Standard label

A standard label reassures people that some common values are in effect when they buy. It is the most basic kind of moral purchasing. It relies heavily on audits that ensure that the validation of the label has integrity. Common standard labels in use now are:

• "no old growth" for forest products
• "union made"
• "no sweat" for sweatshops and child labour and prison labour
• "kosher"
• "halal"
• "GMO free"
• etc.

Each such label is factionally defined since only a subset of the population cares about each one. Some are subject to trademark or special trademark-like laws that make passing off difficult or at least more risky.

A mandatory label requires disclosing some possibly undesirable data, like, the presence of GMOs, or nutritional content or preservatives.

The Consumerium buying signal, among other things, must be able to state with some integrity whether any standard label applies to a product or not on the retail shelf. Usually this is marked on the product itself, but, very often, there are questions about whether the product has been properly audited, and also questions about the standards the label itself applies - so individual buying criteria should accomodate factional interpretations of a label, e.g. a particularly strict type of kosher or halal, or no dealing with ANY company that cuts ANY old growth ANYWHERE in the world, etc. These may be yellow light criteria that require some more specific data to be conveyed to the Consumerium end user.