As a Woolworths shareholder and SME owner, I am pretty disappointed. I expect better. Woolworths lives behind this squeaky clean ethical image. Of course, people make mistakes and in this case, there was no doubt a couple of individuals who decided to rip off a product. I am sure there were some nice corporate bonuses involved too.
There is a point to all this. If we look at the investment universe that is available to us, we have two choices we either invest in companies that we don't always agree with or we invest in nothing and put our money under a mattress. We sacrifice some of our beliefs to ensure we don't end up on the street one day. People who view the world in black and white have a hard time living with this. There are many shades of grey in this world.
So yes, we own companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco... heck some would even argue Facebook is one of these "evil companies" now.
The way I deal with the "guilt" is by supporting causes that are close to my heart. For example, we have just launched a reusable coffee cup exchange in South Africa. In short, I believe that you should focus on sorting out your retirement etc at a macro level then make a difference in the world at a micro level. I believe that over time as more and more of us make small changes in our lifes, over the long term companies would need to adapt. And since I am an investor, I love the long term.
What about you? Has this ever crossed your mind?
