Marks & Spencer Group plc

Is Marks and Spencer ethical?

Our research highlights several ethical issues with Marks and Spencer, including areas such as animal welfare, environment, finances and workers' rights.

Below we outline some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and Marks and Spencer's overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.

People

M&S has historical links to Zionism – which advocates for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, and has been used to justify the ongoing violence against Palestinian populations. For example, the retailer’s president during the 1970s and 1980s was vice-president of the British Zionist Federation.

This has led some people to ask whether the retailer should be subject to a boycott. However, M&S has described itself as secular for over a decade, and does not appear to have any current links to Zionism or have any stronger ties to Israel than other supermarkets. No Palestinian campaign groups are running a boycott campaign against it.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) committee is, however, calling for a boycott of fruit and vegetables imported from Israel from all supermarkets, saying: “Beyond being part of a trade that fuels Israel’s apartheid economy, Israeli fruits, vegetables, and wines misleadingly labelled as ‘Product of Israel’ often include products of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land.”

Unfortunately, when it comes to other human rights issues, M&S does not perform well. It has a relatively strong policy for workers, requiring suppliers to pay a living wage and respect workers’ right to unionise, among other things. But it has faced multiple criticisms for potential abuses in its supply chain. 

In April 2023, for example, Ethical Consumer published the report Produce of Exploitation, which found that workers in Spain supplying the UK with fruit and vegetables faced serious and endemic abuses, including underpayment and falsified timesheets, and in some areas forced labour. M&S was among the supermarkets criticised for failing to take adequate action to address the situation. 

Environment

M&S is taking some positive steps to address its impacts on climate change, scoring 70/100 in Ethical Consumer’s climate rating. For example, it has set targets to source soya without fuelling deforestation, to double sales of meat-free products by 2024/25, and to halve food waste by 2029/30 (compared to 2016/17).

The company also has a target to reduce its emissions, which has been certified to be in line with international climate goals, agreed by world leaders.

However, it has also faced some criticism for greenwashing. In 2023, environmental campaign group Feedback wrote, “The retailer uses greenwashing tactics to encourage meat and dairy consumption, such as hailing small initiatives like dairy milk in reduced plastic packaging. At the same time, it continues to promote the consumption of meat and dairy through advertising, multibuy deals and promotions."

Animals

The company has a poor track record when it comes to animals – scoring 0/100 in Ethical Consumer’s animal rating.

While it has policies covering a wide range of animal products – such as meats, leather, and down – many of these were considered to be inadequate. For example, it sold meat and dairy sourced from intensive farming, and has prohibited mulesing – a painful practice that involves removing part of the flesh from sheep to prevent infection – but still sources wool that is not certified to a higher animal welfare standard.

In May 2024, M&S suspended a supplier in Lincolnshire after footage of the conditions on the farm was published by the advocacy group Animal Justice Project (AJP). According to an article in Lincolnshire Live paper, “one hen was allegedly found hanging upside down by the campaigners, struggling to free herself from a slatted system. AJP also claims that there were unsanitary conditions throughout the farm, which houses 80,000 birds, and rat poison was ‘haphazardly’ scattered."

Politics and finance

The company has a mixed track record on financial ethics. In 2023/24, the highest paid director received £4,729,000 – considered by Ethical Consumer to be excessive.

However, it performs better on tax conduct. While the company has a number of subsidiaries in tax havens, including Ireland, Singapore, the Netherlands and Hong Kong, it also has stores in all of these countries except the Netherlands – meaning they are likely being used to serve the local population. In 2019, the company emailed Ethical Consumer, stating: "We only operate in low tax jurisdictions where there are commercial business reasons to do so (e.g. retail shops)."

The above text was written in July 2024, and was based on research largely conducted in November and December 2023.