SLC’s Starbucks becomes focal point of conversation on ethical consumerism

By Daniyah Yaqoob

With a campus commodity becoming a focal point of conversation, many students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) are starting to consider the importance of a company’s ethics before they buy from them.

Many TMU students value the concept of ethical consumption in a world where they find power in the consumer dollar.

“I think that money talks,” said Daisy Woelfling, a fourth-year creative industries student. “We’ve seen on a macro-scale that things like embargos can create impactful policy change and consumers can do it on a micro level by choosing what they want to spend money on.”

The term ‘ethical consumer’ was first popularized in 1989 by the United Kingdom-based magazine Ethical Consumer. It describes a type of activism that empowers consumers to make purchasing decisions based on how practices of a business align with their personal values.

The movement is seeing a global rise in popularity. According to a 2022 report by global strategy consulting firm Simon-Kucher, 66 per cent of consumers rank sustainability as one of the top five driving factors behind a purchase.

Matthew Philp, an assistant professor of marketing at TMU’s School of Business Management, described this concept as a behaviour shaped by moral belief.

“It takes the product and what the product does out of the equation,” he said. “It’s more how the product came to be.”

Barbara Goss, a fourth-year computer science student, said purchasing is the main way people interact with society. She believes it is important to make the right choices about which companies we support.

“We are big on solidarity. We know that all liberation is connected”

Goss has her own mental list of companies to avoid out of concern for their ethics and wanting to be informed before spending money.

“Most of the time, I can be pretty petty about being like, ‘No, I’m not giving you money,’” she said.

However, ethical consumption can become more challenging to adhere to when students are surrounded by controversial businesses that are convenient to access. The most prominent example on campus being coffee chain Starbucks.

Ethical Consumer highlights several concerns surrounding the company’s operations including worker’s rights, political activities, tax conduct, factory farming, animal rights and more.

But right through the doors of the Sheldon & Tracy Levy Student Learning Centre (SLC) building, Starbucks is situated perfectly for TMU students to grab a coffee before class or a small treat at the end of a long day.

Despite her own concerns about Starbucks’ ethics—namely its practices away from environmental sustainability and alleged stance against union rights—Woelfling admits to not being the “perfect consumer.”

“I did buy a coffee from Starbucks,” she said, waving an empty Starbucks cup as she sat in the SLC. “It’s right there and it’s convenient.”

“Most of the time, I can be pretty petty about being like, ‘No, I’m not giving you money’”

Philp described this common situation as the “intention-behaviour gap.”

“When asking someone what their intended behavior would be—like would you support this company for their sustainable practices—and then looking at their actual behaviours when it comes down to purchasing it, it doesn’t match up,” he explained.

He said a consumer’s short-term goal—like a desperate need for caffeine—might sometimes get in the way of long-term ones like avoiding unethical businesses. Convenience and low cost are often key factors of that.

Starbucks faces a few different allegations of unethical conduct from various parties. Recently, a consumer group-led lawsuit in the United States (U.S.) accused the company of making false ethical sourcing claims. According to a report by Euro News, the National Consumers League cited reports of abuse on farms that supply Starbucks’ coffee and tea in their lawsuit.

Starbucks alleged union busting behaviours has also been a focus in the news cycle. A 2021 ruling from a National Labor Relations Board judge found that Starbucks illegally retaliated against two of its employees who tried to unionize in Philadelphia.

There are also dozens of allegations that Starbucks has failed or refused to bargain with union representatives across the U.S.. This reached a point where organizers at 25 American universities came together to call on their institutions to cut ties with Starbucks over the company’s response to union organizing efforts as reported by The Guardian.

Most recently, Starbucks came under fire for suing one of its U.S.-based unions for a pro-Palestine social media post uploaded without the authorization of union leaders. Some TMU students said the resulting boycott campaign is what pushed them to stop purchasing from the coffee chain.

“You can’t really appeal to their ethics, but you can appeal to their bank balance”

The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group is among those advocating for TMU students to cut ties with Starbucks.

In March 2024, the group organized a “sit-in” in front of the SLC’s Starbucks, calling for it to be taken off of campus due to complicity in the “Israeli apartheid.” According to the SJP’s Instagram post, the SLC Starbucks closed two hours early that day.

“We are big on solidarity. We know that all liberation is connected,” said an SJP member* about the demonstration.

“Overall, [the sit-in] was more so educating our community…and allowing them to think more critically about not just Starbucks, but if something isn’t on the [Boycott, Divset, Sanction] target list, should I be buying from there,” they said. “Because is it ethical, not just in the Palestinian context, but in the broader context of ethical [consumption]?”

With conversations of Starbucks’ ethics, the question arises whether the university as an institution should support the company by giving it a dedicated space in the frequently-visited SLC.

The SJP member said TMU should reflect on its value commitments and whether Starbucks’ business practices align with those.

“Especially an institution that claims to care about decolonization and all of these things, they should uphold that in every aspect of the institution—including what business should be allowed on campus,” they said.

The Eyeopener reached out to the university for comment but they did not respond in time for publication.

Goss echoed the sentiment and said the university “should behave like they’re part of the community” as well as listen to the calls of community members who are boycotting the company over ethical concerns.