Why are consumers and the public generally more concerned with ethical and socially responsible business behavior today than they were, say, fifty years ago?

Consumers and the public are generally more concerned with ethical and socially responsible business behavior today because nowadays people have more knowledge and access as compared to the people in the past.

If ethics are not followed, then the business can entirely collapse as people will not buy anything from such a business source. In the past, people did not have basic knowledge of ethics and hence, there were many injustices that would be tolerated. Nowadays, any kind of injustice cannot be tolerated.