‘Abouit’, the first ethical product comparator

The idea of the app ‘Abouit’ came to mind in 2015, but it only became a reality in 2017. Created by two documentalists that had worked on the social and environmental impact during the financial crisis, its goal is to provide consumers with information and knowledge so they can change their buying habits so as to make a real change happen.

There are many whom, in order to be coherent with their commitment to society, health and the environment would like to buy in an ethical and responsible way, but who find it difficult due to the lack of information. This is the idea behind this project.

“Abouit” allows you to compare products by price-range, but also by ethical criteria and the user may do this either by scanning the product’s barcode using a mobile device, or searching by sections to get a general overview of the product that are for sale in each category. Both ways, when the user selects a product, they will see a score and all the info, if this is available on the app’s database, which currently has 15,000 entries. 

For the evaluation and subsequent score of the products, the buyer will look at the impact caused by the product’s manufacturer and by the product itself on these three aspects:

• Society: evaluating the company’s policies and corporate social responsibility using indicators such as human and labour rights, community and social action, transparency, anti-corruption, customer and consumer.
• Health: looking at the health risks of the product, its benefits and its ingredients.
• Environment: looking at the impact caused by the product’s manufacturer on the environment.

The score is then obtained applying unique methodologies that have been created exclusively for this by renowned institutions and universities that are totally independent from the industry. In doing this, the scores obtained are rigorous and independent.