fair trade" 52.4%, "LOHAS" 51.8%, "ethical" 32.9%, "ESG" 23.5%, and "ethical consumption" 21.4%.
Compared to last year, awareness of the SDGs has increased significantly over the past year, with over 80% of people now aware of them. Additionally, awareness of "sustainable" and "ethical" has increased by more than 10 points since last year.

Next, after explaining the concept, we asked people, including those who were unfamiliar with the term "ethical," whether they sympathized with "ethical consumption" on a 5-point scale. 9.2% of respondents said they "can sympathize" with ethical consumption, while 30.6% said they "somewhat sympathize," for a combined total of 39.8%. The most common answer was "I can't say either way," at 47.3%. When asked whether they sympathize with the idea of "ethical food," 10.0% answered "I sympathize," while 32.9% answered "I somewhat sympathize," for a combined total of 42.9%. 45.2% of respondents answered "I can't say either way."The reason why many people answered "I can't say either way" is that it seems that many people are still not sure.
There has been no significant change in the level of agreement with either "ethical consumption" or "ethical food" since last year.

■ Interests and practices
We asked participants to rate their level of interest in ethical food-related topics on a 5-point scale. The most common answers of "interested" or "somewhat interested" were "reducing food waste" (64.6%), "reducing excessive packaging" (58.6%), "consideration for consumer health" (54.6%), "local production and consumption" (54.0%), and "paying workers fair wages" (53.8%).

Additionally, when asked about the food-related practices they practice on a four-point scale, the most common answers, in order of "often" or "sometimes," were "bringing eco-bags when shopping" (82.0%), "recycling resources" (71.6%), "saving energy by turning off lights promptly and using less water when cooking" (69.9%), "preferentially purchasing local products" (46.6%), and "purchasing environmentally friendly products" (39.6%).

There were no significant changes in interests or behaviors from last year.

Although awareness has increased since last year, it appears that interest in specific issues and practice has not yet spread. It seems that many people have heard of it but still don't fully understand it. Going forward, we will likely move beyond the stage of simply "knowing" and enter a stage where information dissemination that is more in line with real life is required.

<Survey Overview>
Survey method: Internet survey
Survey period: February 25th (Friday) to February 28th (Monday), 2022
Survey area: Nationwide
Survey subjects: Men and women aged 16 to 69
Sample composition: 8 residential areas x gender x age group allocated according to demographic trends
Sample size: 3,000 people

Materials related to this matter

[Ethical Consumption Research Group] Second "Ethical Actuality Survey": Recognition of "ethical" in Japan will reach 30% in 2022

Inquiries regarding this matter
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464