When I was in business school I took a class in business ethics. The assigned text was the shortest book in the curriculum and most of the students enjoyed the class because ethics was an easy target for young capitalists with bottom-line thinking.
Today, it seems, we've reached a tipping point in ethical commerce. A point where conspicuous consumption seems to be giving way to, or morphing into conscientious consumption. At least there's enough supporting evidence of the trend to deserve a place in Time Magazine's "What's Next?" issue from a couple weeks ago.
The article cites some of the usual suspects in ethical consumerism:
- Angelina Jolie shopping at Whole Foods
- Leo DiCaprio driving a Toyota Prius
- Pangea Organics, a cosmetics company based out of Boulder CO.
- The rise of sustainable pre-fab home construction (think Dwell magazine)
- Tree, Edun, Rogan denim brands
Conspicuously absent were the (RED) campaign and LiveStrong, the Lance Armstrong/Nike fight against cancer, which are probably the most advanced experiments yet in conscientious consumption. These were created explicitly as marketing ideas to see if people would be willing to buy for the cause. And they did.
But where I disagree with the article is when they explain their rationale for why this happening. Their data set includes evidence like "...according to recent research, time means more than money...people want health and peace
of mind...experiences and relationships matter more than gadgets." From this, they appear to conclude "people want less, not more."
The implication is that the conscientious consumer is anti-consumerist. But that's really not true. People bought the yellow bracelet and got the RED AMEX card and iPod. Consumerism isn't going away, it's just taking on a new form.
Conscientious Consumption is part altruism. It is about thinking and buying differently. It's about being aware of how something was made, not just who made the something. It's about being for a more responsible kind of capitalism and against a wasteful one.
And while this form of consumerism may be different than the binge-and-purge kind that created a nationwide storage shortage, it still may be conspicuous. Conscientious consumption is also partly about status. It's about showing everybody else that you care, you're smart and in the know about the long-term effects of your purchases on the wider world.
So why is this new form of consumerism happening now?
Maslow would probably say that most of our basic needs are mainly satisfied, so we're able to think about things bigger than ourselves. And I suspect that is partly true.
But I also suspect it's that we've run out of ways to differentiate ourselves from the masses. And being a person who cares just might be the latest trend that allows you to do it.
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