Welfare recipients seen as immoral for buying ethical products

Just another example of the fact that humans are irrational. Putting down people for caring about something outside of their own pocket, and for trying to take care of their health to avoid health problems shouldn't be targets of meanness.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uobc-usw030816.php

Public Release: 8-Mar-2016
UBC study: Welfare recipients seen as immoral for buying ethical products
University of British Columbia

Shoppers making ethical purchases, such as buying organic food or environmentally friendly cars, are generally seen as more virtuous - unless they're receiving government assistance. If ethical shopping is funded by welfare cheques, those shoppers are judged as immoral for taking advantage of public generosity, according to a new UBC Sauder School of Business study.

"People on welfare tend to be seen as undeserving of more expensive options and of wasting taxpayers' hard-earned cash," said study author Darren Dahl, senior associate dean of faculty at UBC Sauder. "We discovered a double standard where people are judged differently for making identical choices, depending on where their money comes from."

Dahl and his co-authors were curious about the interaction between two prized values: making prosocial choices and thrift. They found that people reliant on government assistance are only praised when they're frugal, and are seen as less moral if they go for ethical but more expensive products.

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