Refusing to work for a business that sells Foie Gras.

Foie Gras, most right minded people agree, is a barbaric practice that should be outlawed. Quite how we've got to the 21st century without being horrified that it ever existed, let alone still exists, I can't understand. However - that's not the point of this post. The point is that my personal brand, and my business brand is very closely interlinked. I'm a "Passionate Vegetarian" as my Twitter profile says, I could no more work for a business that sold Foie Gras than I could work for a slaughter house. My personal beliefs blur across to my business life (they go in the other direction too).

I'm proud to say that when we were approached by a German online food shop to do some work on their site, we checked their ethical standing and immediately found it wanting. We refused the work, as we'd refuse it from anyone with questionable ethics.

This stance isn't just about Foie Gras, or indeed about the meat industry. Although as a vegetarian of course I'd rather nobody ate meat, I understand that I live in a world where plenty of people do, and that there are ethical approaches to the selling of meat products that do not include cruel and unusual treatment of livestock.

This stance is actually about ethical businesses. By refusing to work with businesses with poor animal welfare policies, unethical business practices, "dark Pattern" interfaces, sub standard products, or anything else, we can hold our heads up high and say:

"We're proud of who we are, what we do, and who we do it for".