Brand Transparency and The Consumer

Transparency is the condition of being easy to perceive or detect. When it comes to companies we choose to buy from, their commitment to transparency also creates an element of trust.

The truth is consumers are becoming more and more educated (by choice) because they want safer choices. I don’t see this market “trend” going anywhere. It is here to say because our health matters. 

72% of consumers want brands to explain what their products do

60% want to know the sources of ingredients 

As Black women, we can use our spending power to focus on brands who are showing up and being transparent. By doing so, we force the demand of the industry and set the expectations of what we are willing to commit to purchase. Thus who we give our loyalty to.

The biggest issue facing transparency is in its too often cloudy claims to fame. The FDA (to a limited extent as we know) still rules and they still have no checks and balances for ingredients that go into our personal care products. They do require that ingredients be listed in order of what is used the most to the least as an overall percentage of the product as a whole. However, the percentage amount does not need to be listed, and things such as “fragrance” and “incidentals” are not required to be spelled out or specific, leaving some ingredients unknown and unlisted.

So basically, transparency turns into a concept that is used for marketing purposes in a lot of cases. Especially when you consider a large number of companies (who may claim transparency) are, in fact, unaware of where their product ingredients come from and how the included chemicals are made. 

The truth is, transparency should be on a full disclosure basis. Period. It should include what ingredients are and are not in the product, with insight as to why the choices to include and not include were made. Transparency should also involve the origin of ingredients and how they are came to be part of the product, this extends transparency to include quality and adulteration of ingredients.

Consumers are in the market for information, not to just be marketed and sold to, as may have been the case in years passed. As Black women, this is even more vital for us as we are often targeted by marketing campaigns with no real concern or regard for our long term health. Think  Johnson & Johnson’s intentional marketing of baby powder to the African American community despite knowing the harm it does.

Transparency should also demand that companies trace their supply chain and communicate that process to their consumers. Something like what Beautycounter did with mica. It is truly each company's responsibility to do so in this global economy.

It’s like the saying “if you cannot do good, at least do no harm”.

Here are some things to look for when evaluating a brand’s transparency:

Knowledge - do they give you clear information?

Authenticity - what are they claiming? Does it match their origins, etc? Think green-washing.

Relatability - how does your purchase of this brand reflect on you as a consumer?

Collaboration - do they extend transparency expectations to everyone in their supply chain?

We have the power as consumers. As Black women consumers.

We are the demand.