Goods Unite Us

While taking the test for services it gives a very limited option for most categories which doesn’t allow for people to state thrifting, used cars, or even lack of options in their area. With this in mind it tells you which political party you are financially supporting without considering that there are no other options and this makes it difficult to actually assess your financial contributions to policy since many of the options are big business box chains and not local agencies. I get they can add all businesses but by assessing on what is available in your options you are discounting what people donation their local communities. When your option is other it doesn’t see that as an independent instead it doesn’t count it and rates you based on the options that are the only ones listed that care available. For instance car makes without consideration of them being used or classic, grocers without the option for the local co-op, and so on. This makes people feel less heard and understood.

I want to start by saying I find this app to be an awesome concept, but some information can be confusing. Brands will show as leaning to one political party but then you look at the top politicians recently donated to, it shows candidates from the other party. Everyone questions when the data was last updated, yet they still haven’t provided this info. Apparently inaugural donations don’t count - only campaign donations, which don’t show the full picture. Also the support/boycott feature is lacking. It doesn’t acknowledge which one you’ve selected and the tally is out of frame. I’ve changed my spending habits but can’t update my profile report. The my companies tab shows a single company I just searched for - I would assume it’s supposed to show those I support/boycott. No way to give feedback. They need to be transparent about where, when and how they get their data! Also, there’s an area to leave reviews about the business, which I thought could be a way to inform people about other types of political support they provide outside of just campaign donations, but as far as I can tell they’re submitted to a black hole.

Goods Unite Us is an important and well-executed app. The concept is valuable for conscious consumers, and the interface is clean, minimal, and user-friendly. It covers a wide range of brands with enough information to help make informed choices. That said, I have some feedback for improvement. It would be great to have a way to access more detailed information about the brands or the sources used for their political affiliations. While the app does a good job of summarizing, additional context could enhance transparency and depth. Also, this is a critical point: the blog only allows comments via Facebook. Many of us have left Facebook (now Meta) as part of our activism against the platform’s practices. Relying on Facebook as the sole option for contributing to conversations creates a barrier for those who share your values but refuse to use that platform. It excludes a significant part of your audience who would otherwise engage meaningfully. Offering *Politically Neutral* comment systems, like email submissions, or an in-app comment section, would be far more inclusive and aligned with the principles Goods Unite Us seems to promote. Overall, the app is a fantastic tool, but I hope the developers take these suggestions into consideration to make it even better.